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Comment by jwells89 | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any recommendations for launchers to check out? I don’t daily drive Android but keep a couple devices on that side of the fence around for dev purposes and have been underwhelmed with the options I’ve tried so far. I was expecting something more like the old Windows alternative shells (which could differ radically from Explorer) but third party Android launchers don’t seem all that different from what devices come with and overall kind of samey, either being app grids or lists.

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I've used Nova for maybe a decade at this point. For me it's the best, hands down. I gladly paid for the premium version.

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.

I used (and paid for) Nova for years, but after it got acquired[1] I switched back to the stock Pixel launcher, which isn't perfect, but mostly works.

1: https://www.androidpolice.com/nova-launcher-acquired-by-bran...

I spent a long time after Windows Phone died trying to find an Android launcher that felt as clean and intuitive, and I failed. Microsoft did, however, release their own launcher which for me has proven to be the least sucking of the closed source options. I don't use any of the social features or other widgets, but I do clean everything off the home screen (including the dock) and just have a handful of large icons clustered along the sides where they are easy for me to reach. Combine with a nice icon pack and you can get a pretty minimal desktop. Swipe to get to the app drawer. It's still fundamentally a grid, though.

The closest launcher (that I know of) to Windows Phone UI is Square Home [0]. I used it for a long time, years ago, and is one of the few apps I actually paid for.

0: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ss.squareh...

This is terrific. I just installed and within about 10 minutes had the home screen and drawer set up exactly how I like. The only thing I'm missing from Microsoft Launcher is the combo clock/date/weather widget.

I loved Square but I eventually started getting a bizarre problem where it... wouldn't register my taps, until I swiped up from the bottom of the screen ("home" gesture) and then it would open whatever I'd been ineffectually hitting.

I used to love LawnChair (also, best name), because it was simple and functional. Then it wasn't updated any longer, and at some point broke some Widgets. R.I.P.

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.

Big coincidence, I just switched to Niagara, complaint: too much scrolling, no auto updates.

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.

olauncher - https://play.google.com/store/search?q=olauncher&c=apps

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