Develop Bugs

Icon Grid To 5x5

For the last two years I have been using ADW Launcher. When it came out at the end of 2010 I paid for ADW_EX. It has been great for me. I have tried to use the TouchWiz on the S3 but there have been two main things that kept me from using it regularly. One was fixed (by an answer in another forum).
The one that was fixed was the ability to have shortcuts to individual files on my home screen. In ADW I was able to create a shortcut with Astro File Manager. For some reason Astro does not have a way to do this with TouchWiz. Then someone pointed out that a long press on a file in ES File Manager would create a shortcut. I use a lot of individual files and that feature was great.
Now the last deal breaker for me is the lack of a 5x5 icon grid. Again, in ADW you can have a choice of icon numbers both horizontally and vertically. While 6 or 7 is too much, I like the choice. 4x4 with that gigantic screen indicator is useless. I use a couple of big widgets on my main screen and there is no room left for the important icons.
Now for the question. Is there any way to create a 5x5 icon grid on stock unrooted touchwiz?
From my point of view, Samsung is copying Apple by limiting the choices and configurability. If we could choose our icons and how they act, it would be a lot less like Apple. Personally, when I try an Apple device, I get frustrated because of the lack of control I have. I don't like someone else making my choices. One last part of my rant: I recently tried Windows 8 on a laptop. It looks like everyone is trying to copy Apple.

All this is because the motion scrolling features and eyeball sensor are TouchWiz only. I would like to move my phone to move icons around. I would like to keep the screen on time short to save battery but still be able to have it stay on when I am reading a long web page.

I'm pretty sure all the TW features stick around even if you use a different launcher. I know smart stay and tap to top work on Nova and those are the only ones I use.
Edit: all the motion features still work on other launchers. I just went through them all. Liberate yourself. I use Nova.

Alternatively, if you are rooted you can find a modded stock launcher. Or even flash a more heavily modded rom. This is where Android shines anyway. Not because of what the manufacturers allow, but what open source allows!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

dkmdlb said:
I'm pretty sure all the TW features stick around even if you use a different launcher. I know smart stay and tap to top work on Nova and those are the only ones I use.
Edit: all the motion features still work on other launchers. I just went through them all. Liberate yourself. I use Nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use nova also with the motion featres
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[Q] Nova Launcher & Spen

I would like to know if there is a way to have Nova launcher react differently or at all when taking out the Spen...I would like it to open up Snote or some app of my choosing when i remove the Spen from its slot, or at the very least, make it turn to a screen or quick memo page like it does on stock touchwiz...
PLEASE someone tell me this is possible.

That is a touchwiz feature I dont think you can do that with nova. At least you cant with stock nova. I dont know if someone can hack a way but I think they would have to tap into the spen sensor. Definitly not as easy as 123.

Damnit...so there wont be a mod or app or something I can install making it do that?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

First thing I would do, is contact the nova launcher's author, he might be able to do something.
More realistically though, would be to look at something like the program Tasker and see if you can have it respond to removing the S Pen and then perform the task of opening the desired application. I'm using nova launcher also, and removing the S Pen does initiate a sound, so even though I'm not using TouchWiz, Nova is recognizing the S Pen's removal. I'm no Tasker expert, but this sounds like something it would do.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

Contact the Nova dev. Let them know about the SPen SDK and tell them the feature you want them to add.

Supermighty said:
Contact the Nova dev. Let them know about the SPen SDK and tell them the feature you want them to add.
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distortedloop said:
First thing I would do, is contact the nova launcher's author, he might be able to do something.
More realistically though, would be to look at something like the program Tasker and see if you can have it respond to removing the S Pen and then perform the task of opening the desired application. I'm using nova launcher also, and removing the S Pen does initiate a sound, so even though I'm not using TouchWiz, Nova is recognizing the S Pen's removal. I'm no Tasker expert, but this sounds like something it would do.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
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Thabks guys!! I will do just that! Ill look into tasker for the time being and ill see that hopefully it will work out!
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You can get the S Note to open when you take out the S Pen. I this works with ADW Launcher EX, Nova Launcher/Prime, Apex Launcher/Pro, Go Launcher, Samsung's TouchWiz, etc...
From Home Screen > Menu Key > "Settings" > "S Pen" > add a check by "Open Popup Note".
Also remember that you can use the "Quick Command" with S Pen to do lots of things with. And you can customize the "Quick Command" too.
The only thing I find not working with other launchers, like ADW Launcher EX, Nova Launcher/Prime, Apex Launcher/Pro, Go Launcher, etc... is the Page Buddy. Developers out there, we would love to have and even pay for a Page Buddy that works with the other launchers.
It would be awesome if a Tasker app worked with the S Pen. Then you can customize actions to more S Pen behaviors.

