You Were Right About Octopi Launcher.. Two Layouts on Pixel Fold!

[@OctopiAppFactory]

thanks for featuring my app!😊

[@shanecraigtech]

No problem. Always glad to shed light on good work like this!

[@TotusEius]

Looking forward to trying this out but too many hops to get it installed 😢

[@BradAwesomeness]

Validation! lol But seriously, I'm glad this was covered because I had to REALLY dig to find out Octopi even exists. Now with a solid video out, it should (hopefully) be easier for other Pixel Fold users, and really any folding phone users, to find this launcher.

[@JoeAnderson86]

Thanks for the mention and love this channel. Of course love my P9PF as well. Keep the content rolling.

[@josue85]

Absolutely loving the launcher. I've been looking for something like this, and am so happy you made this video. Having different screens for different contexts is wonderful, and something I've missed from the Samsung days. I also love being able to center widgets on the inside screen. The two screen concept is really limiting on the bigger inner screen

[@majtechtings]

Holy...this is what i've been looking for. I'm still back on the Open, but i use the fold for night time activities. Good looking out on this one, my friend.

[@marcjcd]

It also has widget stacks which are still missing on the pixel launcher. Great video and Happy New Year Shane!

[@philosophyandfaith]

Nice video; thanks for your hard work. I will check out Octopi

[@paragpatel3441]

Octopi launcher has been my go to launcher on my honor magic V3, pixel pro fold and z fold 6. Really enjoy it's usability.

[@jebaker2]

I tried Octopi on my P9PF. Apparently, this launcher was created by one guy in his spare time. I think OEMs should be EMBARRASSED by how much better this launcher is than 95% of the Android skins out there. I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it as it does have some glitchy behavior that isn’t to my liking (it is an Alpha after all) but it’s very impressive so far!

[@TedSalmon]

You could have mentioned the Samsung-style side-swiping Widget Stacking too Shane - a big feature. We covered this in depth on PSC a couple of weeks back.

[@shanecraigtech]

I didn't even think to look for that. Good stuff.

[@TedSalmon]

@@shanecraigtech ...yes, just drop one on top of the other, it does a kind of halfway tilt as you do it, then it's there. All shapes and sizes work. And it's not limited like Samsung's to 7 widgets - I gave up at 10 I think but it looked like it might be limitless!

[@Demibrot]

@@TedSalmon wait what? In octopi ? I immediately have to try that.

[@hobbitpsi]

Hell yes! Thank you for bringing this up. Now my screen isn't littered with my music widgets!

[@Czar8One]

There are actually four layouts. 2 for portrait 2 for landscape.

[@hobbitpsi]

Oh God bro THANK YOU! I've been looking for a new launcher since Nova doesn't work well with the Pixel 9 pro fold. And this is it. Installed it and configured it while watching your video and this is what I've been looking for! Now if only they'd allow two different wallpapers from outside display and inside display and it'll be absolutely perfect. Other than that, it's everything I loved about Nova Launcher!

[@MohammedChowdhry]

The swipe up on folder feature is in Nova Launcher too. But Nova lets you display 1 app icon for folders instead of all the icons. Hopefully this launcher does the same in the future for a cleaner look.

[@BLKW4RDR3M0N]

This launcher has that feature

[@hobbitpsi]

@@BLKW4RDR3M0N Just finding out that it does, but it makes the one app it shows off-center and makes it look weird, bad for folks with OCD like me lol.

[@IkesTechTalk]

Octopi is what i thought you were talking about. Its a little buggy and can still be a pain to set up. But im VERY CLOSELY monitoring its progress

[@shanecraigtech]

I tested it a while back and wasn't impressed, but it's gotten much better. They're onto something.

[@Actionhank7]

I had the same issue with icons being absent until i selected an icon pack. Still really cool!

[@kimmy1983pk]

The biggest issue for me on the OnePlus Open is swipe up to go to home screen animation or the lack of it.

[@TedSalmon]

There's an update for this in the Play Store. Exploring now...

[@Dwayne3007]

I saw OG Pixel Fold on Amazon renewed for £487. Seriously tempted.

[@Demibrot]

Yeah buying foldables refurbed is the most logical thing to do. At the cost of being one gen behind I got the z fold 5 for 700€ in a basically new condition with good battery life and no noticeable scratches. Also threw octopi launcher on it and the experience is a blast. Feels really innovative and fun coming from a regular phone.

