This app was mentioned in 14 comments, with an average of 1.57 upvotes
TSF Shell was by far, the most customisable launcher I had used. It is very similar to Nova in terms of customisation but was a little heavy on memory. I don't know if it has improved now, but I'd suggest trying it if you're into customisation.
TSF Launcher 3D Shell is free, no ads, plenty of features.
Downsides: apparently abandoned; steep learning curve; be prepared to manually search play store for ‘tsf’ to find surviving add-ons; no idea if it works in Nougat.
I bought and used Nova for a long time. Past month I've been playing with TSF. Really liking it and I'm normally a minimalist type person but still prefer TSF.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsf.shell
Not sure if you got your answer about app updates but if you go to Google Play app, select the menu, you will see "My Apps & Games".
In there you should see all the available updates. You can also set to auto update and not worry about it. I prefer to read the changes and update manually.
Auto update can be found in the menu, then settings at the bottom.
A launcher does nothing other than managing your apps and home screen. It won't tamper any system related things.
>Launcher is the name given to the part of the Android user interface that lets users customize the home screen (e.g. the phone's desktop), launch mobile apps, make phone calls, and perform other tasks on Android devices (devices that use the Android mobile operating system). Launcher is built into Android, however there are a number of Launchers available for download in the Android Market.
Talking about battery life, you won't see any lag unless you install some buggy launcher or launchers like TSF which have tons of animations.
Sorry, I was on mobile earlier. <strong>Here's a link.</strong>
TSF https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsf.shell
Bubble https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.esolutions4you.bubblelauncher
Computer https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.computer.desktop.ui.launcher
Gravity https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vs.gravity.launcher.free
links for the lazy and mobile
TSF Shell: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsf.shell&hl=en
Pie Control:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jun.ace.piecontrol&hl=en
Screen Off:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.katecca.screenofflock&hl=en
I have an HTC One M8 and they have the power button all the way on the top right. Its a real piss off to turn my phone off with one hand cs im reaching for it at that point. Using pie control and adding in the screen off app makes it so that i don't have to reach anymore
TSF Launcher - has a ton of eye candy on it https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsf.shell&hl=en
TSF Shell Launcher.
Easily the best launcher I've ever used. In fact it's been the only launcher that I've used in probably the last 4-5 years. It has far more customization options than Nova Launcher or any other one. It's definitely got a learning curve but once you've spent about 20 minutes setting it up you'll come to hate any launcher with a grid set up. You can move entire groups of icons on your home screen at once and arrange them quickly. I personally don't use any of their "3D widgets".