Develop Bugs

[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!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

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.
Click to expand...
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

G4 Weather Widget

Hi,
Does anyone know why the G4 weather widget is only available using the default G4 launcher? I REALLY like it, but can't seem to export it :/
Cheers
Darren

It's just part of the LG launcher and relies on the launcher to work. There are many other great weather apps with included widgets that you can choose from though

I really hate how the LG widgets are tied to the launcher. OEM launchers are terrible.
Fortunately, there is a Zooper widget for it.

I've never found an OEM widget that is NOT tied to it's launcher. Having used HTC, Samsung, and LG phones, it's always the case. Once you switch to an alternative launcher, you lose any OEM-specific widgets. Just the way it is unless someone ports them to be used outside of the OEM launcher.

rsbenedict said:
I've never found an OEM widget that is NOT tied to it's launcher. Having used HTC, Samsung, and LG phones, it's always the case. Once you switch to an alternative launcher, you lose any OEM-specific widgets. Just the way it is unless someone ports them to be used outside of the OEM launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, absolutely correct.

XWidget has one that looks exactly like it. It doesn't change color to match your background though.
Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Transparent clock & weather has a nice looking weather widget. Very configurable, and worth a look imo.

how about forget the widget and just swipe up...or over to google now?

I would love a launcher where google now was the first page, the home page. So whenever I turned on my phone, it was right there front and center.

partylikeaninjastar said:
I really hate how the LG widgets are tied to the launcher. OEM launchers are terrible.
Fortunately, there is a Zooper widget for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers guys, Just found the Zooper Widget. It is pretty amazing...

Do you think exporting it would work on the G3/G2?

rsbenedict said:
I would love a launcher where google now was the first page, the home page. So whenever I turned on my phone, it was right there front and center.
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Click to collapse
Ummm.... Google now launcher on play store???

bdizzle1686 said:
Ummm.... Google now launcher on play store???
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Click to collapse
You didn't read my post carefully. With Google Now Launcher, you have to scroll to the right to get the left-most screen which is google now. I would like one where the HOME PAGE, the page that appears when you first turn on the phone to be Google Now, no scrolling necessary. So that Google Now is front and foremost and you'd have to scroll to get the other pages. If Google Now Launcher would allow you to make Google Now the default page, then it would be good (along with being able to resize icons--they're too big, and change the overall layout grid).

Those who want G4 weather widget with Smart notice, just search XDA, there is a guide available to make the two work on any lanucher.

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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Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

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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Click to collapse
Well, I already mentioned the two features which I really need. I don't need anything else.
It seems, Nova is quite smooth :good:

Can someone reccomend me a launcher?

I am having a really hard time finding a launcher I like, and it seems the only one that gets the closest to what I want comes with Oxygen OS, but thats not avaliable on other ROMs as far as I know. I would like quick pulldown for notifactions anywhere on launcher, pull up on app drawer, again anywhere on launcher and ability to change icon packs, hide apps. I found Lawnchair was pretty good, but it lags a TON.

Nova paid version.

Agreed, Nova Prime is by far the best. It gives you so many options you can make it look and act like anything.
Add some icon pack and you're covered 100%.
Even free version of Nova is quite powerful so it's still a good choice if you're not willing to spend money (you don't get gestures with free version though).
P.S.: it goes on sale every now and then so you can wait a bit to get it cheaper. Holiday season is coming, sales are to be expected.
Sent from my OnePlus 3 using Tapatalk

drmuruga said:
Nova paid version.
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Click to collapse
I own it, used to use it on LG V10. It doesn't have 2 of the things I want though. Quick pull qs pulldown, and app drawer swipe from anywhere on screen, those 2 are huge for me.

lawnchair...stable enough..light and quick.
still in beta on playstore

ZVNexus said:
I am having a really hard time finding a launcher I like, and it seems the only one that gets the closest to what I want comes with Oxygen OS, but thats not avaliable on other ROMs as far as I know. I would like quick pulldown for notifactions anywhere on launcher, pull up on app drawer, again anywhere on launcher and ability to change icon packs, hide apps. I found Lawnchair was pretty good, but it lags a TON.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Nova Prime, or (as odd as it may seem) the Microsoft Launcher. The thing is free and with some surprising little nifty features like pulling up on the app drawer to reveal some hidden shortcuts for controls like Wi-Fi, bluetooth, flashlight, a tiny bit reminiscent of the iOS Control Center.
You ALSO have the quick pulldown.
I'm amazed myself to be pleased by a Microsoft product, but there it is.
EDIT: If you decide to try it out, make sure to not forget to switch the search engine away from Bing, they're still trying to promote that. -.-

ZVNexus said:
I own it, used to use it on LG V10. It doesn't have 2 of the things I want though. Quick pull qs pulldown, and app drawer swipe from anywhere on screen, those 2 are huge for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi you can get the app drawer swipe from anywhere on screen from below steps.
1. Open nova settings
2. goto Gestures & inputs -> Gestures
3. select Swipe up gesture and assign App drawer to it.
Hit thanks if it worked for you.

nikhiltejagorantla said:
lawnchair...stable enough..light and quick.
still in beta on playstore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problem with that is that with Oreo ROMs it crashes constantly, besides that love the launcher. Just needs to be more stable.

nikhiltejagorantla said:
lawnchair...stable enough..light and quick.
still in beta on playstore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, great launcher, thanks!

After using nova prime, I don't seem to like any other launcher..

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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 )