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Steve Adams

Suspended
Original poster
Dec 16, 2020
954
684
What's evreyone's favorite launcher? I enjoy using microsoft launcher. Ties in great with my computers.
 

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,336
4,726
Georgia
I tried the MS Launcher. It didn't support Gesture Navigation at the time. So, I didn't care for it. It only supported the older 2-button Navigation and 3-button Navigation options. It was also a little slow and buggy compared to the default Google launcher on the Pixel.

It's too bad. As I was trying to go all Microsoft at the time and replace everything Google on my phone. I tried MS Outlook, Launcher, Office, OneDrive, Bing, OneNote, Lens, News, SMS Organizer and Cortana. About half of them fell flat. Either buggy, poor OS integration or simply weren't nearly as good as the Google defaults.

I just use the Google Launcher. I don't use widgets or notifications. I turn off everything automated I don't need or use. To maximize performance and battery life. I just need something where I can click on applications on my desktop and open them. The gesture navigation I feel is the most efficient way to deal move between programs. It's also the least obtrusive visually. It's also the most iOS like navigation.

I tried a couple other Launchers. But they all seemed to make the phone buggy and less reliable. Crashes requiring hard shutdowns were not uncommon. I did factory resets of the phone before each Launcher install. To make sure old settings or programs weren't the problem.

Really, I couldn't see what difference other Launchers offered me. To keep bothering with them. Given how I use a phone nothing seemed that different. Plus none were updated to handle Gesture Navigation yet.

Plus a Launcher seems like it would have access to more sensitive usage data than the average app. To let some little unknown company have access to it. It's bad enough Google and MS already have access. I can at least have some faith in their IT security competency.
 

Steve Adams

Suspended
Original poster
Dec 16, 2020
954
684
I tried the MS Launcher. It didn't support Gesture Navigation at the time. So, I didn't care for it. It only supported the older 2-button Navigation and 3-button Navigation options. It was also a little slow and buggy compared to the default Google launcher on the Pixel.

It's too bad. As I was trying to go all Microsoft at the time and replace everything Google on my phone. I tried MS Outlook, Launcher, Office, OneDrive, Bing, OneNote, Lens, News, SMS Organizer and Cortana. About half of them fell flat. Either buggy, poor OS integration or simply weren't nearly as good as the Google defaults.

I just use the Google Launcher. I don't use widgets or notifications. I turn off everything automated I don't need or use. To maximize performance and battery life. I just need something where I can click on applications on my desktop and open them. The gesture navigation I feel is the most efficient way to deal move between programs. It's also the least obtrusive visually. It's also the most iOS like navigation.

I tried a couple other Launchers. But they all seemed to make the phone buggy and less reliable. Crashes requiring hard shutdowns were not uncommon. I did factory resets of the phone before each Launcher install. To make sure old settings or programs weren't the problem.

Really, I couldn't see what difference other Launchers offered me. To keep bothering with them. Given how I use a phone nothing seemed that different. Plus none were updated to handle Gesture Navigation yet.

Plus a Launcher seems like it would have access to more sensitive usage data than the average app. To let some little unknown company have access to it. It's bad enough Google and MS already have access. I can at least have some faith in their IT security competency.
Yes, it took them a few tries to get it right. It's REALLY good now. I keep trying other launchers but keep going back to MS.
 

Steve Adams

Suspended
Original poster
Dec 16, 2020
954
684
I just switched back to MS launcher from Nova. I just like the baked in MS'ness.
 

Awesomesince86

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2016
2,482
3,302
If 3rd party launchers worked with Android gestures properly, then I would save Nova. But since they all have an awful delay and are stuttery with androids native gestures, I just stick with Samsung stock launcher.
 

MarkX

macrumors 65816
Sep 10, 2015
1,201
1,495
Fochabers, Scotland
If 3rd party launchers worked with Android gestures properly, then I would save Nova. But since they all have an awful delay and are stuttery with androids native gestures, I just stick with Samsung stock launcher.
I still prefer buttons so that isn't an issue for me, but yeah, if you use gestures then that is an issue!
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
Samsungs stock launcher is really great, especially when paired with Good Lock. I used to like Nova, but they got lazy and stopped supporting some phones that I had used.
 
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Ludatyk

macrumors 603
May 27, 2012
5,963
5,131
Texas
Samsungs stock launcher is really great, especially when paired with Good Lock. I used to like Nova, but they got lazy and stopped supporting some phones that I had used.
My sentiments exactly!

Having Good Lock in tandem with Samsung Stock brings so much customization to OneUI, but my only issue with Samsung Stock is icon pack selection is mediocre compared to using a 3rd party launcher.
 
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ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,638
Indonesia
With OneUI, I never feel I need an alternative launcher. It has everything I expected for a launcher.
Pretty much all OEMs' skins are becoming feature parity with each other. I used to use Nova when Chinese skins were mostly a bad copy of iOS. But nowadays even most of the Chinese skins have app drawers and closer to regular Android launcher.
 
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MiniApple

macrumors 6502
Sep 3, 2020
361
462
Launcher10
  • if you love(d) the UI/UX of Windows Phone (not Windows 10 Mobile) and want even more customization.
  • free option with adds or a one time payment for all functions and no adds for 3-5$, totally worth it!
  • developer website
  • PlayStore
I'd pay 100$ to have such a start screen/launcher on iOS/iPadOS!
 

M5RahuL

macrumors 68040
Aug 1, 2009
3,469
2,133
TeXaS
Used Nova for the longest time..but currently liking the stock Sammy feel on the Note and S21
 

Ethrem

macrumors 6502
May 10, 2009
368
340
Hyperion with Sesame or KISS launcher.

I really like the look of Hyperion but KISS is open source, tiny, speedy, respects privacy (no data connection), and has Spotlight-like search functionality.
 

alphasports

macrumors regular
Dec 12, 2019
172
148
Used Nova Prime for a long time, switched to MS a couple years ago, really pretty good, I love the swipe-up "spare drawer", better execution than Nova's side-swipe "taskbar". Still do occasionally go back to Nova. Can't stand any of the stock launchers, so featureless...
 

Steven-iphone

macrumors 68000
Apr 25, 2020
1,953
16,490
United States
Nova 7 on 8-inch tablet
MS Launcher on Pixel phone

Tried MS Launcher on the tablet, the graphics are not optimized for the tablet in my experience - icons too small, unable to resize.
 
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PeterJP

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2012
1,136
896
Leuven, Belgium
I'm using Nova on my S10+. It's one of the reasons why I'm in doubt if my next phone should be an iPhone. I've got Nova set up all nicely, with a decent calendar overview from Outlook that still leaves enough space for a couple of icons to the side of it. I also have a shower radar and weather forecast widget. Best of all, these widgets are interactive, so I can scroll through my agenda without having to open the app.

Is anything like that possible with the new iOS widgets or 3rd party tools like Launcher?

[Edit] I just found WidgetSmith which looks pretty nice!
 
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alphasports

macrumors regular
Dec 12, 2019
172
148
Nova and MS launcher are both great, used Nova for years then switched to MS for greater functionality plus I like the connect to my Office 365 account. On iphone it seems most of the widgets aren't interactive...you tap them and they open the parent app, still ok but not ideal.
 
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