Hello!
We are so excited that the Before Launcher is publicly available. Thanks for any and all feedback you may have.
We love technology (heck we've built our fair share of it), but it was distracting us to the point of it being detrimental to our lives. The smartphone is a toolbox that can house millions of useful tools. Use those tools when you want to use them, not when you get distracted by some notification or app. We wanted something neutral. So, we built the Before Launcher.
Our product encourages focus, and mindful phone usage. The Before Launcher has three core features: a clean and simple tool focused homescreen, a powerful app launcher, and a notification filter (kind of like a spam filter) to transform almost any Android phone (7.0 and up), for free. By reducing the number of notifications that interrupt you, and removing clutter from the home interface, the Before Launcher reduces your number of unplanned decisions and distractions, giving you time back.
Our product isn’t a replacement for evaluating your relationship with technology. Plans laid out by folks like Catherine Price, Cal Newport, and Tristan Harris are still immensely valuable. We are happy to talk with anyone more about it.
But, from what we’ve found from our beta tests, this product does help. Thank you so much for the time.
This is the launcher that I was waiting for. Just discovered it, and already installed on my Phone. Wonderfully designed. Kudos to the makers, keep making this awesome.
I like the fact that a lot of minimal launchers are coming out lately. This one seems pretty cool because it doesn't trying to restrict you, it just wants to make everything cleaner and less distracting. That really is the goal here because smartphones are truly useful, we just tend to overuse them.
I think some things are missing from it though. Haven't personally tried it yet, I'll do that later. I can tell from the screenshots in the Play Store that there is no widget support, but I find widgets to be some of the most useful thanks features of Android. For example, having a weather widget means I don't have to lose time opening an app. The utility of a clock widget is also obvious.
@anna_0x Thanks for the thoughtful comments. We appreciate it.
And, you are correct. We currently don't offer widget support. But, supporting them is something we are exploring. In the meantime we have, however, found alternatives to most widget use cases. For example, the weather underground app (https://play.google.com/store/ap...) shows weather in the lock screen so you don't even need to open your phone. The lock screen also shows the time with our app installed... Anyway, we would love for you to try it and give us any feedback you might have. Thank you!
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A great way to take a step back from the constant connection to your phone...while not giving it up completely.
Pros:
Does exactly what it is designed to do. Reduces the clutter of all the notifications while still allowing important ones through.
Cons:
All of my initial cons have been addressed by the developers and are now features in the app.
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Before Launcher just works - no confusing configuration, glitches, or crashes.
Pros:
Before Launcher makes it easier than ever declutter my relationship with my phone. It makes my phone more useful and less distracting.
The Before Launcher is a bit of technology designed to help 'domesticate' the mobile beast consuming our finite resources of time and attention. The feedback from our beta testers has been overwhelmingly positive and one thing repeatedly noticed is how well it works, passively, to get (some) of your life back.
Give it a try. You'll like it better than what you have now! It's in the Google Play Store and it's free.
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I will continue to use this indefinitely.
Pros:
Really effective at reducing distraction as well as the ambient anxiety of losing time on my phone. It's broken some bad habits.
Before Launcher
Launchaco
Before Launcher
Before Launcher
A great way to take a step back from the constant connection to your phone...while not giving it up completely.
Pros:Does exactly what it is designed to do. Reduces the clutter of all the notifications while still allowing important ones through.
Cons:All of my initial cons have been addressed by the developers and are now features in the app.
Before Launcher just works - no confusing configuration, glitches, or crashes.
Pros:Before Launcher makes it easier than ever declutter my relationship with my phone. It makes my phone more useful and less distracting.
Cons:None that I can think of.
Before Launcher
I will continue to use this indefinitely.
Pros:Really effective at reducing distraction as well as the ambient anxiety of losing time on my phone. It's broken some bad habits.
Cons:I don't know of a better alternative.