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I wanna find a launcher app that can put all icons(apps and shortcuts*) into nested folders

H

huhiha

Lurker
Don't answer too quickly. Make sure you understand what I'm talking about. There're at least 2 types of shortcuts.

I want to find an app that can manage icons on the homescreen in forms of nested folders. But unfortunately, I haven't found one so far. I tried Nova Launcher, which can create nested folders, but only APPs can be put into those nested folders(here's how, btw). I also tried Folder Organizer and Glextor, they do better than Nova Launcher, because they can include shortcuts (but not all shortcuts, I'll explain later) into those nested folders. They create shortcuts just like way we create a shortcut on the homescreen.

But there is one type of shorcuts that can't be organized by Folder Organizer or Glextor. This type of shortcuts can only be created from within an app. For example, there's a chat app that allows you to create contact member shorcuts on the homescreen from within the app. After you click "create a shortcut on the homescreen" in the app, and hit the home button of your phone, you'll see the newly created shortcut appear on the homesceen.

It would be very helpful if I can put those shortcuts inside nested folders and arrange them as I need. But so far as I know, there is no app that can put this kind of shortcuts into nested folders.

I think it's reasonable that apps like Folder Organizer and Glextor can't manage shortcuts that are already on the homescreen, because the data of these shortcuts are stored with the launcher app, and those apps can't communicate with the launcher app. So I believe the only possible app that can meet this requirement should be a launcher app.

Launchers I have tried so far:
Nova Launcher - only apps can be in the nested folders
Smart Launcher - doesn't even have nested folders
Total Launcher - can't even capture shortcuts created from within an app
 
puppykickr said:
Not sure, but Apex Launcher may do as you wish.

It used to be my favorite, but it has a toilet full of Poogle analyticts that bogged down my device.

If you can spare 200+MB of RAM devoted just to Google knowing what you are doing with your launcher...

https://apex-launcher-classic.en.uptodown.com/android

https://apex-launcher.en.uptodown.com/android
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't fully understand what you say. Do you mean Apex Launcher slows down your phone?
And what do you mean by 200MB RAM?

I just quick checked Apex Launcher Classic(com.anddoes.gingerapex). There's a comment in 2018 saying it can't capture shortcuts created on homescreen. Doesn't look promising so far...
But I'll have a try soon.

EDIT:
I tried Apex Launcher Classic and Apex Launcher. I think they can't create nested folders. It seems you didn't understand what I mean by "nested folder". I mean "folders in side a parent folder", just like folders in the file system.
In Apex Launcher(com.anddoes.launcher)'s drawer, there's an option to create new folder, and after I clicked that, a promotion page for Apex Launcher Pro(com.anddoes.launcher.pro) shows up, telling me that option is only available for the pro version. From what I see on that page, the best thing it can do is to merge 2 folders inside the drawer, so probably it won't allow nested folders(put a folder inside another).
Description on Apex Launcher Pro on Google Play also suggest the same thing:
• Powerful drawer customizations (sort apps in drawer, folders in drawer)
• Enhanced folder support (bulk add, merge folders)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
The thing with Nova is that the nested folders are different from the "ad hoc" folders you can create on the desktop by dragging one icon onto another. They are what Nova calls "drawer groups", and are populated only via Nova's settings. The funny thing is that you can drag such shortcuts into the top-level drawer folder on your desktop, you can drag a nested one out onto the desktop itself, but even then you can't drag the shortcut into the (formerly) nested one (if you could you could then drag that back into the parent and job done). Nor can you drag in an ad hoc folder of shortcuts. The only thing you can nest is a drawer group, and by definition they contain things from the app drawer.

Unfortunately I've never met another launcher that even has this degree of nesting. I've certainly not used them all, but no other I've used handles nesting at all.
 
Hadron said:
Unfortunately I've never met another launcher that even has this degree of nesting. I've certainly not used them all, but no other I've used handles nesting at all.
Click to expand...

I've made a feature request to Nova Launcher, but I'm not expecting them to implement it. Nova Launcher doesn't have a forum for feature request. The only way to do that is to send emails to them. Judging by their changelog, I don't think they'll implement this feature soon, if ever.

Anyone knows some newest developing android launchers? I'll go there and ask if they'll implement this.
 
@huhiha

"Sorry I don't fully understand what you say. Do you mean Apex Launcher slows down your phone?
And what do you mean by 200MB RAM?"

Yes.
Apex was putting an undoable strain on the limited resources of my low end devices.

The launcher itself was using about 30MB of RAM, which is fairly typical for launchers that I have tested, but the crappy Google analytics in it was using 200MB.

This being a launcher, it was always a running app.

This constant 200+MB was such a strain on a 1GB RAM device that the device was constantly crashing and restarting.

Now that Apex is gone, the problem has stopped.

I now use a fast, simple launcher called KISS that has no analyitics at all.
 
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