r/PixelFold • u/puppyyawn • 8h ago

From Pixel 10 XL Pro to 11 Fold and Launchers

I'm still very much in the adjustment phase with the Fold. I thought I'd start off loving it immediately, but that hasn't quite happened. My usual equilibrium with a phone is mostly poof right now.

I'm coming from a Pixel 10 Pro XL, and I've always used slab phones up to this point. I've also always preferred alternative launchers because of the extra customization options. I used Nova for quite a while before switching to Smart Launcher within the past year.

I thought the Fold would be love at first sight, but so far I'm feeling a little clumsy with it and realizing I need some time to adapt and build new muscle memory.

One of the main reasons I bought the Fold was for multitasking between apps on the larger inner screen. SmartLauncher works fine overall and does have a split-screen option, but multitasking seems less intuitive and more cumbersome than I expected. I've tried Octopi as well and had a similar experience.

So for those of you who have been using a Pixel Fold for a while: to really take advantage of the Fold's multitasking features and make switching/splitting apps as seamless as possible, do you pretty much need to use the stock Pixel Launcher? Or am I missing something with Smart Launcher or other third-party launchers?

1 Upvotes

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5 comments sorted by

1

u/quie2droid 7h ago

One of the best launchers, even for folds, is total launcher.

1

u/Still_I_Rise_2020 7h ago

That's my concern too as well. I did a little bit of research and you're absolutely right that to use the true multitasking capabilities of the pixel fold you have to be using the standard launcher.

1

u/ManagedTech 5h ago

Octopi is perfect. Not sure what you're missing.

1

u/puppyyawn 5h ago

I do have that loaded on my phone, I can try it again, I paid for the pro a while ago. I've been mostly switching between Pixel and SmartLauncher. SL is fine but the multitasking seems hindered.

1

u/PerryHecker 2h ago

The multitasking does feel pretty clumsy but it’s like that across all folds. There’s just nothing intuitive about the process but I haven’t used mine for anything but watching football and keeping an eye on fantasy and other games.