Be nice

Thomas Künneth

About this app

Be nice is a modern Android launcher built with Jetpack Compose.

It started as a tool to launch apps in split-screen mode to avoid forced rotation on tablets and foldables, and has evolved into a full-featured home screen replacement.

Key features

- Modern design: Built entirely with Jetpack Compose and Material 3 Expressive for a smooth and responsive experience.
- App pairs and split-screen: Create app pairs to launch two apps side by side for multitasking and to avoid unwanted rotation. Works on phones, tablets, and foldables when the system allows split-screen.
- Folders: Organize your apps into groups to find them easier and faster.
- Hidden items: Optionally hide any apps; they move into a dedicated Hidden items folder that you can manage from Settings.
- Widgets: Add up to two widgets to the Favorites and widgets page for at-a-glance information. Long-press a widget slot to pick, replace or remove a widget.
- Swipe down: On the Favorites and widgets page (and additional widget pages on phones), swipe down to open an app you choose in Settings.
- Large-screen layout: On large-screen devices, the Favorites and widgets page uses a two-pane layout where the right pane can host additional widgets.
- Configurable dock: Customize the dock on the Favorites and widgets page to launch the phone, messages, browser, or your favorite apps with a single tap. Long-press a dock icon to change the app, clear the slot, or open settings.
- Grouped apps and custom labels: Group multi-launcher apps into one entry in Settings. Tap to pick an activity; long-press for app info, uninstall, favorites, and custom names. Favorite whole apps or individual activities independently.

Whether you need a full replacement for your home screen or just a better way to multitask, Be nice adapts to you.

Ratings and reviews

5*****++ for making app pairs. 3½*** as a launcher. It's early days, it'll be interesting to see where it goes. FYI: September 4 update says "Lists inside app widgets now scroll" but the Yahoo Sports large widget still won't allow scrolling through favorite teams' scores. I have it as the top widget on the additional widgets page. When I swipe over to that page the game score being shown has changed - but not each time. So it's not a reliable (albeit awkward) way to see the whole list.

it has the potential to be great! just add 2 things: 1. a niagara launcher type app list with icons and the ability to display notification to the given app 2. a more windows phone like app drawer with the option to select and jump to a letter

it doesn't work well 😭 I have been trying to use it on my redmi and it worked only once ever since that one time it hasn't worked again

What’s new

- Fix overlapping Change/Remove dialog and page menu on widget long-press
- Lists inside app widgets now scroll; long-press and page swipe still work
- Hide section headers in the swipe-down app list, matching Settings
- Fix Hidden apps overflowing; tap an app to open it
- Fix a crash when widgets fail to start