Android
DROID DOES
Welcome to the droidymcdroidface-iest, Lemmyest (Lemmiest), test, bestest, phoniest, pluckiest, snarkiest, and spiciest Android community on Lemmy (Do not respond)! Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules
1. All posts must be relevant to Android devices/operating system.
2. Posts cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
3. No spam, self promotion, or upvote farming. Sources engaging in these behavior will be added to the Blacklist.
4. Non-whitelisted bots will be banned.
5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.
6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.
7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.
8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.
Community Resources:
We are Android girls*,
In our Lemmy.world.
The back is plastic,
It's fantastic.
*Well, not just girls: people of all gender identities are welcomed here.
Our Partner Communities:
view the rest of the comments
Best way is to use a different launcher. You can install a few and switch between them. Setting up a new one can be a bit time consuming but you get a feel for them doing so. Keep notes.
I used Nova for years but unfortunately it's now owned by a data collection company. I found it difficult to find another but since being on Lemmy and reading posts like these, I've finally moved to Niagara.
It's very different but I suggest it for you because of your need tothe search for installed apps. That's what it's based around, there's no separate app drawer. It's very clever and easy to use once set up, and well worth the effort.
~~The win is that it's FOSS.~~
It's not FOSS but the privacy policies are decent. You can read a summary here.
Most features are free but the paid version has a seven day trial. It's a very reasonable cost which you pay annually and I think it's worth it if you're going to use the app. It's very mature and the dev deserves to get paid for it, especially at the low cost he's asking. Check his website.
As you can probably tell, I'm a huge fan.
EDIT - as pointed out, it's not FOSS. My apologies and I've edited accordingly.
Niagara Launcher is not FOSS, it's closed-source. If you want an open-source search-based launcher, there are Kvaesitso and KISS Launcher for example
You are correct. I apologise and I'll edit my comments. I don't know why I thought it was foss but looking at the policies it seems reasonably decent.
I'll check those suggestions as well. Thanks for setting me straight!
Ok, cool.
Pffffft. Nah.
Really? $9.50
Less than 80 cents equivalent per month.
Really?
Yeah. I'm really not going to rent an app launcher.
I understand the reason but it's the only one I've found that's actually different and good. Getting away from Nova wasn't easy, a very small fee is trivial to me for that.
Besides, do you also not donate to anything else you use regularly or other worthy causes?
Paying a subscription for a product isn't a donation. It's a subscription fee.
Technically yes. But you don't have to pay and the free version is perfectly usable.
And it's such a small amount, per year, that you don't have to pay, in practice it's more like a donation.
I agree that you are technically correct, I just don't think it matters. You are welcome to use it or not, and pay, or not.
Niagara launcher, kiss or kvaesto are the way to go. If you want a decent app search. I would also recommend Smart Launcher 6; the search bar is pretty good. Not to mention the automatic app categories you get for all your apps.