Okay, so the other day I was messing around with my phone’s home screen, you know, just trying to make things look a little cooler. I’m using Nova Launcher, which is pretty awesome for customizing stuff. I got this idea in my head: “Wouldn’t it be slick if I could make the icons in my dock spin?”
So, I started digging around. First, I went into Nova’s settings. I poked around in every menu I could find – “Dock,” “Look & Feel,” “Gestures & Inputs,” the whole nine yards. I was looking for anything that sounded like “animation,” “rotation,” or something similar. No dice. Lots of options, but nothing about spinning.
My First Attempts
Next, I figured maybe there was a hidden gesture. I tried swiping, pinching, long-pressing, double-tapping, triple-tapping… you name it, I probably tried it on the dock icons. My finger got a good workout, but the icons just sat there, stubbornly still.
Then, I thought, “Maybe it’s a widget thing?” So, I started browsing through my widgets, looking for anything that looked like it could control icon behavior. I even tried adding some random clock and weather widgets to the dock, just in case they had some secret, spinning power. Nope. Still nothing.
Google Is My Friend
At this point, I did what any self-respecting tech tinkerer does: I hit up Google. I typed in stuff like “nova launcher dock icon spin,” “rotate icons android,” and “make my dock icons do a barrel roll” (okay, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea). I scrolled through a bunch of forum posts and Reddit threads. Most of them were people asking the same question, with no real answers.
The Dead End
I even checked out some YouTube videos of people showing off their crazy Nova Launcher setups. Lots of cool stuff, but still no spinning dock icons. It was starting to look like a lost cause.
I even dove deep to see, I mean really deep, if I can modify some file somewhere.
I also have a habit of trying apps outside the usual sources, so I looked at a few that way.
The Sad Truth:
After all that digging and trying, I’ve gotta admit defeat. As far as I can tell, there’s just no built-in way to make your dock icons spin in Nova Launcher. Or, at least, not a way that I could find. It seems like it’s just not a feature they’ve included. Maybe it’s something they could add in the future, but for now, my dock icons are staying put. It’s a bummer, but hey, at least I learned a few new things about Nova Launcher along the way!
If anyone does know a way to do this, please, let me know! My thumbs will thank you, I may even write a new post about it. But, yeah, my quest to have spin-able apps on the dock is over. For now.