Hello,
And do split-screen features work with alternative launchers ?
Thx for your answer.

neoalban said:
Hello,
And do split-screen features work with alternative launchers ?
Thx for your answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're talking about multi-window, then yes, it works just fine with nova. I have nova prime and I use multi-window just fine. I also use Tasker and Secure Settings to set my phone up so that when the s-pen is removed, it uses the samsung keyboard handwriting mode, and when the s-pen is inserted, it turns it back to Swiftkey.

nmw407 said:
If you're talking about multi-window, then yes, it works just fine with nova. I have nova prime and I use multi-window just fine. I also use Tasker and Secure Settings to set my phone up so that when the s-pen is removed, it uses the samsung keyboard handwriting mode, and when the s-pen is inserted, it turns it back to Swiftkey.
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Click to collapse
wow thats a great idea... I hate switching keyboards .. Never thought of that..
I hate typing on the samsung keyboard.But need it for the s pen writing

Need your opinion on this, please

Hello, guys.
I'm using my LG G4 stock launcher for a while. It's laggy, it's bulk and it's not even pretty.
I would love to use something which is smooth and minimalistic.
Could you guys recommend me a launcher with these capabilities?
Thanks!

Senolis said:
Hello, guys.
I'm using my LG G4 stock launcher for a while. It's laggy, it's bulk and it's not even pretty.
I would love to use something which is smooth and minimalistic.
Could you guys recommend me a launcher with these capabilities?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without a doubt Nova Launcher

I always go back to Nova Launcher. I occasionally will try different ones and I've tried most of them. None them have the features that Nova has. Just saying. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You won't be able to use any of the stock LG widgets on any third party launcher. So if that's something that's important to you, you may want to stick with the stock launcher.
If you want something with basically no customization, you could go with Google Now Launcher. It's just too basic for me and I hate not being able to use icon packs on that one. It's all personal preference though. But I highly recommend Nova. It's definitely worth paying for the paid version.
The feature that I love the most is gestures. You can double tap on the home screen to turn the screen off. Also I have a gesture set to show just the notifications with one swipe down anywhere on the home screen. Another swipe down expands the quick toggles. So it saves me from having to reach all the way to the top of the screen to expand the notifications. This is the main reason I keep coming back to Nova. Hope this helps.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Juice3250 said:
I always go back to Nova Launcher. I occasionally will try different ones and I've tried most of them. None them have the features that Nova has. Just saying. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You won't be able to use any of the stock LG widgets on any third party launcher. So if that's something that's important to you, you may want to stick with the stock launcher.
If you want something with basically no customization, you could go with Google Now Launcher. It's just too basic for me and I hate not being able to use icon packs on that one. It's all personal preference though. But I highly recommend Nova. It's definitely worth paying for the paid version.
The feature that I love the most is gestures. You can double tap on the home screen to turn the screen off. Also I have a gesture set to show just the notifications with one swipe down anywhere on the home screen. Another swipe down expands the quick toggles. So it saves me from having to reach all the way to the top of the screen to expand the notifications. This is the main reason I keep coming back to Nova. Hope this helps.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
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It really helped! Thanks. I'll try it out. Just a few more questions -
Does it negatively influence the battery life?
I don't really want to buy the prime version, so, what features will I loose without it?

I'm not sure about the battery life, but it is the most popular launcher on the play store.
If you download the free version, you'll be able to see in Nova settings which features are paid.
There's not much to lose in trying out different launchers to see what features you need and want.
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Juice3250 said:
I'm not sure about the battery life, but it is the most popular launcher on the play store.
If you download the free version, you'll be able to see in Nova settings which features are paid.
There's not much to lose in trying out different launchers to see what features you need and want.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
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Well, I already mentioned the two features which I really need. I don't need anything else.
It seems, Nova is quite smooth :good:

Anyone Not using Nova?

If so why?

I use to use Nova Prime all the time. I stopped using it when I beta tested One Ui with the Note9 and just never went back.
I think now that Hex is out and samsung seems to have everything I really want now, I just have little interest in it anymore.

I still use nova
Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk

Still use mine to haven't found any that is better[emoji16]
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jbuggy1 said:
Still use mine to haven't found any that is better[emoji16]
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Same here, I have it running on all of my phones.

