Zoom's rebrand wants you to forget video because AI is the cool new thing Key Takeaways The Smart Launcher 6.5 update was just announced. It includes a new Your Feed feature for improved customization and RSS reader integration. Translucent widgets in Smart Launcher 6.5 offer a clean aesthetic with background blurring. You also get access to two new themes, Opaque Glass and Material You, in Smart Launcher 6.5 for added personality. ✕ Remove Ads
Android has always enjoyed the benefits of an open ecosystem where anyone with the skill can make an app for billions of users, and apps can do all sorts of things. One of our favorite app categories here at Android Police happens to be custom launchers that dial the personalization up to eleven. Smart Launcher is one of the oldest apps in the arena, and it just received a feature-loaded update.
Related Smart Launcher creator Vincenzo Colucci tells AP how he maintains the app independent of AOSP
12 years and still no signs of slowing down
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Smart Launcher is unlike most other launcher apps on the Play Store since it isn't based on AOSP, and uses an independent codebase. The app's creator, Vincenzo Colucci, who goes by /u/ginlemon on Reddit, recently posted about the latest Smart Launcher update, which brings us to version 6.5.
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The highlight of this update ought to be Your Feed, a new RSS reader built to address issues users faced with Google Discover integration and the customization limitations of Smart Launcher's News Page. Like Discover in Pixel Launcher, you can swipe right on your homepage to access Your Feed, and set it up your way with custom sources, or pick from sources suggested by other users.
Source: /u/ginlemon/Reddit
For customization enthusiasts, Smart Launcher 6.5 brings translucent widgets which instantly remind us of Nothing OS. All the launcher's widgets now support background blurring, and the devs are looking for ways to extend this to third-party widgets too. Speaking of widgets, Smart Launcher has partnered with KWGT so your Kustom widgets are backed up automatically alongside launcher settings. You might need KWGT's Pro key installed, though.
✕ Remove Ads Two new themes to be excited for Rolling out really soon
Updating Smart Launcher also gives you access to two new themes -- there's Opaque Glass, built from scratch to pair well with the blur widgets we mentioned earlier, and a simple Material You theme that uses the same hues as Pixel Launcher does to match your wallpaper to other UI elements. The latter goes well with Material You widget themes, but interestingly, the devs retained two versions of blurred themes. The old one is called Frosted Glass, and the new one, Opaque Glass, which also shifts hues based on dark mode settings.
Some users might already have a few of these features, but they are rolling out to everyone, together, with Smart Launcher 6.5. Beta users should get the update before the month-end and the devs are targeting a December 5 stable release.
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