I am using Xiaomi A2 Lite and I want to get rid of search bar on my home screen, preferably without and without installing custom launchers (that are likely to be the next configuration time sink).
In case that launchers are only way to do this without rooting phone - is there some good launcher that would allow me to remove this and out of the box is not changing anything (otherwise phone is acceptable and I prefer to avoid wasting day on configuring software)
I found info that in Android 4 it was impossible and that I can install launchers like Apex Launcher or Nova Launcher (not sure is it still going to help and what kind of downsides it will cause).
Nexus 5 also required custom launcher or custom ROM or requires rooting phone, none of which sound like something easy and without negative consequences.
The same answer mentions "long press on home screen on an empty space + toggle the hide/show button of the Google search bar" what is not working for me.
It mentions removing Google Now. The same functionality seems to be now provided as Google app and I disabled it, resulting in less offensive but still present gray rectangle.
Dragging or longpressing this bar has no effect whatsoever.
Xda forum claims that removing Google app is sufficient (what is untrue, it leaves inactive grey bar just to spite people that want to get rid of it). It also mentions launchers as alternative, and problems with launchers on unrooted phones. Xda thread recommends LawnChair launcher for unrooted phones to fix this.