[@Dwayne3007]

@Demibrot agreed.

[@Deskphoenix]

Hi Shane! Would it be possible for you to do an updated version of office apps on the pixel pro 9 fold? Specifically Office and Excel? I am looking to change my daily use phone and a big reason I might switch from iOS to Andriod is productivity with the huge screen and multi-tasking. You're the only person who tackled this with the old video and it seems there's been several updates on Microsoft end.I'd even settle for paying for screenshots haha

[@localblackman427]

Thanks for this update. I think this might make it easier to switch away from the galaxy line. Im so fed up w samsung and I'm ready to move on from my 4 for better zoom cameras or simply thinner body

[@jebaker2]

Very cool...I may check it out.

[@OleHippy]

Ok, coming in from left field, would this work on a Surface Duo?

[@BALL_BUZZ]

Is it smooth as the factory launcher? Nova wasn't as smooth in my opinion.

[@MrCougar56]

Shane....did you get a haircut and/or cut ur ponytail? Great video and very informative,thank u

[@shanecraigtech]

There was an accident at a barber shop..

[@shethsa]

​@@shanecraigtechoops! Final cut but not pro, I guess. Like this new look, though

[@hobbitpsi]

@@shanecraigtech I'll believe it. I've had something similar with a non English speaking barber when I went in to get my beard trimmed and groomed. Dude took clippers and instead of trimming, he just buzzed it up the center. I blew all the hell up and the manager came in and when I explained what happened, he chewed the barber out. Had to completely shave the rest off cause was already screwed, but manager didn't charge a cent for it and tried to offer me a month of free haircuts, but I never took them up on the offer and just left with my sad baby face. Oh and for for reference, my beard went down to my damn belly button. Took everything I had not to knock the barber out. Takes me over 2 years to get that length.

[@JoeAnderson86]

Octopi is the bomb. Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies!

[@JustinDufrene]

I don't see this in the Play store?

[@jr_Linux]

@shane just out of curiosity as someone who's always used samsung since like the s4-6 days i think. could you do a video maybe on your reasons for choosing a google pixel phone when you have to use a launcher for it and its more ingrained by google. which is a turn off for me. as i don't want to be forced to use a google acct sure i use samsung but we won't go there. but as someone who is newly an average linux user in the last couple yrs, im really excited about the linux terminal coming to android next year in android 16 hopefully. and so if samsung doesn't let this on there phones i followed to have info on it hopefully and what phones will have the feature. because im thinking of switching to the pixel or the oneplus maybe just to have the terminal feature.

[@kdclt]

Any idea when this will come to the play store?

[@callinItLikeIseeIt]

I think it is coming as the developer just issued Alpha Tester rewards to be redeemed in the Play Store.

[@shethsa]

Octopi isn't showing up in my play store (India region). Any reliable link to the apk?

[@adventurebunch]

Does anyone know how to remove the google search bar from the screen on a pixel fold running android 15? Im using pixel launcher, and tried other launchers, but i like this one the best, outside of this one issue.

[@shanecraigtech]

Right now, you're stuck with it

[@vgm006]

is there any 3rd party launcher that works on Honor Magic V3 fold? can't create paired icon (2 app in the same screen). it works on stock launcher only

[@callinItLikeIseeIt]

It appears Google limits that feature to the default Pixel launcher. Shane featured an app a while back, and I've been using it since - it's called Be Nice. It works on Octopi except for sometimes on updates the icon Be Nice creates showing each app's icon will default to the Be Nice app icon. If you use an icon from an icon pack that will stick, but the special two-fer icon gets replaced occasionally leaving me to have to recreate the pair to get it back. It's a fuss, but it is in beta after all.

[@vgm006]

@callinItLikeIseeIt thank you for telling me about Be Nice. now i can use my favorite Nova Launcher with app paired icon to open 2 app on the same screen!

[@yourlocalyoutuber6145]

On the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, can you still use multitasking with an active launcher? I use the OnePlus open and I can never get multitasking to work with an active launcher. Basically when I go to do it, the launcher tries to become the second app but fails.

[@shanecraigtech]

So long as the new launcher is set as the default launcher, split screen should behave normally.

[@hobbitpsi]

As Shane says, just make the launcher as your default. All the launchers do, is adds a skin on top of the UI, like how Samsung uses OneUI. Everything native to Android should work. Not exactly sure about OxygenOS as it is a skin layered of Android, but it's also more like they took Android and completely modified it for their use as opposed to just making a skin that goes over Android like how launchers work.

