Lawnchair Launcher
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 9 Android launchers by recommenders
Free, open source Android launcher that people switch to from Nova and find enough. Main caveat: fewer options, glitches, and missing features like app drawer tabs.
Free, open source Android launcher that people switch to from Nova and find enough. Main caveat: fewer options, glitches, and missing features like app drawer tabs.
34 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free, open source, no spyware
“Does everything I needed from Nova and it's open source.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “should be safer from enshittification because it's FOSS”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “And Lawnchair is fully OSS and actively developed.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” - Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher”
Switched from Nova with few losses
“Lawnchair has fewer options, ie. is simpler, but I haven't, in practice, noticed any memorable differences.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Seems to do everything I wanted from Nova anyway.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “I switched to lawnchair and didn't look back”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” - Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “How to debloat your Xiaomi 15 Ultra without root access”
Good enough for daily use
“happily using for many years at this point”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “Lawnchair has been good enough for me”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “not as fancy but it works”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” Enough customization options
“I have lawnchair now (from Nova), I use it to remove the search bar, add more buttons to the dock”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “it works well enough and has enough features to satisfy my customization cravings”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “wanted to customize my icons which I don't think the stock launcher allows”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” - Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Glitches with app switching
“horribly glitchy on my Pixel 6, and also break the app drawer / switching feature.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “Niagra had the launcher / app switching issue, so did Lawnchair”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” Widgets and animations misbehave
“It's not the same experience I got from Nova (for example, the Clock widget don't work), but the adaptation is not unbearable.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “Annoying animations, widgets don't work properly”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” Lacks tabs and home pages
“all of the Nova features that I used were there (unlike Lawnchair)”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Lawnchair is good. I just really want app drawer tabs”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “It doesn't support adding pages to the home,sadly”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking”
Other Android launchers people recommend
The four most recommended other Android launchers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Launcher | 45 | 63 | 42% | 6 | 10 yrs13 owners | — |
| Kiss Launcher | 29 | 4 | 88% | 2 | 6 yrs8 owners | — |
| Lawnchair LauncherThis page | 27 | 7 | 79% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Niagara Launcher | 23 | 2 | 92% | 2 | — | — |
| Octopi Launcher | 15 | 5 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
36 of the 40 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“no issues with switching or missing features”
“see: finamp, linksheet, and lawnchair, as a few examples”
“which is what I'd personally recommend everyone to do as it's so incredibly barebones”
“I have lawnchair now (from Nova), I use it to remove the search bar, add more buttons to the dock”
“It's not the same experience I got from Nova (for example, the Clock widget don't work), but the adaptation is not unbearable.”
“nice and stable and, most importantly, not spyware”
“seems OK besides those few quirks”
“No major issues on my device with Android 13 and Lineage OS 22.2.”
“My current preference is for Lawnchair.”
“That does seem user friendly.”
“Thanks for the lawnchair recommendations, y'all.”
“happily using for many years at this point”
“And Lawnchair is fully OSS and actively developed.”
“wanted to customize my icons which I don't think the stock launcher allows”
“Niagra had the launcher / app switching issue, so did Lawnchair”
“horribly glitchy on my Pixel 6, and also break the app drawer / switching feature.”
“works much better and my battery is no longer draining for no apparent reason”
“Does everything I needed from Nova and it's open source.”
“I wouldn't have even bothered to try it out.”
“Early on, Lawnchair implemented a blacklist to hide apps they deemed “bad”.”
“it works well enough and has enough features to satisfy my customization cravings”
“Seems to do everything I wanted from Nova anyway.”
“But I'll probably stick with it.”
“should be safer from enshittification because it's FOSS”
“I just switched to Lawnchair - took me quite a while to replicate the minimal look/feel I had with Nova.”
“Annoying animations, widgets don't work properly”
“all of the Nova features that I used were there (unlike Lawnchair)”
“I switched to lawnchair and didn't look back”
“Lawnchair works totally fine with these “app action” 1×1 widgets”
“Lawnchair is the best open source launcher IMHO. It's feature reach but it does have one problem”
“Lawnchair has been good enough for me”
“Lawnchair has fewer options, ie. is simpler, but I haven't, in practice, noticed any memorable differences.”
“Lawnchair is good. I just really want app drawer tabs”
“It doesn't support adding pages to the home,sadly”
“not as fancy but it works”
“I feel like I'm downgrading by my compulsion for Brave and Lawnchair”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.