{"slug": "octopi", "name": "Octopi", "category": "productivity", "category_name": "Productivity", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 10, "warners": 0, "score": 6.089, "rising": -1.96, "first": "2026-01-19", "latest": "2026-06-22", "why": "Otherwise, Octopi fits with everything else I want to do", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 6, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Otherwise, Octopi fits with everything else I want to do", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Octopi", "Octopi Launcher", "OctoPi"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 747252064, "item_id": 46703254, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46703254", "by": "consp", "date": "2026-01-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Uninstalled after reading this and switched to Octopi", "excerpt": "I missed the post yesterday. Good to read it today. Uninstalled after reading this and switched to Octopi (interestingly the same name as the Pi-based 3D printing webservice). Only missing features so far is more icons on the drawer in width and top-used. Then again insta-search also solves this.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher"}, {"id": 747224608, "item_id": 46701538, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46701538", "by": "pteraspidomorph", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Octopi is what you're looking for.", "excerpt": "I used Nova for years and went through this research before, having tested many alternatives. Octopi is what you're looking for. It can do pretty much everything Nova did for me and more besides. They also update often with improvements and fixes!", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen launcher", "switched_from": "Nova Launcher", "story": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher"}, {"id": 747174368, "item_id": 46698398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46698398", "by": "JoshTriplett", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend Octopi Launcher.", "excerpt": "I highly recommend Octopi Launcher. It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones. Also great on foldables, since it lets you have a different home screen for different display sizes.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher"}, {"id": 747059584, "item_id": 46691224, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46691224", "by": "BoppreH", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pretty good so far", "excerpt": "I managed to add a Shazam Now button using a Shazam widget, not a shortcut. Give it a try! I just installed Octopi on this thread's recommendation. Pretty good so far, and I'm happy to remove the useless Google search bar from the bottom of my Pixel (I use Kagi and Firefox, neither of which can be configured on that bar). Also satisfied how you can resize widgets to any size, regardless of what the widget asks for.", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}, {"id": 747028304, "item_id": 46689269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46689269", "by": "ssl-3", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Otherwise, Octopi fits with everything else I want to do", "excerpt": "Thanks for the tip. I opened up my phone to see about giving Octopi a shot, and (amusingly? alarmingly?) Nova Launcher produced a popup warning me that it would now feature ads. Anyway, my launcher needs are pretty minimal. Switching over and recreating a familiar layout was easy enough. I do find one function missing, though: Some shortcut functionality seems missing in Octopi that was present in Nova. For instance:", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen", "switched_from": "Nova Launcher", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "breput", "context": "10+ year Nova Launcher user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688336", "date": "2026-01-19"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["android home screen", "3d printer monitoring", "monitoring 3d printer", "graphical package management", "android home screen launcher", "android home screen replacement"], "compared": [{"slug": "nova-launcher", "name": "Nova Launcher", "co": 4, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "shazam", "name": "Shazam", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655", "title": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46696357", "title": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48634778", "title": "Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48115127", "title": "Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46964159", "title": "The Switch to Linux and the Beginning of My Self-Hosting Journey", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 6}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 778210544, "item_id": 48638159, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48638159", "by": "nl", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "There's the Arducam IMX519 with 16 megapixels, Sony IMX 519 sensor https://www.arducam.com/imx519-autofocus-camera-module-for-raspberry-pi-arducam-b0371.html", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printer monitoring", "switched_from": "", "story": "Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components"}, {"id": 778199216, "item_id": 48637451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48637451", "by": "MoonWalk", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it to monitor my 3-D printer with OctoPi", "excerpt": "No disrespect to the project here, of course, but I'm wondering why there's no truly high-quality camera for Pis. I have the so-called \"high-quality camera\" and it still blows. I use it to monitor my 3-D printer with OctoPi, and that's about what it's good for.", "context": "", "use_case": "monitoring 3D printer", "switched_from": "", "story": "Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components"}, {"id": 769914913, "item_id": 48119682, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48119682", "by": "behaviors", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used the spaghetti-detective plugin/add-on for OctoPi", "excerpt": "I used the spaghetti-detective plugin/add-on for OctoPi when I got my printer, they also hit bandwidth of video streaming over web(part of the \"monitoring\" area) they seemingly have been absorbed into \"obico\"(the github remains github.com/TheSpaghettiDetective) Every 3DPrinter software has options to replace these Bambu Cloud features, the process involves a fair bit of deep dive understanding, flashing firmwares, tr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers"}, {"id": 751516273, "item_id": 46969767, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46969767", "by": "wormius", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Octopi is a graphical package manager for Arch-based distributions", "excerpt": "I really don't want to be \"RTFM\" but and (mostly) apologize for the tone here, but I don't want this FUD to go without criticism. 