27Purple

TL;DR: Sold off, dev team was (figuratively) slaughtered, OG dev is pretty much out of the picture, new owner is planning on injecting ads into the launcher and we basically know nothing else about the future of it. I.e they’re turning it into a cash grab.

Long time Nova user, trying out others now because the Pixel launcher is too boring. Niagara for a scaled down ui. 8 apps on the home screen, rest is in a super easy to reach list on the edges of the screen. Currently on day 3 and liking it. Paid version is either €12 a year or €40 lifetime. Basically all the flashy stuff you see of it is locked behind the paywall. Hyperion is good, pretty close Nova relative. UX needs tweaking. Dock and home screen are completely separated so you can open a folder in the dock and one on the home screen at the same time. Minor things like that. Octopi I did a quick review of on the other site. Tl;dr navigation / interaction is kinda laggy (gestures, tapping, moving things), doesn’t have google feed integration but customization is top tier, better than nova imo. I left it because of the interaction issues. Smart Launcher is built around a search function. Not my thing so I moved on quickly. UI/UX is good though.

They’ve said they’re gonna honor existing paid users but there are no guarantees. Edit: They confirmed they’re honoring existing prime owners, so we’re good for now. New users face $5 subscription.

It’s a Pixel-esque launcher that aims for “pixel, but more”. I can’t remember why I didn’t stick with it which to me means it can’t have ducked, but it didn’t make a big impression.