this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Nova Launcher Alternative? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by Confound4082@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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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.

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[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 28 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Neo launcher is close

Kvaesitso is a great launcher

[–] rescue_toaster@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Kvaesitso is fantastic. Can get it on fdroid.

[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It doesn't use reproducible builds. using the github release directly is more secure. Just add https://github.com/mm2-0/kvaesitso to obtainium

[–] N4CHEM@lemmy.ml 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)
[–] N4CHEM@lemmy.ml 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] paradox2011@lemmy.ml 10 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I appreciate this comment. I agree with both sides of the argument to an extent, but feel that there is some unbalanced thinking with this rejection of Fdroid that's been happening. Its a hugely important service.

[–] N4CHEM@lemmy.ml 10 points 9 months ago

Yes, I feel like F-Droid has been getting some shit lately for no reason. I think it's good that Obtainium exists and that we have more options of easily getting apps outside the Play Store, and even better: FOSS apps.

However, I see a trend towards "F-Droid is bad and Obtainium has arrived to save us from it" and get the feeling that many times people don't even understand how both things work. Obtainium is basically doing what some people were doing for long time using RSS, it's not a revolution. When I tried it, it failed to properly detect the latest versions and updates of several apps, so I was personally not impressed.

[–] MaddestMax@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

To add to this, “Kvaesitso is available in the official F-Droid repository, but all features depending on non-foss external APIs were removed.” This is preferable to a lot of people.

[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 0 points 9 months ago

Fdroid is not a virus scanner you can trust blindly. You have to trust both, app devs and fdroid. I fully agree with what you write. Most devs do not yet publish reproducible builds. Maybe Fdroid should've created a separate repo just for them and depreciating the old repo over time. There's no way for the user to know if it is a reproducible build or not right now. I prefer fdroid with reproducible builds over obtainium but in it's current state it's ambiguous which method you should use. I lean towards obtainium. In hindsight I should'nt have stated it that confident

[–] 6daemonbag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Seconding Kvaesito. Like many launchers, there's some getting used to but I'm loving it.

[–] registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 3 points 9 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.

[–] therebedragons@lemmy.ml 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Neo needs an update. Still working but giving me more issues on Android 14.

[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago

No major bugs on my pixel 6

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

What kind of issues, and what ROM?

[–] therebedragons@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

Been using it on stock pixel7a for a while and it keeps getting slower when I swipe to go home and the app drawer will a lot of times open but then not allow me to press any apps until I close the drawer and open it again.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)
  • 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 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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
[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml -1 points 9 months ago

How do you want to open the drawer? Upwards? You can chabge it to right/left swipe

If you mean the widget edit button, there's plans to change it, and to add it to the three dots menu, afaik. In the meantime you can hide it in the settings.

How do you create webapps?

I click on install in fennec and it appears on my favorites list and I can search it, and tag it. It does not appear on the homescreen like on other launchers.

I don't use work profiles anymore, I didn't know that. Hopefully there's already an issue for it on their github page