Lawnchair seems to be a better experience over stock, as it has a lot more customisation options. Though my experience with it is that it has rather slow updates and icon packs don't work saperate from the app drawer and home screen. It should, but it didn't work for me

I switched to KISS launcher a while ago (years ago?)and I absolutely love it. It is search based but you can have tags for apps which allow you to have something akin to folders. If an app fits two tags then so be it, it will show up in all the tag folders, so organisation can be much cleaner. It is also blazingly fast and keeps things clean.

Kvaesito: minimal UI with many unique customizations/features.

I wish Niagara was FOSS and actually let me costumize my home screen without AI bullshit. I just like my alphabetical list.

I primarily switched (to Kvaesitso) because I don't use Google search and it was impossible to remove the Google search bar from my home screen on a Pixel. I do enjoy the greater degree of customization as well.

I use kvaesitso and love it, but it's certainly an opinionated approach. But while it is search focused, you can customize it to make it more traditional

Niagara or Pro Launcher. I accidentally paid for the latter before realizing Niagara does the trick just fine.

I use Kvaesito and its the best

Instead of the usual home launcher its based on a search bar for the apps as well as their internal shortcuts for stuff like Assistants and apps Cross-referencing others

So I can type in timer and instead of having to search for the clock, the timer, etc it just shows the timer section of the clock, make a new timer and a few ones I already have

The minimalist ones take a different approach, and are really great at encouraging less phone use: minimo launcher, fokus launcher, olauncher and its variants, etc. There's some theory around why grayscale and text are less addictive than colorful icon grids, widgets, and multiple pages, but I can't find it right now.

I'm currently on murine launcher because I have a tiny phone, but I use black and white icons with arcticons.

For me is important what launcher (or any other app) doesn't have. No bloatware, no games, no ads nor trackers. And then number two - it should have enough features for simple use, after that it should look simple. Yagni launcher on F-droid.

I really enjoy Niagra, I installed it three times before it clicked with me. It is also telemetry that I moved away from. I had nova for years but it got slopped.

I think Olauncher is on my tablet and I likeit. Lightweight and foss.

Went from Nova via a few others and ended up with a minimalist beauty that demands nothing : Mako (f-droid) (I miss the double tap off but use the quick settings 'lock screen' button).

Lawnchair because I can stack widgets on each other, and very fast

I like InkOS, minimalist, in an epaper kinda way. Just dont like the notification module but I disable it. And I use Snowbell as the font, love it.

Yantra launcher for weirdos who like the feeling of cli. I used to love tui-launcher but it was abandoned. I tried switching back to normal launchers but even minimal search-based ones feel clunky. It's the only kind I've tried that felt qualitatively different

If you prefer a minimalist experience, Victoria launcher is the more customizable app with KISS bwing more minimal, while MetroWin launcher provides a super customizable Windows-Phone-like experience

I do it to disable things in the launcher that ships with my phone. In many versions of android you can't get rid of that dumb search bar wiget or that even worse experiences page if you swipe left from home. I don't ever use them, but they get in my way, it's my phone I want them gone.

As a side note I also dislike circle icons, but I dislike even more that they change the shape with every major release of android.

Aio launcher has changed my world

unLancher, baby. Just...look at it.

https://f-droid.org/packages/com.jkuester.unlauncher/

Sleek. Simple. Sexy. Salubrious.

I've been using the TUI Launcher for like a decade now. It's kinda been abandoned, but it still works perfectly fine.

I used Niagra for the longest. But there's no way to pay for pro outside GPS. Like a lot of apps I've paid for over a decade ago I can no longer use (shakes fist at SleepAsAndroid). That said, I'm trying a new one called Minimal SL from F Droid. I was immediately drawn to it because of the Minimal Phone 2 launcher, which I hope becomes available or ported soon. I may buy one soon as a primary phone and keep my now primary phone for bigger screen tasks/media.

So far I like the shortcut for apps. Start typing the app name and it immediately opens. A simple task list at the bottom.

I can somewhat recommend Dragon Launcher. It's gesture based around "app circles". You arrange your apps in custom circles of arbitrary nesting and swipe to get there.

The main downside imo is the extreme pace of development; most releases fix this or the other issue while introducing new bugs. The config format also doesn't appear particularly stable through upgrades, it's probably time for a config reset for me.

Well you switch when you feel like something could be better, like for me, I personally got OCD so I dont like a grid of apps, hence I use those minimal launchers that don't have icons and just a search bar. I know evey app I have installed and delete any if I dont see a use for it in the near future, but that's just me.

Currently using fokus launcher

I've been using MinimalSF for a while now and really love it 🥰

I've been using Quick Search for a couple months now and it's amazing. Every other launcher feels useless without this. But it seems to be vibe coded so a head's up.

It has one search bar for everything. Appa, app shortcuts, browser bookmarks, searching online, contacts, files, etc. Lots of other useful features too.

Fossify Launcher. You can rename any app as you wish.

Any specific suggestions for Nvidia Shield TV? The regular one is being progressively enshittified. I need something basic open source, but not too ugly looking.

I agree with yoiu. People's obsession with customizing their UI to be JUST SO seems really weird to me, whether it's Linux or Android. I'm utilitarian at heart and for sure there are some UIs that work better for some things than others, but overall I find most of the discussion in this space motivated by control-freakery over practicailty, like people would rather spend time researching, installing and customizing their UI than actually doing anything with it.

And that's fine. People are allowed to have their hobbies, but I, like you, wondered what was wrong with me that I didn't care about it until I realized there is nothing wrong with me at all, it's just not something i have interest in.

Though I will admit I did get into that WIndows power user UI editor thing that let you snap windows to a predetermined grid for a little bit, but that's when I was spending a lot of time transferring information between 3 different apps....

I like having my homescreen completely blank (not including the wallpaper), so I use Discreet Launcher. It's not the only launcher that does this, I think KISS and Unlauncher can achieve the same result, but Discreet doesn't make you search for apps by typing and uses a regular app folder instead. Pairs well with Arcticons pack, too.

Dragon launcher after the big refactor is an easy recommend. I love not even having to look and being able to muscle memory all my apps.