Neo-Launcher VS Lawnchair

You can remove the Google search bar from a Pixel phone or any Android phone by replacing the launcher.

I recommend Neo Launcher, which is free and open source: https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher

But I tested this with neo Launcher which is also based on rootless pixel launcher. It doesn't have this issue.

Neo launcher. It's on the izzyondroid repo. https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher/releases

You can always give Neo a try.

just checked, the neo launcher i use is not on the play store, although there is some other "neo launcher hyperion", thats not what i meant. If you want to try it out, you'll have to get the apk directly from their github (https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher) or get the F-Droid store & activate the IzzyOnDroid repo (https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/).

You can try something like https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher Its based on the stock aosp launcher and it has quite a lot of customization features all while looking natural and not iphone-ish.

I use Neo-Launcher on my Oppo Find X3 Lite 5G, with ColorOS 13 and I have a Neo Launcher start latency.

Neo Launcher

I would like to use Lawnchair on my Hi Reader Pro, but whenever I set it to use a third party launcher (obviously I haven't tried them all, but I tried 5 or 6 with the same outcome) the "Recent Apps" (Square Button) stops working after a few uses. By that I mean: nothing happens when it's clicked.

You can download it here: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair

Could you please install Lawnchair Launcher & check if the notification is visible in the long press menu?

Launcher

And probably the most latest version (but not final release). https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/releases/tag/v12.1.0-alpha.4

Lawnchair