Time for an official alternative to this "middle age" launcher ;)

/e/OS Smartphone Operating System Request a Feature
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Dear /e/OS team,

iPhones are ~30% of the market, and Android ~70%, but for any reason you choose to copy an OS that put all apps icons on the top left corner which you cannot reach with one hand, and makes your home screen looks like a landfill, so much you had the to invent a “Fairphone Moments” clean but ultra-limited launcher to compensate. :smiling_face_with_tear:

Sorry for the bit harsh introduction but I was so pleased to be able to relock my bootloader after installation and then so sad and angry with the home interface, not even allowing me to put a simple clock widget but forcing me to move every app icon one by one to sort them :woozy_face: :exploding_head: :smiling_face_with_tear: (crazy when you think about it, I do not want to spend so much time “cleaning” my home page…)

I do not care about customization and have been very satisfied by the default android launcher (LOS Trebuchet) for years ! In fact I never had to install a launcher… until now !

I was about to go back to the stock android Fairphone rom !!! when I finally discover an old APK of Trebuchet on XDA, fortunately working well.

BUT installing an alternative launcher is FAR TOO COMPLICATED (how ? which one ? with no crazy permissions, …) for most of the users and it seems obvious that the AOSP launcher option is cruelly missing !

The question is not about killing bliss, only to offer the AOSP launcher or LOS Trebuchet as an alternative you can easily choose at first start or activate later in the setting !

Moreover, according to my readings, this requires a minimal amount of work because it already exists (no development required) and is already part of eOS (but deactivated).

I was very close to go back to the stock android rom and leave eOS forever, how many did it ? Only because of a deactivated Trebuchet. It’s too bad.

So PLEASE in the future offer a standard android launcher as an alternative you can easily choose at first start or activate later in the setting :green_heart:. This is the best solution to satisfy both iOS and Android users.

THANK YOU in advance !

Edit : please do not reply proposing to install an alternative launcher, this is not the subject. There is a need of a clean embedded alternative :wink:

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As you might know already: you can install (and set as default) any launcher you like…

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blisslauncher-dislike-threads are its own genre on the forum, it hits every 2 weeks on average.

I’d love for this to be a topic people can vote on, as the interest in this disperses over all threads.

I think you’re right that an alternative (lawnchair is solid) needs to be available from the start (a choice in the setup wizard) vs installing separately. But it makes sense to do software development on different kind of launchers separately.

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Yes, but blisslauncher-dislike-reasons also. And there are really good reasons among them.

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I’m using a custom launcher. But for reasons i don’t know, my desktop resets almost every 2 weeks: all icons, widgets are wiped away, replaced by default icons.

And the phone freezes from time to time. I must off the screen, wait some 10 seconds and ont it to be able to use the device

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One thing is typically not mentioned: the launcher is the face of the OS to the outside. It’s the first thing the user sees and (s)he sees it every day from the first day on. Also journalists, tech bloggers, fan boys from everywhere and moaners see it and write their testimonials. And when the user fails with the simplest things in the launcher (s)he fails with /e/ and (s)he regrets the change, an iPhone just works.

That’s why it would definitely be a really good idea to show something sophisticated here, something which finds friends because it’s good and useful and convincing.

On the other hand it’s indeed not good at all when the first suggestion a new and inexperienced user gets on a naive question is: change your launcher (as almost all did).

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It is important when changing to an alternative launcher to have it set as Default in

Settings > Apps > Default apps

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Another 1 or 2 launchers to choose from would be nice, indeed. You can choose from dozens of launchers in both fdroid and playstore, though. Just pick the one you like and withdraw internet permission. Without connectivity it doesn’t matter how many permissions the app has or who made it.

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Yes, it is set as default. The described behaviour is a bug

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The solution is a simple question at startup :

Please choose you home screen look (or change it later in the settings) :

1. Apple iOS style (with example picture)
2. Android style (with example picture)

That’s all and then you please both worlds :wink:

@Curious1 please open a new thread for your issue which is not directly related to this one

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Thank you for admitting it’s related to your post, even not directly.

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I came from Blackberry 10 directly to /e/ - I never had an Apple or an Android phone before :slight_smile:

I would ask the question “Which launcher do you want?” and then present a listbox with ten typical tracker free launchers. For newbies a concrete launcher (Lawnchair) could be made bold.

OK, there would still occur the case that the only one launcher you would use is not in the list. But you could install something and change it later. That the first installed launcher could be changed (and cleanly be uninstalled) later like any other software would of course also be part of the solution.

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I use Apex Launcher Classic which is highly customizable, you can do whatever you want. Since I’m rooted I blocked internet connection for the app, so no phoning home (if any).

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More than 2 launchers is too much : people who know what a launcher is can easily install the one they want. The goal here is to address people who do not know what a launcher is and only want a stock iOS like or Android system.

Having to block permissions is not the quality standard expected and is then not acceptable

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I disagree as I recommend eOS to non tech enthusiasts especially because of the Bliss launcher. It is wonderfully minimalist and does its job. Offering a choice of launchers would create third party dependencies and a need to test all of them. You cannot offer something without ensuring its functionality.
I am glad that Murena focuses on the average user while keeping the OS open for enthusiasts, such as you are, who want to install a different launcher.
Bliss is great, but can be improved for sure. Murena has done so in the past and I am confident that they’ll continue to do so.

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  • The AOSP launcher does not create third party dependencies, nor extra testings, it is part of AOSP
  • Average users use… Android
  • Bliss is an apple fan choice, I would not call it “good”

If eOS people want more users, moreover now it is proposed on more and more smartphones, they need to provide an android launcher.

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It’s minimalist. It does the job when you mean that arranging 20 default icons on a screen is the job.

But you can test what you offer and that’s rather simple. And you can declare not taking responsibility for something you don’t own. Look, they take a lot of responsibility for their forks they can’t even fulfill, but they do. And Bliss could still be an option in the offer, they could even make Bliss the default. Where’s the problem?

If there would be a clean uninstall for Bliss many people wouldn’t argue. (This would finally solve the crash notification after each device rotation caused by a Bliss component having a serious problem with rotations which is still running in background even when you use another launcher.)

Murena has indeed not done much related to Bliss in the past. That’s why Bliss is called “middle age”. And that’s why it has been in serious critics as long as I can remember (since /e/ 0.9). And that’s why all these threads come up again and again.

Disclaimer: I’m not an enthusiast. The phone is not the center of my life. I just want to do the things I need it for as efficient as possible. That’s why I want to arrange the objects as I need them: the icons, the widgets, the dock, the screens, not as any software thinks it could be good. A paternalistic software refusing any configuration can only be wrong, always.

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Okay, any chances this request reach the development team ?

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You can file an issue in gitlab, that´s were the devs read or get involved

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I’m using lawnchair in place of Bliss launcher. I don’t mind having to use an altetnative launcher, that is freedom. However the inability to uninstall Bliss shows that this launcher is deeply integrated with the os. This is problematic because e.g. recent apps screen requires Bliss even if you use another launcher and it crashes almost everytime I switch to another user account (I always need to clear cache & storage of Bliss launcher to fix this). Not a big deal but this remains a friction to a smooth experience. If bliss is not removed, I would at least welcome fewer/no dependence on it when using other launchers.

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