I prefer action launcher, but the two are similar.

I use Nova Prime...importing/restoring the same exact settings from my OnePlus One days....

Lawnchair v2 launcher is pretty much like nova, but seems more like the pixel. I get tired of customizing Nova everytime and finding my backups.

I used ADW until Samsung support landscape then haven't switch back

First thing I install after unboxing my new phone. Nova all the way

I used to use nova, then switched to..adw... then now using default launcher.. I'm think I'm done with nova hehe. I may switch back to adw...we will see

then: nova, customize to the max
now: stock launcher at any given day, just set it up and be done with it
reason:
perhaps i feel that its due to the age factor
when i was in my university days (early 20s), i have all the time in the world to tinker around with the device, even rooting it and messing up the phone (yet i still have time to fix/reflash/rom my phone EVEN at the university premises)
now that im closer to my 30s, i just DONT have the time to mess around with my phone anymore.
work/reality/love has taken over my time which i just cant afford to allocate for phone tinkering.
not to mention Android has also matured over the years.. back when it was just kitkat or jellybean, there were TONS of mods
but now that most of those mods have baked in to the system, i just dont see any reason for me to mess around with the phone anymore.
i just use whatever that is provided by the phone.
even stock launcher feels sufficient nowadays (one ui launcher, oxygen os launcher, etc)

App launch animations on nova are very bad, its either one ui home or lawnchair v2 with pie animations.

I used ADW waaay back in the day, probably around my Note 2 or Note 3 days. Have used Nova since, it is so much better than the stock launcher even though the stock launcher has improved greatly. Nova still has so many more things you can do than the stock launcher. Plus very easy backup and restore from one device to another. I can't see a single reason to stop using Nova, it is just that much better overall IMHO.

I use Hyperion Launcher now days. Saw an article about it a few weeks ago and decided to give it a go. Im enjoying it quite a bit.

Been using nova for 3 days now..... been having some weird pop up " You're using full screen mode, Home, Back and Recent Button are hidden...blah blah blah "
How do you guys stop this from happening....

Want to use but can't get the fingerprint scanner to always show up on aod and iris recognition not working on lock screen unless I use the default launcher..

I normally always use Nova, but on the Note 10+, with gesture controls enabled, I find that the dock is too low on the phone. I tried increasing the padding, but it didn't really do much. Not sure if anybody else feels the same.

I have been switching between Lawnchair v2 and one ui. I like the stock launcher for the most part but I really like my Google feed to the left of the home screen.

+1 for Nova.

Nova Launcher

As much as I want to use Nova Launcher, it's just not as smooth and quick as the stock Pixel Launcher. Anyone else feel this way? At the same time, I have a love/hate relationship with Pixel Launcher because I love having the icon unread notification numbers on Nova as well as being able to change the home screen grid size. In the end, though, Nova is just not as quick loading apps and the app drawer.

I agree Google isn't making it easy to use another launcher on Pixel phones. It's a shame.
Nova is definitely not as smooth as the Pixel launcher. But Nova has so many advantages for me that I'll take its options over overall smoothness any day.

Ghisy said:
I agree Google isn't making it easy to use another launcher on Pixel phones. It's a shame.
Nova is definitely not as smooth as the Pixel launcher. But Nova has so many advantages for me that I'll take its options over overall smoothness any day.
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Same here.

U guys can use one plus launcher, one UI launcher and a custom pixel launcher as well with More customizations. There's a thread on telegram.

Action Launcher does pretty much everything Nova can do and it does everything stock pixel launcher does too. Including copying from recents screen and using Android 10 gestures.
Launchers can add the ability to work correctly on Pixels, Google opened up the ability for 3rd party launchers in December, Action Launcher is only one I know of that can do it without using quickstep or magisk.

smartymcfly said:
Action Launcher does pretty much everything Nova can do and it does everything stock pixel launcher does too. Including copying from recents screen and using Android 10 gestures.
Launchers can add the ability to work correctly on Pixels, Google opened up the ability for 3rd party launchers in December, Action Launcher is only one I know of that can do it without using quickstep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ones I'm referring to don't require quickstep either, just flash in magisk

shooterlgk said:
The ones I'm referring to don't require quickstep either, just flash in magisk
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Click to collapse
Action Launcher doesn't require magisk.

smartymcfly said:
Action Launcher doesn't require magisk.
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Click to collapse
Fully aware, just providing more options

