Feature Requests • Visual customization
One of Niagara Launcher's main goals is to stay simple, so we only implement some requested customization features. You can read about Niagara Launcher's design principles here: Niagara's Design Principles.
How we track requests
We track feature requests and bug reports on our feedback board. However, we have decided to mention important posts here briefly.
On this page, you will find common feature requests and our stance on them in a condensed form.
Some of these entries will not have their own post on the feedback board, since we do not feel like they warrant a discussion.
Also, we categorize these requests for our and our users' convenience:
- ✅ Added
- 🚧 Currently being worked on
- 📝 Planned
- 💬 In discussion
- ❌ Not planned
Common feature requests
💬 Customizing Text Color
We think customizing the text color isn't very impactful, but we see our users' requests and are discussing whether to implement it. However, it's far down our list of priorities, so if we add this it will be in the far future.
❌ Grid Layout
The list is one of Niagara Launcher's most fundamental design elements. Adding an alternative grid mode for favorites and all apps would add too much complexity to Niagara Launcher. Every feature would have to work for lists and grids, and we couldn't only focus on the list design anymore.
❌ Center or Right-Align List
We're not planning on adding different alignment modes for Niagara Launcher's app list because we think the left alignment is already sufficient for both left and right-handers. Furthermore, new alignment options would mean designing additional layouts for every new feature that changes something on the home screen, slowing development.
✅ Customizable Niagara Clock Widget
If you have Niagara Pro, you can choose between several clock styles. Alternatively, even without Niagara Pro, you can replace the clock with a custom clock widget of your choice.
❌ Add Toggle To Move the Media Widget to the Bottom
If we add an option to move Niagara's widget to the bottom, reaching your favorites at the top would still be hard. Suppose you're having difficulties in reaching anything on Niagara's home screen. In that case, we recommend moving the Niagara widget (Move clock/favorites). Moreover, for the sake of simplicity, we'd like to add as few toggles as possible.
❌ Supporting Dynamic Calendar / Clock Icons
This is not a customization feature, but we would like to mention it here anyway. We feel it's redundant since Niagara's home widget already shows the date (along with the day of the week and month) and time.
❌ Freely Customizable Gestures
However, we recommend these alternatives. You can add the apps you frequently use to your favorites and use Niagara Launcher's pop-ups for other frequently used apps. Additionally, you can customize the tap gesture and the swipe-up gesture of our Niagara button with Niagara Pro.
❌ Sorting Apps by Color
We believe categorizing apps by their primary icon color is flawed because many apps have multicolored icons, e.g., FDroid, Slack, and almost every Google app (Google, Maps, Chrome, Play Store, Drive, News, etc.). Those apps could not be categorized well by colors. Once you know the first letters of your favorite apps, you'll be able to access your apps even faster with our alphabet than with color search.
💬 Notification Badge / Notification Dot Instead of Text Notification Preview
Showing notification dots is an alternative to notification previews, an existing feature. We want to keep everything simple, so we are wary of adding another option to Niagara's settings. Additionally, we experimented with showing numbers next to notifications but couldn't get decent results. Some apps count incoming messages; others count notifications (you get one notification for every person who writes you a message), and so on.
However, since one of our primary goals is to offer a minimalist experience, we are currently reevaluating our stance.
❌ Adding Customizable Padding / Empty Space Below the Niagara Widget
While we don't plan to offer this option, you can add an invisible third-party widget to serve as a spacer between the Niagara widget and your favorites. Many apps offer invisible widgets on Google Play (use at your own risk).
❌ Customizable distance between apps
The space between apps in the app list and favorites may seem too large for some people, especially when they customize their home screen quite a bit, but we want to keep the space between apps static. The main reason is that we do not want to bloat Niagara Launcher with numerous toggles and that the area where you can interact with entries can quickly become too small.
The space between app names will get smaller with smaller icons, so that might be a viable workaround for some.