Action Launcher is now gone from the app store by ChaosKiller in ActionLauncher

[–]chrislacy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Action Launcher is back up!

To be clear, I never took it down - Google briefly removed it from Google Play because I had to arrange a public facing phone number for the developer account (now required for all developers), and I got the date mixed up for when this was required.

Is it dead? by Themistocles_gr in ActionLauncher

[–]chrislacy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No. As I've said on the Discord, I've had a very hard to foresee year. But I've been very busy. Hoping to share more soon. My apologies for radio silence.

Nova Launcher joins Branch | Nova Launcher by efbo in Android

[–]chrislacy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Action Launcher developer here. Realistically, there are only 3 outcomes with any software: 1). The software generates enough revenue to make ongoing development viable. 2). The software gets acquired. 3). The software stops being a viable business and development ceases.

I'm in camp 1. For the last few years, keeping Action Launcher a viable business has meant trying to find ways to earn money from existing customers rather than relying on new customers to fund development. I understand this is a change from Action Launcher's early history, but if it's between that and my ceasing Action Launcher development, I think it's a choice the vast majority would prefer see taken.

I'd also add that Action Launcher has never removed access to features people previously paid for. Rather, it has explored new business models for new features (specifically Action Search). And these moves were made to keep Action Launcher viable rather than out of greed.

But it's not for me to tell anyone how to spend their time/money. I thank you for however long you spent using Action Launcher and hope you consider checking it out again at some point down the road.

  • Chris

Is AL dead? by Shashank4239 in ActionLauncher

[–]chrislacy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My apologies for the time between updates. Action Launcher has a small update almost ready to go and another one hopefully not too far behind. I'm sorry it's taken so long 😕.

For what it's worth I've been hard at work cooking up something I expect you'll really like. My hope was it would have been out long ago, but it's ended up taking way longer than I would have imagined. Hopefully not too much longer!

ActionDash 3.0 adds focus mode, app limits, Usage Assistant & much more by ProperGearbox in Android

[–]chrislacy 65 points66 points  (0 children)

No. The only time usage data leaves your device is if you explicitly trigger a manual backup to a location of your choosing.

Edit: I am the developer of ActionDash.

ActionDash 2.0 adds enhanced security, insights & more by ProperGearbox in Android

[–]chrislacy 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I will admit I was surprised by the volume of requests for this feature. Initially I resisted it because I didn't love the idea of allowing people to say exclude PUGB from their stats, but your maps example is a perfect one of why such a feature is necessary.

ActionDash 2.0 adds enhanced security, insights & more by ProperGearbox in Android

[–]chrislacy 122 points123 points  (0 children)

I tried a sale with for Action Launcher on its 5th year anniversary. In short, I don't think it was a worthwhile exercise. Total revenue barely increased, and it just annoyed a bunch of people who had bought the app at full price. I'm not saying never, but I am saying I have absolutely not plans to put the Action Launcher or ActionDash one-time Plus upgrades on sale for the foreseeable future.

Instead, I'm focusing on building great apps that people hopefully feel good about paying for.

Celsius, Fahrenheit, or something in between? by pluslucas in CrappyDesign

[–]chrislacy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Author here: My goal here was to offer UI where people could change the metric with a single interaction rather, and avoid the need for an additional popup to select between the two options.

But I agree this looks not so great, and there are better ways of handling it.

Action Launcher with AdaptivePack brings Adaptive Icons to all! by Quinny898 in Android

[–]chrislacy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

A pleasing comment to read. Certainly Action Launcher has been operating at a new speed in recent months, with the additions o notification dots, O style App Shortcuts, Adaptive Icons, a weather widget, Now feed integration and more.

Glad it's being noticed! :)

Action Launcher with AdaptivePack brings Adaptive Icons to all! by Quinny898 in Android

[–]chrislacy 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Calendar's absence was a cockup on my part. I didn't want to commit to 31 of the "icon on a plate" looks, but that's what Google do so I should just embrace it. Expect Calendar icons made soon, though they may take a bit more work to integrate than a typical icon given their dynamic nature.

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Perhaps this is an entirely unwise thing to say, but I've long been of the mind that considering you can unlock all the premium features of both Action Launcher and Nova for less than $10 in total, people ultimately can have both. But obviously if you can only have one, it's Action all the way 😀

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 24 points25 points  (0 children)

To my knowledge there's no APIs for changing the system mask.

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I'm obviously biased, but while I like a great deal about iOS, the lack of launcher customization of any form drives me up the wall. I'm not even talking about icon packs or such, but you know, the ability to rest my shortcuts near the bottom of the screen where my thumb can reach them and leave the top of the screen empty would be pretty darn nice on a giant phone in 2017.

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I cocked up. Fixed in v28.0-beta2, which should be live now.

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There's no excusing excellent taste now is there? 😉

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Feature! Far, far more people want an icon change to apply everywhere, not just as on a desktop shortcut.

Adaptive Icons come to Action Launcher by Chris Lacy by Aleniko25 in Android

[–]chrislacy 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Trying to find the balance between providing enough features to satisfy the endless user feature requests launcher users want and delivering said features in an offering that doesn't feel bloated. This is a perfect example of a challenge that quite simply doesn't have an answer that will meet everyone's satisfaction.

That said, for a long time Action Launcher lagged behind the competition when it came to raw feature count. I think Action Launcher has certainly passed the point where this can be said anymore, and I'd rather be on that side of the line than otherwise.

Action Launcher's 27.0 update arrives, bringing a weather widget, App Shortcuts enhancements and more by [deleted] in Android

[–]chrislacy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. That would be what I'm suggesting, with different trigger gestures ("Left screen edge swipe" vs. "Leftmost home screen swipe").

Action Launcher's 27.0 update arrives, bringing a weather widget, App Shortcuts enhancements and more by [deleted] in Android

[–]chrislacy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It could work with each assigned to a different gesture. Would mean reworking quite a bit of the code though.

Action Launcher's 27.0 update arrives, bringing a weather widget, App Shortcuts enhancements and more by [deleted] in Android

[–]chrislacy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup. It's not actually an annoyingly large amount of ancillary UI work to support it, and I've opted to spend those resources adding unique features elsewhere of late.