I’ve been just not updating Nova as I haven’t had a ton of time to research this, I really like the GUI, what are my privacy friendly/FOSS options for an android s21 5G?

Update: Went with Neo launcher. It’s got enough of the features that I’m willing to use it.

There are a few spots where padding can’t be removed that is obnoxious, FF search bar and dock are what I have noticed so far.

I also don’t like that I can’t continuosly scroll through my home screens.

    • Pantherina@feddit.de
      0·
      8 months ago

      Its completely different. Cool for sure but completely uncomparable. Nova is a default launcher experience but customizable. Kvaesito has no app widgets and webapp support afaik, which was a nogo for me.

      I keep using Nova as my nasty app, even on GrapheneOS. Would never use it with network permissions, and I also dont have other nasty apps installed

      (apps can communicate how much they want, if both are coded to do it. If one has network permission, it can be used as a channel)

      • beta_tester@lemmy.ml
        0·
        8 months ago
        • It is a foss launcher
        • You can create webapps with firefox
        • it also has widgets

        Launcher is very important, I’d use nova as well if I wouldn’t likr kvaesitso that much

        • Pantherina@feddit.de
          1·
          8 months ago

          I will look into Kvaesito then!

          Edit: no it doesnt do it. The search is cool. But opening the app drawer for some reason is unintuitive.

          Also everything is full of “edit” buttons, I mean I already edited that?

          Resizable widgets and the very extensive search for anything is awesome. But

          • you cannot create webapps (links or pwas)
          • the work profile is not greyed out when locked, and there is no unlock/lock button
      • Stantana@lemmy.sambands.net
        3·
        8 months ago

        I’m not a fan of all the permissions it needs, I know they’re reasonably used for features but it basically requests all the permissions.

        I’d love to see it being based on modules, install more functions as apps. Much easier to tweak permissions.

        • N4CHEM@lemmy.ml
          0·
          8 months ago

          Why is using the GitHub release more secure than using the F-Droid build?

            • N4CHEM@lemmy.ml
              3·
              8 months ago

              Thanks, I know about reproducible builds, but I still don’t see how the GitHub release is more secure than the F-Droid build. In both cases you need to trust whoever built the apk.

              It is known that F-Droid uses the published source code, reviews it for anti-features, and they build hundreds of apps used by thousands of people. If they did any tampering or had a security hole we would learn about it pretty fast (we just need one user of one of their built apps to report).

              On the other hand using a GitHub release we need to trust the developer of the app: trust that the source code has no malicious code in it (or review the code ourselves, does anybody do that?), there’s no third party reviewing it, and trust that the apk they release uses exactly the published code. The user base of an individual app’s GitHub release is way smaller than that of all apps built by F-Droid, so by chance it would take way longer for users to detect any security problem.

              So, as I see it, it boils down to either trusting a big community with a long story of building and providing FOSS apps, a good reputation, and offering reproducible builds on all apps that managed to achieve them; or trusting dozens of different developers, most of whom we know nothing of.

  • ᴅᴜᴋᴇᴛʜᴏʀɪᴏɴ@lemmy.world
    2·
    8 months ago

    I spent a few hours trying any alternatives I could find on FDroid, even Aurora and just blocking network access.

    Lawnchair has a giant empty space on the dock when you hide the search bar, wasting screen space.

    Ended up back on Nova.

    We need more options. We don’t need any more “minimalist” text launchers though.

  • Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml
    2·
    8 months ago

    I haven’t found one that I like as much. My biggest hangup, and this is probably dumb, is the ability to edit the icons for PWAs so they don’t show the stupid browser icon that screams “I’m a web shortcut!!!”. I tried Hermit as a PWA/lite app replacement and Android just slaps the hermit badge on it instead. For whatever reason that annoys me enough to stick with Nova.

    • talentedkiwi@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      8 months ago

      Lawnchair hasn’t had a release since 2018. I find it to be a bit buggy and sometimes won’t redraw the home screens. This makes me need to force close the launcher from the settings. I usually clear the cache too, just to be safe.

      Just tempering expectations for anyone else looking at it. If anyone knows of a fork that is more recent let me know. Maybe someone else is maintaining somewhere.

  • KuudereEnthusiast@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    8 months ago

    There is lawnchair launcher

    But it’s been abandoned for a long time now

    It was a damn fine launcher

    It’s still usable, might be worth giving a try

    • Hubi@feddit.de
      1·
      8 months ago

      I have used Lawnchair for years and I’ll never switch as long as it’s usable. It’s the best one around IMO, very functional and pretty.