Niagara Launcher
niagaralauncher.app
niagaralauncher.app
> Personal Data collected: Cookies, unique device identifiers, Usage Data and IDs (package names) from installed apps.
It sends a unique device identifier, your IP address and your app usage to Firebase. I understand why the developer would want crash reports but he gathers a lot of data on users.
What it means is you create a policy of non-ad-value data collection and very short identifiable data retention to avoid a future change of hearts (maybe you get big and acquired, maybe you bring a Zuckerberg to the team...who knows).
By doing this you not only protect the users data but you help the community trust your good intentions.
Keep up the good work, I've used Niagara when I was at Android (on iOS now by my firm Rules) and I found it a very good value prop with an polished execution.
Back in the day, I used Nova Launcher and an icon pack to completely re-theme my home screen. I felt so cool.
I encourage anyone curious to take a look at the following subreddit for some neat themes that users have created for themselves over the years using custom launchers: https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all
Android customization is sort of like junk food - enjoyable in the moment, but not meaningfully improving your life.
I use my phone more than any other device and having it be "beautiful" is an important part of my user experience
At this point any decoration in real life is useless because not productive
Hard disagree. I assume you have some technical background, that's why you consider it not meaningful. Go speak to someone that knows nothing about it, which is the majority of the people I assume, I'm pretty sure they learn a lot in the way.
I very much hate the default Android and iOS experiences. I guess the downside is that making my phone more usable means, well, I actually use it more (i.e., too much).
For instance, taking control of my phone's three physical buttons with custom double-press and long-press actions that are contextual is so useful I can't imagine using a phone without it. I've also added a custom contextual action to double-tapping the back of my phone that I use constantly. This uses the phone's accelerometer and, surprisingly, works perfectly with no false positives. I use my phone a lot for reading e-books, controlling home automation, photography and other use cases where I'm switching between portrait and landscape modes frequently. Customizing automatic screen rotation to be per app, by time of day and even by location is another one of those seemingly little things that's just so nice in constant daily usage.
Some people argue all these things should just be built-in to phones and "it's a bug" the designers didn't just set-up everything "correctly" in the first place. But the reality is people have different innate preferences about some kinds of usage modes and defaults. For example, I'm highly spatial vs my wife who's very sequential. She prefers contextually adaptive "smart" interfaces that change to list the most likely options first. She can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want that. However, my brain expects stuff to be in the same place it was last time and it throws me when things keep moving around. I think this is more than just a preference or learned behavior, it's an innate trait like handedness. While people can force themselves to adapt across this divide, it will always be uncomfortable and slower.
Then there there is the current UX design obsession with "simplifying" interfaces by removing features, reducing density and increasing the remaining spacing and typography sizes to the point of, IMHO, insanity. This is another reason when it comes to devices I'll use constantly, I consciously choose those I can significantly customize and adapt (eg Android, Windows, Linux, Firefox, etc). Of course, I don't customize every use case. What matters is having the option to do so for those usages which make a meaningful difference to me.
0: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ss.squareh...
I have a super minimal and frictionless gesture-based interface going. No app clutter clogging up the screen at all. Everything I need to do is executed by a one or two finger gesture, no scrolling to find apps and nothing obscuring a nice wallpaper that automatically rotates daily (using Tasker). Email? Slide one finger up. Messages? One finger down. Calendar? Two fingers up. Phone dialer? Two fingers down. Maps? Double tap anywhere. Etc.
IMO it was really easy to set up and probably actually keeps me off my phone more than I would be otherwise. If it didn't exist it would be the launcher I'd build for myself.
If you are like me and want a super tranquil "phone-flow" I would highly recommend getting Nova and using the gestures feature.
1: https://www.androidpolice.com/nova-launcher-acquired-by-bran...
After much searching, I've settled on Hyperion instead.
Essentially, I want the Google Launcher without the Google Search Bar. And maybe a slightly denser icon spacing. Hyperion does that trick, even with the free version. But, to stave off another LawnChair situation, I decided to give them a subscription regardless, just so it stays around.
I like it better than Oasis (which I might be confusing for something else), complaint: too minimal.
