My criticism of Bliss launcher and how to install stock Android launcher?

/e/OS Foundation & Community /e/OS experience
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I have tried out the Bliss launcher, which is stock launcher for /e/. I don’t like it how restrictive, non-intuitive, clunky it is. This is one of the worst Android launchers I have tried in my life.

Restrictive:
You can’t place app icons where you want, you can’t add widgets together with apps, you can’t see all installed apps (you must know their name to search it. Do not know app’s name? Well, too bad, we will not show all the installed apps, you must go in settings and view all apps there.). You can’t change wallpaper. There is no built-in screen recorder. Want to place screen brightness slider to more faster accetable space (it requires 2 swipes from top to access it, but I want 1 swipe)? Well, too bad, you can’t.

non-intuitive:
Want to take a screenshot and wonder why standard button combination (Power + volume down (or similar combinations)) doesn’t work? Well, you have to dig deep into settings and manually enable screenshot function. WHY??? Who the hell make these decisions? Want to add the most basic and essential thing to your upper panel (such as battery percentage indicator)? Dig deep into settings again. It is not like any modern regular Android launcher puts that option into upper panel settings.

clunky: the launcher seems kinda clunky. animations are not smooth enough (I am not talking about lag) and it looks dated (example - search space in settings has not round corners). Some of the parts of the launcher looks like it is from Android 4.0

My question is: Why? Why you just don’t take the original stock Android launcher? It is bland, but very functional and damn good. It is functional, non restrictive and looks and feels modern. Why do you burn your valuable developer time on something like this? Do you really think, that few developers that you have working on Bliss launcher is better than Google’s developers, which developed the stock Android launcher? I would understand this decision, if there would be real need, but there isn’t. Purism is developing Phosh, because there are no other good alternatives (well maybe KDE touch, but there are issues with that). Phosh is still in very early stages, but it is already dominant DE for GNU/Linux phones (including Pinephone and other unofficial OSes).

I like how you made the Easy installer and how well it works. I like that you are making people easy to install custom, privacy respective rom. I just don’t understand why are you doing this.

How do I install official (but degoogled) Android launcher like in GrapheneOS?

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You may discover insights into Bliss design story here.

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In f-droid you will find a lot of Launchers. Install one of them and set it as default on first start and all is fine.
I could point you to trebuchet launcher (standard LOS launcher) but I’m not allowed to post any links. But you can PM me if you want

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Matter of taste i think, for me Bliss is the only usable launcher for Android. I tried a lot, i just find all of them so ugly and non intuitive. If there was no bliss i probably did not use /e/! But it would be nice to include Trebuchet into /e/ also, to make everyone happy.

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If Bliss is the only reason for using eOS you can use any other custom rom and installing Bliss from F-droid .

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Why is @anon22100416 's post flagged?? This is ridiculous.

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I don’t understand it. The admin has something against me.

@Manoj please see. Other people don’t understand it too. Do you want that I quit here ? Than say it and I will leave

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Totally agree about Bliss. From what I’ve read here it seems (?) /e/ uses it as an easy or more familiar UI for people used to an iPhone? That seems laughable because most iPhone users spend $$$$$$$ on those phones, and are never, ever likely to switch to something else.

Totally disagree about the easy installer though… It was clunkier than Bliss IME.

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Hi @Bum112 , Many don’t like Bliss at all, or just various features of it. But many others do like it and use it all the time I expect. For myself, I quite like it but I don’t use it very often. Using Trebuchet at the moment and I’ve enjoyed using Kiss in the past for a minimal uncluttered configuration.

Whatever the rom and whatever the launcher it always takes a bit of time to get used to the settings and get them how you like.

There is a quick pull down option to get to the brightness slider; just enter quick in the settings search box.

Likewise, enter percent in the settings search box to be shown the setting for that. Not laborious.

Enjoy using eOS! :slightly_smiling_face:

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There is quite a bit about Bliss in this post from @gael

I am one of the “hard-core Android users” he refers to and I don’t like Bliss, because I am used to - and I like - ‘traditional’ Android launchers.

One of the great things about Android is that there is almost always a choice: if you don’t like something you can almost always find an alternative that you like better. So, after using OpenLauncher for a while, I ended up with Lawnchair 2 (from Aurora Store), because, unlike OpenLauncher, it allows you to to resize homescreen icons.

Personally, I think that /e/ OS should offer a choice of launchers, in the Setup Wizard, but @GaelDuval like Bliss, and he’s the man paying the wages :slight_smile:

I really wouldn’t let Bliss put you off using /e/ though. Install a different launcher, and enjoy a great OS!

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The only problem i see is that you can’t install the latest version of Trebuchet as far as i know, solution could be that /e/ contains Bliss and Trebuchet, and if you want another your free to install it.

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I like Bliss launcher and as someone who migrated myself and other family members from an iPhone, I very much appreciate its simplicity and familiarity.

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Mm, I did, actually. the Fairphone community has a fair amount of people who switched from Apple to Android because FP has a unique selling point, not offered by Apple.

I do like bliss since it is familiar, however for me it was simply too buggy. Sometimes, installing app updates would completely crash the layout and I had to start from scratch. So I see it’s potential but wish /e/ would get back to work on it. Many issues are yet to be addressed.

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I also had many similar frustrations and consequently questions about Bliss. Eventually, after trying a number of different launchers, I settled on Omega.
I understand trying to take advantage of the popularity of Apple to get a head start on marketing, but I agree with others that there should be a choice on installation or going with fruit or desserts. As someone who doesn’t like the ‘modern’ flat styles I also find the continued drive to make all the foundational apps even more bland and featureless questionable. But I’ve already switched to Omega launcher so I just try to ignore the other ‘developments’ because my phone is a tool, not my life.

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I like Bliss but would like more flexibility in how and what I be changed to fit individual preferences.

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Initiated already quite a while ago, but not outdeated at all - there is already a discussion on Bliss with lots of ideas…
Just check it out.

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You’re totally right, I don’t understand the need to waste precious resources for the project when there is such a perfect launcher as Lawnchair 2 that would be way better as default launcher than this problematic Bliss

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The ‘I like Bliss - I hate Bliss’ argument has been a part of /e/ since day one. In general users who come from a pure Android background hate it while those who have used iOS like Bliss.
The fact that there are so many launchers available on Google Play Store or FDroid in itself points at the fact that one design will not please all.
The idea behind the Bliss design was to have an easy to understand launcher which had almost no learning curve to it.
Have you every tried explaining how to install apps to a non-tech person over a long distance call?
I have. I tried to explain how to install whatsapp to a relative of mine. This person has a MiUI stock ROM which means finding Google play store , searching for whatsapp, downloading and installing it.
Even after an almost hour long call he was not able to get it right. Finally had to ask his neighbor …a teenager to install it for him !
The concept of swiping down for notifications , swiping up to open folders showing apps can all be a bit confusing to some folks. That is where an all icons on the main screen design helps.
All said and done as I mentioned earlier there are a hundreds of Launchers available. Android allows you to install your own set of apps.
While the developers of the launcher continue their attempts to modify and improve the design to suit all tastes…we can always use a launcher which suits our needs.

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I solved the issue by installing LineageOS instead. Did you know that /e/ project is a fork of LineageOS? /e/ project is modified version of LineageOS.

Also, the LineageOS for my phone is Android 10, while /e/ Project is stuck on Android 8.

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Maybe, but aspects of Bliss are not easy to understand. Especially the crap widgets on the left most screen the user can’t remove and the arrangmet of the app icons without allowing gaps. The user can despair about this. I think the /e/ project makes a lot of people not very happy with that very simple things.