[@LetrixAR]

TIL that Google made foldables

[@bobhuynh1974]

Do any of the launcher still work with bottom taskbar on the Z Fold 6 phone? On Nova Launcher I can't access the taskbar by swiping up from the bottom. So I can't do multi-windows by swiping up like on the default Samsung launcher.

[@callinItLikeIseeIt]

Shane demonstrated he could do that with Octopi in this video.

[@bobhuynh1974]

@@callinItLikeIseeIt I thought he only demonstrated he could do it on his Pixel Fold not the Z Fold 6.

[@hobbitpsi]

@@bobhuynh1974 It is the same thing. The base OS in both samsung and google is AndroidOS. These launches replace both OneUI and PixelOS, so whatever you can do on the Pixel with Octopi works exactly the same on the Z Fold.

[@TheBlueSolutions]

Silly question perhaps, but does Oppo N3 work?

[@shanecraigtech]

It should. I've heard from people using it on the Open.

[@darpinian1]

Sucks that this doesnt work with the OnePlus Open. Setting this launcher as default gets rid of the multitask launcher at the bottom of the screen. Thats gamebreaking otherwise i would be using launcher 10 but it has the same problem.

[@shanecraigtech]

The only thing you can do is use their sidebar instead afaik

[@darpinian1]

@shanecraigtech yeah it essentially breaks the oneplus UI. That's just the difference between Google baking things into the OS and OnePlus skinning the feature on top. It just sucks luckily their UI is strong to being with but it definitely limits options

[@howardwhite2643]

It keeps going back to the oneplus launcher idk y.

[@shanecraigtech]

Did you set it as the default launcher?

[@CoderGuyMan]

Very cool. The one thing I miss from OneUI that I haven't seen on any launchers (used to be a Nova option) are notification badges with counts.

[@shethsa]

I think Microsoft launcher has it

[@CoderGuyMan]

@@shethsa Ah, will have to check it out, thanks.

[@callinItLikeIseeIt]

Octopi has a toggle option to use badges with counts. As it's not something I use, I can't vouch for it if it's fully developed yet, or not as this launcher is still in early days (relatively speaking).

[@CoderGuyMan]

@@callinItLikeIseeIt Interesting, even more reason to try Octopi, thanks

[@Khaleedus]

I dunno why anyone is talking about "total launcher" ... You can have one layout per screen (folded and unfolded) and also new layouts if landscaped or portrayed. And very versatile and customisable.

[@shanecraigtech]

Total Launcher was way too annoying to setup when I tested it months back.

[@callinItLikeIseeIt]

Total Launcher IMHO is too difficult for the casual user to setup. I consider myself more able than a casual user and found it too difficult. Octopi setup is easy and also offers 4 layouts (portrait and landscape inside screen and cover screen).

[@callinItLikeIseeIt]

The video title could have been Four Layouts on Pixel Fold! Octopi offers both a portrait and a horizontal layout for both the cover screen and the inside one. I use three: a portrait locked cover screen and both a portrait and horizontal setup inside. Since my original Pixel Fold screen unfolded is not square there is a difference when I rotate it 90⁰. In horizontal mode, I have mine set like my tablet (widgets, etc.), and when I rotate it into portrait mode, I've set it up like a big phone screen (think iPad mini, but it's actually just a duplicate of my cover screen but bigger). These 3 layouts work great for me!

[@shanecraigtech]

I didn't even realize that lol

[@tljlwilkerson]

I find that this is crazy you are talking about ANDROID! what used to be the most customizable Os ever, now it's more locked down than an iPhone. Its a little insane.

[@shanecraigtech]

You're saying that iPhones are more customizable than Android phones on a video discussing custom launchers, a thing iOS devices can't do lol.

[@tljlwilkerson]

@shanecraigtech I'm talking about stock android to stock iPhone. If you don't think that stock Android has become locked down compared to what it used to be you're out of your mind. And my point is it is disappointing to see that this is happening. Using a third-party launcher is not the answer.

[@hometownherotv]

​@@tljlwilkerson most people are fine with the base experience. If they aren't, you can whatever you want, like this launcher. iOS is what it is, forever.

[@parovoz33]

Лёлик, ты зачем усы сбрил!