My go to for years was Square Home, great until last years' reinstall, then something (I forget), which was prob a combination of my fault and Android whatever it's on now (maybe 11).
My only other (notable) like is Smart Launcher, which is honestly great except for all the "cloud integration" stuff.
Kvæsitso is the one I use currently: https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/. The design is really good, and the widget support is nice. Search is not as perfect ass the classic KISS, though: http://kisslauncher.com/.
KISS is the be-all-end-all launcher for me.
I guess that makes me a KISS ass.
showing keyboard right away. sortin etc. different icons for contacts.
still missing fuzzy match
The only thing I miss still is not being able to open drawer by swiping up (though fastscroll on letters is good enough, but kinda sucks that it only handles latin letters there, cuz like 3rd of my apps are in Cyrillic and thus stuck at the first category).
UX on foldable device is unmatched, especially after it added support for side-to-side widgets and widget stacking.
Another slight annoyance is that in modern android quickstep is no longer standard part of AOSP, and depends on how OEM implemented it, which means that on many devices (including mine mix fold 2) you either lose access to gesture navigation in order to use Niagara(I get around it by using Infinite Gestures + OMS overlay to hide the navbar) or get broken animations when swapping between apps and going home.
UPD: it also recently got client-side implementation of monet and built-in contextual variable icons, which works even on devices that don't have it as a part of AOSP. It works marvels and I can't get enough of how good it looks.
And in general, I wish more launchers had fastscroller as overlay option, so that you can get to any app via tapping/flicking onto a letter in a single tap/swipe. Once you experienced it, it's hard to go back to the app grid.
https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher
Available on both fdroid and play store
software example: Krita https://store.steampowered.com/app/280680/Krita/ source code under GPLv3 https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita
game example: Shapez https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/ source code under GPLv3 https://github.com/tobspr-games/shapez.io
I tried searching for open source launchers on F-Droid but there's no way to sort a search by date or popularity that I could find.
Instead you'll find it's full of lazy KISS clones that brag about the "minimalism" and "productivity" of search-based launchers... I'm sure that has nothing to do with those being much, much easier to code than ordinary graphical launchers :/
Kvaesitso is the exception, and the one I currently use - it's technically search-based, but it can add enough icons and widgets to the homepage so that during everyday use you don't actually need to type the names of your apps like a caveman.
Apps:
- Kiwi Browser (Ad Blocking)
- Messages
- Signal (Might get replaced by Beeper)
- Discord
- YouTube
- Phone
Sometimes I forget something was in my favorites and just use the scroll by habit, its just that big a non issue.
You mention you simply remember the name, I find that difficult for me. I don't remember whether it's "Google Maps" or "Maps", if it's "Headphones" or "Sony Headphones".
I have tried a few times to get into the Niagara launcher, but without luck. It's too mm. "sterile" for me?. I really like being able to group apps in the 2D-"space" of the grid system. Main screen tries to be uncluttered but music control to the right, light-bulbs control to the left, car in middle.
Payment? That's a bottom row on page 2. Communication - right side of lower row. Etc. etc.
It does sometimes get a bit wonky . not very "pleasent" to the eye, but it's so pleasent for my brain at least.
I sometimes try to clean up, but the apps often ends up grouping together again in almost the same configuration.
Here's to difference preferences for launchers! Cheers.
To access an app I always swipe up, tap the first two letters and Enter.
Just like Outlook for Android is one of the best mail clients but the only way to get rid of ads is to subscribe to Office 365.
I long for the days when apps were one-off purchases.
Edit: I'm a happy Niagara user, bought the forever license two years ago.
Nobody should be using this. Who knows what it's recording and to whom it's sending that data?
It's a real testament to Android's flexibility too. It's terrific to be able to radically change the UI for the phone.
Like many others in the thread, I really like how I have freedom of choice w.r.t. launchers (I personally dislike the iOS home screen and the stock Google launcher, fwiw).
The App Library is nice because it relieves iOS users from micromanaging app grouping/arrangement. I now have just one Home Screen of widgets (including contextual Siri app suggestions), then swipe left to use App Library when needed.