I keep seeing these threads where at least one person claims Nova doesn't work correctly. Last year, I would have agreed... but I've been using Nova for months and I have forgotten about any drawbacks if there are any. The only differences I remember are a couple animations and the recents menu doesn't have suggestion icons? (which never suggested apps I wanted to use, so I don't miss it)
What's the smoothness that people are complaining about? The animations run as fast as my finger pushes things around... Is it just the quality and type of animations? If so, I want functionality far over such things. Having to use substratum/magisk to customize the Pixel Launcher was way worse than recreating my layout in Nova. If only things like TeslaUnread were still officially supported... but Google likes killing off useful things.
Feel free to help me understand what I'm missing.

jljtgr said:
I keep seeing these threads where at least one person claims Nova doesn't work correctly. Last year, I would have agreed... but I've been using Nova for months and I have forgotten about any drawbacks if there are any. The only differences I remember are a couple animations and the recents menu doesn't have suggestion icons? (which never suggested apps I wanted to use, so I don't miss it)
What's the smoothness that people are complaining about? The animations run as fast as my finger pushes things around... Is it just the quality and type of animations? If so, I want functionality far over such things. Having to use substratum/magisk to customize the Pixel Launcher was way worse than recreating my layout in Nova. If only things like TeslaUnread were still officially supported... but Google likes killing off useful things.
Feel free to help me understand what I'm missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova says in the settings that Google has not made it possible for Nova to use Android 10 gestures correctly. Google has made it work, but Nova hasn't been updated to allow it yet.

smartymcfly said:
Nova says in the settings that Google has not made it possible for Nova to use Android 10 gestures correctly. Google has made it work, but Nova hasn't been updated to allow it yet.
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Click to collapse
In my opinion, the warning is wrong. Back when I first got my phone, like half of the gestures didn't quite work. Now everything works for me.
At Nova's homescreen...
Swipe from side: Isn't triggered because you can't go back from home. Just flips pages.
Swipe from bottom: Opens app search. I'm not sure if the gesture is doing this or Nova is.
Swipe from bottom & hold: Opens recents.
Swipe from corner: Shows assistant overlay.
Everything basic works. I don't have palm swipe screenshots enabled.

My issue with Nova is the delay going back to the home screen. I can't immediately open another app. I always have to wait an extra second or click on app twice before it opens. I want the full pixel experience and it seems that Nova doesn't always deliver on it. I do occasionally go back to it until I get annoyed with my first statement.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Honestly, I've never noticed this. I guess I go home before I know what I want to click on and so I'm never quick enough to see it.
The way it's acting, it reminds me of a paused activity that needs to refresh when the app gets restored. I tried to disable battery optimization for Nova, but it didn't help. I'm not sure how to solve that.
I tried the same test on my old phone and pressing the home button actually does nothing for a split second, then Nova shows and responds immediately. But when you gesture, you want it to happen immediately... not a split second later. So in that way, Android 10 and Nova do the sensible thing and shows the paused activity.

shooterlgk said:
U guys can use one plus launcher, one UI launcher and a custom pixel launcher as well with More customizations. There's a thread on telegram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you provide a link please?

I was using Nova Launche a lot of time ago! let's going to check how does it works now!

I have no reason to use any other launcher than pixel launcher. It works just as I need.

not sure what the hoo-blah is. I have been using Nova prime beta with no issues. No problems returning home... No speed issues. The warning that is in there is talking about the gesture navigation system wide not inside the launcher. So this means you have to use the classic 3 button method to navigate (back, home, recent). IMHO this does not affect the experience at all. Definitely prefer Nova and the customization over the stock launcher. :good:
Edit:Actually just changed the nav settings and Nova is working with new gestures.

ksmullins88 said:
not sure what the hoo-blah is. I have been using Nova prime beta with no issues. No problems returning home... No speed issues. The warning that is in there is talking about the gesture navigation system wide not inside the launcher. So this means you have to use the classic 3 button method to navigate (back, home, recent). IMHO this does not affect the experience at all. Definitely prefer Nova and the customization over the stock launcher. :good:
Edit:Actually just changed the nav settings and Nova is working with new gestures.
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Click to collapse
I just switched back to Nova from Lawnchair on both my S20+ and Pixel 4XL. Nova works beautiful now and Nova Google Companion works with dark mode.

I'm on Android 11 Beta and am running Nova with no problems with gestures at all. For some reason on 10 they were not working as smooth and I would get some lag going back to the home screen. On 11, those problems have seemed to disappear.

While that's true, the closing app animation is not there and feels weird. ( Using gesture navigation )