Kvaesitso: a search-first Android launcher you install from F-Droid

What Kvaesitso replaces, and for whom

Most Android launchers treat the home screen as the product: pages of icons, folders, widgets, and a dock. Kvaesitso inverts that. The repository describes it as a search focused launcher, and the interface is built around a search field that is the first thing you interact with rather than a grid you scroll. If you already reach for a search box instead of hunting through app drawers, the model matches how you work. If you curate home screen layouts by hand and want them to stay put, it does not.

The audience is narrower than the install counts of mainstream launchers suggest. Kvaesitso is Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, published under GPL-3.0, and distributed primarily through F-Droid channels. That combination selects for people who are comfortable adding a third-party repository to their package manager and who care that the launcher is free software. The project also exposes a plugin SDK, with the SDK modules licensed under Apache-2.0 rather than GPL-3.0, which signals that third-party extensions are an intended part of the design rather than an afterthought.

How the search-first model is put together

The repository layout separates concerns in a way that tells you where the launcher's weight sits. There are top-level directories for app, core, data, services, libs, and plugins, plus a docs directory. The plugins directory holds the SDK modules that the README and licence file identify as Apache-2.0, while core and shared sit inside that SDK boundary. A services directory alongside data suggests that background work such as indexing is separated from the UI module rather than folded into the app package.

What this means in practice is that search is not a widget bolted onto a grid. It is the surface the rest of the code serves. The plugin SDK being a first-class directory, with its own licence, is the strongest architectural signal in the repository: extension points are versioned and published, not left to private hooks. It also means the launcher's behaviour can differ depending on which build you install, because the README states that builds depending on non-foss external APIs have those features removed in the official F-Droid repository.

Installing Kvaesitso from F-Droid or MM20's repository

The README calls installation through an F-Droid client the preferred route, because that is how you get update notifications. Kvaesitso is in the official F-Droid repository, but that build strips features that depend on non-foss external APIs. For feature-complete builds the README points to MM20's own repository. Adding a repository in F-Droid is done from the repositories screen; the project supplies a QR code and the URL.

https://fdroid.mm20.de/repo/

Opening that link on the phone, or scanning the QR code from the repository page, adds MM20's repo to your F-Droid client. After that, Kvaesitso appears in search and installs like any other F-Droid app, with updates delivered through the same client. The README notes the same version is also carried in IzzyOnDroid's repository under the package name de.mm20.launcher2.release.

If you would rather not use a package manager at all, the README gives a manual path: download the latest release from the GitHub releases page and install it. The trade-off is explicit in the README's own framing, since manual installs do not carry the update notifications that come with an F-Droid client. Whichever route you take, the first real use is the same: set Kvaesitso as the default home app in Android's settings, then type into the search field and confirm that the apps you expect appear. If the launcher misbehaves, the README points to Settings > Debug > Crash reporter and Settings > Debug > Export debug information for the logs an issue report needs.

The build split is the real limitation

The most consequential constraint is not a missing feature, it is that two builds of the same version behave differently. The README states plainly that the official F-Droid build has all features depending on non-foss external APIs removed, and directs users who want those features to MM20's repository. Nothing in the README enumerates which features those are. A user who installs from official F-Droid, finds something absent, and files a bug has wasted their own time and the maintainer's.

This is a distribution problem rather than an engineering one, and it is common to F-Droid-hosted apps, but it puts a burden on the reader to know which repository they used. If your priority is a build that passes a strict free-software review, official F-Droid is the right source and you should expect the reduced feature set. If your priority is the complete launcher, you are trusting a third-party repository operated by the project itself, which is a different trust decision. The README does not document a rollback procedure for either case, so switching back means uninstalling and reinstalling from the other source.

A second limitation is platform scope. This is an Android launcher, full stop. There is no desktop or iOS story in the repository, and the Kotlin and Jetpack Compose stack is not portable to those targets. If you want one launcher configuration across phone and tablet, check that the current release handles both before you commit to rebuilding your home screen.

Kvaesitso against a conventional icon-grid launcher

The obvious comparison is with launchers that keep the icon grid as the primary interface and treat search as a secondary gesture. Niagara Launcher is the closest in spirit, since it also rejects the dense grid, but it does so with a vertical list of favourites rather than a search field as the entry point. Kiss Launcher takes the search-first idea further in the opposite direction: it is deliberately minimal, and its feature set is much smaller. Lawnchair stays close to the stock Pixel launcher model, so its appeal is familiarity rather than a different interaction model.

The difference worth weighing is what each approach costs you when search fails. In a grid launcher, a failed search still leaves you with icons to tap. In Kvaesitso, the search field is the path, so the quality of its indexing and matching is the quality of the launcher. That is a real trade-off, not a stylistic one, and it is why the plugin SDK matters: extensions are how the search surface grows beyond installed apps. Nova Launcher, for reference, is a long-established commercial product with a different distribution and licensing model entirely, so comparing feature checklists between the two says little about whether either fits your habits.

Maintenance, licensing and what an upgrade costs you

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-22. Releases are frequent enough to suggest ongoing work: v1.41.0 landed on 2026-09-15, following v1.40.2 on 2026-05-31 and v1.40.1 on 2026-04-14. That cadence matters for a launcher specifically, because Android platform changes regularly break home screen replacements, and a project that stops shipping becomes unusable on new devices rather than merely stale.

Upgrade cost depends on your install route. Through an F-Droid client, updates arrive as notifications and the cost is a tap. Through a manual APK install, you are re-downloading from the releases page each time, and the README does not describe an in-app updater. The licence has practical consequences too: Kvaesitso itself is GPL-3.0, so if you fork it and distribute the result, the GPL's source-disclosure terms apply to your build. The plugin SDK modules under plugins/sdk and core/shared are Apache-2.0, which is a more permissive arrangement for anyone writing an extension against them. This is a description of the licence files, not legal advice; read LICENSE.txt and the SDK module licences before you rely on either.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt Kvaesitso if you want a launcher whose primary surface is a search field rather than a grid of icons, and you are willing to install it from F-Droid or MM20's repository instead of a vendor store. Skip it if you depend on a launcher the Play Store will update automatically, or if you need a feature set that only the non-FOSS API builds provide. Before switching, verify which repository you are installing from, because the official F-Droid build drops features that depend on non-foss external APIs, and confirm the release you install matches the one listed on the GitHub releases page.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: GPL-3.0
2. MM2-0/Kvaesitso on GitHub
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases