Octopi Launcher
Ranked 5 of 9 Android launchers by recommenders
Simple, polished Nova Launcher replacement that feels intuitive and works well on phones, tablets and foldables. Common caveat: widget resizing and some shortcut and gesture features are missing.
Simple, polished Nova Launcher replacement that feels intuitive and works well on phones, tablets and foldables. Common caveat: widget resizing and some shortcut and gesture features are missing.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Feels like a polished Nova replacement
“It is the perfect Nova Launcher replacement. The UI and features feels like a more polished Nova and transitioning to Octopi is such an intuitive process.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Octopi Launcher is more modern, more refined Nova replacement that you are looking for.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “it is exactly what you are looking for - a smoother, better Nova Launcher”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” - Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher”
Simple, uncluttered, does what it should
“It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “Pretty good so far, and I'm happy to remove the useless Google search bar”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Simple, does exactly what it should. Works great on foldables, as well.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking”
Works reliably across phones and foldables
“It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “Simple, does exactly what it should. Works great on foldables, as well.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Works great, rock solid, zero issues.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” - Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking”
Customizable without needing setup
“It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher” “Octopi supports it. In settings you can set "open folders by swiping".”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “it has swipe up/down functionality”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “uLauncher”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Widgets don't resize properly
“I liked it, but when I added a 4x1 widget (meteoblue forecast), that didn’t properly resize to the size available.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Slightly better widgets than lawnchair, but still sizing issues.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” Missing gesture and shortcut features
“My only missing feature so far is more extensive gesture support.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “Some shortcut functionality seems missing in Octopi that was present in Nova.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “these are impossible to link to a home screen icon”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” Dock and settings feel messy
“death by a thousand cuts. The dock looks like hot garbage when you flip to landscape mode”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking” “chaotic settings, can't even disable background picture for dock”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher”
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 Launcher | 27 | 7 | 79% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Niagara Launcher | 23 | 2 | 92% | 2 | — | — |
| Octopi LauncherThis page | 15 | 5 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
26 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it has swipe up/down functionality”
“these are impossible to link to a home screen icon”
“I do use shortcuts, even with Octopi.”
“Octopi doesn't force a search bar, or even a dock.”
“Octopi supports it. In settings you can set "open folders by swiping".”
“it presently doesn't work with Octopi Launcher -- and I'm going to keep using it anyway”
“Only missing features so far is more icons on the drawer in width and top-used.”
“chaotic settings, can't even disable background picture for dock”
“Octopi es an excellent replcement.”
“It can do pretty much everything Nova did for me and more besides.”
“I did not like Octopi or KISS.”
“It's also working perfectly for me!”
“It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones.”
“Some shortcut functionality seems missing in Octopi that was present in Nova.”
“My only missing feature so far is more extensive gesture support.”
“death by a thousand cuts. The dock looks like hot garbage when you flip to landscape mode”
“Pretty good so far, and I'm happy to remove the useless Google search bar”
“I'll happily use Octopi on my tablet”
“Otherwise, Octopi fits with everything else I want to do, so I'm buying the dev a coffee.”
“I liked it, but when I added a 4x1 widget (meteoblue forecast), that didn’t properly resize to the size available.”
“Slightly better widgets than lawnchair, but still sizing issues.”
“it is exactly what you are looking for - a smoother, better Nova Launcher”
“It is the perfect Nova Launcher replacement. The UI and features feels like a more polished Nova and transitioning to Octopi is such an intuitive process.”
“Octopi Launcher is more modern, more refined Nova replacement that you are looking for.”
“Simple, does exactly what it should. Works great on foldables, as well.”
“Works great, rock solid, zero issues.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.