FP3 Android 13 deactivate app suggestions?

[CieJey]

Dear Fairphone Community!

First of all, I was very happy about the update to Android 13

What I find rather unnecessary though, are the app suggestions in the app bar at the bottom of the home screen. I’m able to delete the suggestions manually, but I cannot deactivate them permanently.

I have searched for the corresponding options in the settings, but have not found the right option either there or in the Home Settings.

Have I missed something? Thank you for your answers!

[TobiasF]

Well, I do not have this problem because I filled all five spots with app icons manually.

But if you long press between the app icons in the bottom bar, you can open a settings menu where you can disable the “suggested apps” feature. After that, the spots are immediately empty.

[CieJey]

Thank you for your answer @TobiasF!

I’ve pressed long between the app icons in the bottom bar, but only the entries “Wallpaper and style”, “Widgets” and “Home settings” (see above) came up.

But I couldn’t find any corresponding option in all of these three settings?

[Spekboy]

I’ve been experiencing the same issue. When I select home settings through the screen I do not have the option to remove suggested apps.

[sjskrit]

Has anybody found a solution to this?

[AndreasChris]

I think you can either disable the Google app or use a different launcher app that suits you better. Quickstep is Fairphone’s default launcher, but there’s a whole bunch of great alternatives.

[Pandalf]

Hi,
i get rid off the default apps i don’t need, I use “Island” app by Oasis Fend with “managed mainland” option active in combination with Greenify, also by Oasis Feng.
I granted both apps all the permissions they need to work at their maximum (no root) and when i want to disable an app I just select it from the list inside Island and choose the option “freeze with greenify”
You can also use the Island app alone, the avilable option will be “freeze app”

https://island.oasisfeng.com/setup.html#activate-managed-mainland

[CieJey]

Thanks for all your answers so far.

I had a friendly conversation with a nice Fairphone support employee about this. He told me that there is currently no way to disable this option. He said that the free slots could be permanently occupied with a desired app or another ROM launcher could be used.

I took the first option. Not pretty, but it works

[robin_batman]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone suggest a particular ROM launcher that would reactivate this app?

My problem is that I’ve got an empty gap at the bottom of the screen that I can’t remove and in which I do not wish to put any icons.

Thanks.

Thanks

[Mika_T]

Thanks @CieJey for a hint to replace suggestions with my own apps, suits very well for me!

[KurtF]

Find a developer (even a budding one) to create an inert Android app (does nothing) with a transparent icon, and put that in the empty slots…