Dear Donka, sorry for the multiple quotes incoming.
The home screen can be a launcher. It can also be used to view a background with the dock at the bottom considered the launcher. It's surely up to the user how they lay this out. The Launcher app gives me extra flexibility in that choice. It's the very reason why Apple let you set a wallpaper; if it was always covered by apps then what would be the point?
Of course I could just populate the entire home page with my favourite or most used apps but what happens if you fill this? Would there not be any benefit in having a launcher available for these extra apps?
Again, you are resorting to use a third party tool because you chose not to use your home screen in an efficient way - holding apps you use often.
I have no interest in discussing that. It is like complaining about a feature that exists, but that you decided to avoid using.
If you organise your home screen better, you would have no use for a launcher to give you shortcuts to apps. If you don't want to organise it, that works for you, but it doesn't make the app any more useful than that.
Anyway, back to the serious comment I made in my last post. The launcher can do much more than simply launching an app as if you had just manually tapped it so even if you don't see the merits in a basic launcher, do you not see the value in being able to launch an app with specified variables?
I have expressed a thought on that in a previous post. Having some utility that would let you create icons to place on a screen to perform automated tasks would be a good idea, provided Apple can offer a secure for this to happen.
It doesn't make much sense to have such links to tasks in the notification center however, since those are not notifications but direct actions.
That said, I don't see Apple coming up with such an utility: it would be greatly redundant, in tasks that are very simple to perform.
For what it is worth, I prefer to be as stock as possible when it comes to an OS. I don't use every delivered feature of iOS but if they included a launcher feature in iOS, I for one would use it. You clearly wouldn't. No big deal either way.
The delivered launcher for your most used apps is actually the dock on the bottom of the screen which is why it is always present regardless of which page you are on. The notification centre offers similar flexibility and is easily available from any page or within an app.
I have more than 4 apps that I use most often, so my home screen serves me as my launcher. But as for the rest, I agree with you.
Yes, you seem to be confused. The features that exist do not accomplish this task. Unless you know of a feature the rest of us are unaware of?
If the only way for you to send a text message, or place a call, was through the widget launcher, then I will suggest you place a call to an Apple Store to get an appointment. They are pretty good at explaining things.
Now, I could stack Launcher and one of those features. I could use launcher to open my messaging app directly to my gf and then simply type "walking from subway" which is my abbreviation for "walking from subway". That would be nice and efficient.
Because, opening the messages app, and tapping on the person you want to message with, is such a hard task to do
on your own.
