Notes on Android launchers

Last updated : 6/6/2023

Introduction

With Nova Launcher being bought out by Branch (yet another ad corpo), I am probably going to need to look for another launcher app. At the moment of writing (6/6/2023), I'm still stuck with Nova Launcher (7.0.27).

My personal requirements

Here are the things I will need for my next launcher app:

• Works without internet access.
• No hard dependencies on Google Play services whatsoever.
• Downloadable through Git releases / F-Droid / official site (with the last one preferring a non-soydev site), not just some Telegram groups and/or Google Play Store (and any of their unofficial mirrors, such as APKMirror / APKPure / uptodown)
The downloadables must be a single full APK, not some split APKs. Full APKs for different architectures are tolerated as long as they work & don't need a separate installer app other than the system's inbuilt package installer.


• Properly maintained, with effort to ensure it works on the latest Android version. Old & unmaintained builds might be fine, but as time goes on & users update to the latest Android version, these builds will eventually not work.
• If the app features a paid-only Play Store exclusive feature unlocker, all requirements listed above this point aside from downloadable through other sources will be applied. However, the single APK requirement still apply.
• Based off Launcher3. Special interfaces are nice to have, but unfortunately I'm not looking for those.
• Support for opening apps with gestures within the launcher. This is not related to AOSP navigation gestures, which I don't use.
• Option to disable wallpaper scroll; or if that option isn't present, the wallpaper must not move while changing pages in launcher.
• No zoomed wallpaper by default. Failing that, an option to disable wallpaper zooming is required.

Some nice to have things for the next launcher:

• Infinite horizontal scrolling for app drawer & home screen
• Either an option that allows toggling Screenshot and/or Clear all on/off in recents menu; or Clear all replacing Screenshot by default. Screenshot is useless iin recents menu (especially since there's power & volume down button), Clear all is situationally more useful. Either way, this is only applicable for inbuilt launchers, so moving it here.
• No integrations with internet requirements (like Google Now) unless absolutely necessary.
• Libre software (serves as a double count for my 3rd requirement, if considering Git releases / F-Droid)

Candidates

With my requirements out of the way, here are the candidates:

• Formerly successful :
• Lawnchair : Inbuilt in some custom ROMs. The A12-supporting build is considered Alpha 4 (last rekeased in 8/8/2022) even after A13 QPR3 is released. In addition, the questionable stability in Lawnchair's development team is concerning (though at this point I can only hope the developers got past this issue).
• Nova Launcher (up to 7.0.57) : Bought out by Branch, which led to the creation of this very note. If there are no good launchers for me other than Nova, I'll probably stick to it... at least until a decent launcher comes along.
• Failing after personal testing :
• Neo Launcher : Release 0.9.3 adds in support for launching apps by in-launcher gestures, but unable to prevent wallpaper scrolling.
• Candidates as of 27/9/2022 :
• Currently none

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