1. There are actually TWO GUI package installers in Cachy. a. Cachy Package Manager (the one that you get from Hello) b. Octopi (as shown from their install instructions at their wiki, pasted below). https://wiki.cachyos.org/configuration/post_install_setup/ \"Octopi is a graphical package ", "context": "", "use_case": "graphical package management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Switch to Linux and the Beginning of My Self-Hosting Journey"}, {"id": 747252064, "item_id": 46703254, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46703254", "by": "consp", "date": "2026-01-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Uninstalled after reading this and switched to Octopi", "excerpt": "I missed the post yesterday. Good to read it today. Uninstalled after reading this and switched to Octopi (interestingly the same name as the Pi-based 3D printing webservice). Only missing features so far is more icons on the drawer in width and top-used. Then again insta-search also solves this.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher"}, {"id": 747224608, "item_id": 46701538, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46701538", "by": "pteraspidomorph", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Octopi is what you're looking for.", "excerpt": "I used Nova for years and went through this research before, having tested many alternatives. Octopi is what you're looking for. It can do pretty much everything Nova did for me and more besides. They also update often with improvements and fixes!", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen launcher", "switched_from": "Nova Launcher", "story": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher"}, {"id": 747174368, "item_id": 46698398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46698398", "by": "JoshTriplett", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend Octopi Launcher.", "excerpt": "I highly recommend Octopi Launcher. It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones. Also great on foldables, since it lets you have a different home screen for different display sizes.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher"}, {"id": 747059584, "item_id": 46691224, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46691224", "by": "BoppreH", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pretty good so far", "excerpt": "I managed to add a Shazam Now button using a Shazam widget, not a shortcut. Give it a try! I just installed Octopi on this thread's recommendation. Pretty good so far, and I'm happy to remove the useless Google search bar from the bottom of my Pixel (I use Kagi and Firefox, neither of which can be configured on that bar). Also satisfied how you can resize widgets to any size, regardless of what the widget asks for.", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}, {"id": 747028304, "item_id": 46689269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46689269", "by": "ssl-3", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Otherwise, Octopi fits with everything else I want to do", "excerpt": "Thanks for the tip. I opened up my phone to see about giving Octopi a shot, and (amusingly? alarmingly?) Nova Launcher produced a popup warning me that it would now feature ads. Anyway, my launcher needs are pretty minimal. Switching over and recreating a familiar layout was easy enough. I do find one function missing, though: Some shortcut functionality seems missing in Octopi that was present in Nova. For instance:", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen", "switched_from": "Nova Launcher", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}, {"id": 747015025, "item_id": 46688439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688439", "by": "breput", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it is exactly what you are looking for", "excerpt": "There have been enshitification clouds looming on the horizon for Nova Launcher for so long, I think many people (including me) were hoping it would just never happen. That said, check out Octopi Launcher. I installed it for the first time tonight[0] and it is exactly what you are looking for - a smoother, better Nova Launcher. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688336", "context": "", "use_case": "Android home screen replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}, {"id": 747013376, "item_id": 46688336, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688336", "by": "breput", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's a no-brainer upgrade from Nova.", "excerpt": "I was a 10+ year long Nova Launcher user, but knew this day was coming after the sale and layoffs[0][1]... This evening I at looked several replacement launchers, such as Lawnchair and even the stock Pixel launcher again, but Octopi Launcher[2] is more modern, more refined Nova replacement that you are looking for. It was a very easy, natural transition process from Nova - all of the Nova features that I used were th", "context": "10+ year Nova Launcher user", "use_case": "Android launcher", "switched_from": "Nova Launcher", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}, {"id": 747011632, "item_id": 46688227, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688227", "by": "JoshTriplett", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend Octopi launcher", "excerpt": "I highly recommend Octopi launcher. Simple, does exactly what it should. Works great on foldables, as well.", "context": "", "use_case": "simple Android launcher", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}, {"id": 747011440, "item_id": 46688215, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46688215", "by": "JoshTriplett", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Works great, rock solid, zero issues.", "excerpt": "I use Octopi on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Works great, rock solid, zero issues.", "context": "", "use_case": "Home screen launcher", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nova Launcher Added Facebook and Google Ads Tracking"}]}