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Android launcher developers team up in bid to get Google to fix the experience

Third-party launchers are great, but the quality of experience has degraded over the past few years because of lots of changes to Android that have basically broken the experience. This has led Android launcher developers to team up and give Google what for.

Sadly, the experience when using Android launchers like Nova, Lawnchair, Niagara et al you might not get the smooth experience your device deserves. Things like the animations into the Recents menu barely work, gestures can sometimes just fail, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can’t access some functions like the screenshot or “Select” option on Pixel phones. On other devices you might not get key information like RAM allocation or other key device data.

Using a third-party launcher on Android should be much better, which is why some of the developers behind the biggest home screen replacements have joined forces to get the biggest survey of its kind. The results will be used to give Google some needed feedback and are set to be presented to the Android team and Google at an event in October, according to the official Lawnchair Telegram channel (h/t Android Police).

The official Smart Launcher account on X (formerly Twitter) shared a direct link to the survey, which we implore you to fill out. This is a great way to give Google some much-needed feedback, as the Android launcher space is a core tenet of why we love the operating system. It’s a by-the-numbers multiple choice questionnaire asking details like what OS version, device, launcher, and navigation method you are using.

Like anything, the more people that respond and provide information, the better the data that the people behind this survey can provide to Google in the coming weeks. Whether Google will make changes to the core of Android that’ll improve the experience with Android launchers in the coming months remains to be seen.

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Avatar for Damien Wilde Damien Wilde

Damien is a UK-based video producer for 9to5Google. Find him on Twitter: @iamdamienwilde. Email: damien@9to5mac.com


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