A free Niagara alternative for Android

There’s not too much criticism I could level against Niagara, but one thing does stand out. I regularly see posts online from users lamenting the pricing of its Pro version. I was lucky enough to board the Niagara boat early, and snagged it on the cheap during its beta phase. Now that it’s a mainstream launcher, you’ll either have to run the limited free version, fork out a monthly subscription for Pro, or pay for a lifetime unlock that’s large enough to be a budget item.

Personally, given Niagara’s talents, I don’t believe the current asking price is outrageous, but for those who don’t believe a launcher should cost anything at all or have already spent cash on other launchers, it’s certainly a bone of contention. So, what if you want a Niagara Launcher-like experience but don’t want to reach for your wallet — what’s the solution?

I recently encountered Victoria Launcher. And no, I wasn’t looking for an open-source Niagara Launcher alternative in particular, but its likeness certainly piqued my interest. Victoria Launcher is, rather cheekily, named after another voluminous waterfall on planet Earth. And, unsurprisingly, it also borrows its design philosophy from its riverine rival.

The obvious tells appear almost immediately after setup. You’ll notice the option to select favorite apps that’ll be pinned to the home screen, similar to Niagara. Long-press an app to immediately add it to an existing or new folder. This is true for all apps, regardless of where you access them on the launcher. Tap and scroll the right-hand side to reveal an alphabetic jump list to access the remainder.

At the very top of the home screen, there’s room for multiple widgets in a stack and a Now Playing bar that highlights the currently playing media. Lastly, at the bottom-right of the home screen is the multi-function button, which the user can customize to open search or a specific shortcut.

The developer did a remarkable job of mimicking the look and feel of its muse.

Imitation, flattery, and all that

Victoria packs a few of its own tricks and welcome refinements.

Niagara’s free version doesn’t support widget stacking, but Victoria makes this one of its crowning features right off the bat. You’ll notice the use of Material 3 Expressive elements throughout the settings menu, which is a surprise given the design language used elsewhere in the launcher.

The menu itself certainly feels more coherent than that of its rival, and Victoria makes it far easier to search for or manually find the particular toggle you’re looking for. The nebulous settings arrangement was always a weakness in Niagara’s design, and I’m glad Victoria’s developer nixed it.

While Victoria doesn’t support ready-made Niagara-like Themes, it certainly offers a plethora of customization options. Text color, font, spacing, icon style, shape, positioning, and wallpaper dim color can all be tweaked. Recent versions have added some missing Niagara features, too, including support for widgets in folders — a copy of my favorite Niagara feature, Popups — and notification lists beneath favorites on the home screen. Both features contribute immensely to the launcher’s usability. These, along with gestures for controlling various app actions, certainly mean you can build a somewhat functional, productive workflow with this launcher.

Victoria Launcher has barely been my home screen for five days, but I’ve already seen eight updates, some bringing major changes and others merely fixing minor bugs. Since its GitHub debut on September 5, this repo has seen 69 releases, or more than one a day. This project is moving swiftly, and this poses something of a problem for those looking for a stable Niagara Launcher alternative.

My original draft included a paragraph about Victoria’s terrible performance, which was patched in the very next version. A day later, I added a paragraph about the lack of a Popup equivalent. A few hours later, it was added to the launcher. There’s a high chance that even if you’ve settled into a comfortable layout, an update will come along that might alter it. In short, it’s not yet ready to be a full-time, mission-critical home screen. That said, I do feel that it has a much higher ceiling than Niagara.

Unlike Niagara, a deliberately slow-moving project that focuses on adding minimal but meaningful features every season or so, Victoria can draw inspiration from various sources, adapt them quickly, and alter them as needed. There are several Niagara Launcher features that haven’t yet debuted in the home app, while this work-fast, break-things approach will almost certainly accomplish the latter and potentially a lot more. Given enough time, it could become a more accomplished Niagara rival, having started life as a clone.

So, which is the better minimal, list-based launcher? It’s a little more complicated than declaring an outright victor.

For those who want a stable, feature-rich, and proven product, Niagara comes out on top. It’s a known quantity, one that I’ve mastered in my own way. However, to get the most out of Niagara, you’ll need to fork out cold, hard cash, a luxury that many users don’t have in this economic climate. Regardless of its feature set, that alone makes Niagara a no-go for plenty.

On the other side of this coin, there’s Victoria Launcher, a free, open-source alternative modeled on Niagara. It gives users a taste of an uncluttered, intentional home screen inspired by one of the best launchers on the market. While it’s not yet up to the polish of its muse, its developers’ insatiable desire to refine it and add new features will only improve the experience. This drive, which often results in multiple updates per day, means Victoria is far too volatile to be considered a daily driver home screen — yet.