Launchers in general

[Jim Bolster]

I use S-Launcher. It's pretty good but I wonder what I am opening myself up to by not using the default Samsung launcher. Why are third party launchers not able to do things like Notifications. Yes, I know many offer a notify add on but they don't work with all apps and not all the time.
Also, when will Samsung offer icon size and desktop arrangement like these other launchers do?

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[SpookDroid]

Hi Jim, the 'S-Launcher' is actually called TouchWiz, and it may offer icon/grid resizing in the future, but again, you never know with Samsung. That being said, what do you mean by 'notifications'? All third party launchers, as long as you grant the proper permission to access your notifications, have the same access as TouchWiz. Do you mean maybe unread counters? That, unfortunately, does depend on the launcher AND each app to support.

Some of the most popular ones (with or without the unread counter add-ons) are Nova (currently using it, very customizable and lightweight), Go-Launcher (plenty of icon packs and 'themes'), and Themer (RADICAL visual transformation of your homescreens; might not be the best performing launcher out there though, but it does make you feel like you have a totally different phone every theme you try).

 

[millerwa76]

I use Nova Launcher with the Tesla Unread Notifications add-on, and I can't say I've had any real problems with it. I can pick and choose which apps will have a notification badge, which is great because I don't necessarily want each and every app to display an unread count. I also have yet to come across an app that isn't supported by the add on. It works with AT&T Visual VM, Gmail, Inbox, Hangouts, stock email/text messaging, facebook, etc, etc.

 

[Hypnotic]

Nova all the way!!!

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[soldier45]

Lolipop Launcher.