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Niagara Launcher

niagaralauncher.app

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Re: Niagara Launcher

#71

Post by bastawhiz »

jurgenkesker wrote: post #47
janice1999 wrote: post #32

https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/27-privacy-policy > 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.

Seeing there is no business model (or did I miss that?), how likely is it that this app is sending installed app lists to 3rd party for appstore analytics like Data.ai and similar services? Something needs to pay the bills?

You pay $30 with in app purchases to unlock much of the feature set

Re: Niagara Launcher

#72

Post by alisonatwork »

jwells89 wrote: post #68
senkora wrote: post #11

I really appreciate how Android made the “graphical shell” a user-replaceable component of the OS. 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/…

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 dev…

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.

Re: Niagara Launcher

#73

Post by alisonatwork »

FireInsight wrote: post #40

This a good place to plug my favorite launcher? Search-based launchers in general are something I just cannot live without nowadays, there's way less friction there with openint apps and such. 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/ .

I keep downloading this hoping I can switch from Microsoft Launcher to an open source solution, and every single time I get stuck because I can't find out how to add apps on the home screen. I've looked through all the docs and they all say stuff like "scroll to the bottom of the widget list and add favorites", and yet... there is no widget list. Long press doesn't do anything. Hamburger button only gives me launcher settings (where there is no widget list). Searching for "widget" shows no results, so even if I embrace the search concept it doesn't do what I expect. The clock is pretty, though.

Re: Niagara Launcher

#74

Post by garciansmith »

sjwhevvvvvsj wrote: post #52
zmk5 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly it's the one thing I don't miss about Android. I always felt compelled to tinker with things a lot more than I should've.

Yeah, and equal time spent futzing with your launcher is better spent tinkering with a raspberry pi or similar. At least then you may develop a skill. Android customization is sort of like junk food - enjoyable in the moment, but not meaningfully improving your life.

I don't get it, how is it different from customizing any other OS, except that Android has many more options to do so than the very-limited iOS? You spend countless hours on your phone, why wouldn't you sit down for an hour to make it suit your needs better if the defaults bother you? I tweaked Nova Launcher on mine, spent an hour or two doing that, what, 8 years ago now? Definitely worth the time.

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).

Re: Niagara Launcher

#75

Post by beer2beerPrtcl »

jwells89 wrote: post #68
senkora wrote: post #11

I really appreciate how Android made the “graphical shell” a user-replaceable component of the OS. 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/…

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 dev…

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.

Re: Niagara Launcher

#76

Post by yaky »

alisonatwork wrote: post #72
jwells89 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 dev…

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…

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...

Re: Niagara Launcher

#77

Post by alisonatwork »

yaky wrote: post #76
alisonatwork wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

Re: Niagara Launcher

#78

Post by blacksmith_tb »

beer2beerPrtcl wrote: post #75
jwells89 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 dev…

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).…

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...

Re: Niagara Launcher

#79

Post by dartharva »

FireInsight wrote: post #40

This a good place to plug my favorite launcher? Search-based launchers in general are something I just cannot live without nowadays, there's way less friction there with openint apps and such. 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/ .

Yes, the one you posted are FOSS and thus superior by default than OP.

Re: Niagara Launcher

#80

Post by dartharva »

Sytten wrote: post #28
chasil wrote: post #19

Unfortunately, this is not on F-Droid, and it does not appear to be open source.

Not everything needs to be OSS, it is OK for people to charge for software and make a living...

It is not OK to blindly trust a third party with intimate access to your phone interactions in opaque ways. Don't do this.
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