91–100 of 102 posts
Niagara has been my go-to Android launcher for several years now. I would certainly recommend at least giving it a shot!
Same! Black background, with only a few pinned apps, and replacing the clock with the "At a Glance" widget. Simple simplicity. Apps: - Kiwi Browser (Ad Blocking) - Messages - Signal (Might get replaced by Beeper) - Discord - YouTube - Phone YouTube Music is set as my music app, so that appears whenever I've got headphones connected.
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.
Niagara Launcher dev here - that's a valid concern, especially since launcher apps have access to a lot of personal data. We have created a document that outlines why we collect the data we do: https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-... . In short, we only collect data to power our features, verify if the user owns our premium version, improve our app, and for public research and statistics. If y…
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.
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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.
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Niagara Launcher dev here - that's a valid concern, especially since launcher apps have access to a lot of personal data. We have created a document that outlines why we collect the data we do: https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-... . In short, we only collect data to power our features, verify if the user owns our premium version, improve our app, and for public research and statistics. If y…
I believe in the good intentions of you and the team, but my advice here is to build a data management and retention process to be future proof. 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 u…
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.
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.
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kiss is pure shit when you first install it. but if you take the time to set it up, it's like vim/emacs. things start to make sense
I think it worked fine for me with basically no setup, so I'm curious: what kind of setup did it require for you?
showing keyboard right away. sortin etc. different icons for contacts.
still missing fuzzy match
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I believe in the good intentions of you and the team, but my advice here is to build a data management and retention process to be future proof. 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 u…
Good point. We use Firebase/Google Analytics for basic analytics (e.g., to analyze what features of Niagara Launcher are used the most and capture crashes). More sensitive data (e.g., the history of app launches if the user opts into our Digital Wellbeing Initiative) is only sent to our servers, hosted by Hetzner, to have complete control over the data. We delete it after 90 days. I don't know the retention periods o…
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.
Niagara on the Fold is a wonderful pairing honestly.
Niagara on the Fold is a wonderful pairing honestly.
i never even thought about niagra on a folding phone, that actually sounds like it'd be great! i've been using it on a "regular" phone for the past year or 2 and honestly now i'm curious how it feels on a fold, and what kind of extra features the extra real estate could give. temptin me to go buy a folding phone next upgrade around :D