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In this post I will list some of the best android launchers. And after reading this article you will customize your smartphone home screen to a new level. The main question is why someone need to change the home launcher of android smartphone? The reason may be anything be it bad UI design of home screen, or too much cluttered home screen and so on.
Also if you are that type of person who does not like manufacturer skin on your phone, then don’t worry you have the best options to change your mobile home screen. So without any delay let’s come to the main topic in this article.
Let us have an overview of different launchers and they are:
- Microsoft Launcher
- AIO Launcher.
- Lawnchair 2.
- Nova Launcher.
And for the minimalistic launchers I have
- Ratio Launcher.
- Before Launcher.
- Niagra Launcher.
So let’s see all of these 7 launchers one by one.
Microsoft Launcher:
This is one of the best among all android launchers. Before using it I thought It will give somewhat windows effect on the smartphone home screen. But I was wrong, Microsoft team has created this launcher very well.
As this launcher gives many customizations options and also has a minimalistic look. When you install it for the first time, It will ask you some basic stuffs like your wallpaper preference, signing in to Microsoft account, selection of your favorite apps etc.
Furthermore, if you will swipe up from any part of the screen you will get access to the app drawer. In addition to that, if you swipe down from anywhere you will get the global search bar. The string (usually a collection of alphabets) you will input in the global search bar will not only search for apps on the phone but also search the web.
And at last when you swipe to the right of the screen you will see “Glance” and “News” menu. In case if you have signed in to your Microsoft account then your to-do’s, events, tasks will be synced here. so now let’s see the next launcher.
App Link: Link
AIO Launcher:
This launcher is truly opposite of minimal launchers. As minimal launchers selects important things and displays at your home screen, this AIO launcher throws each and everything to your screen. The motive of the developer of this launcher is to display everything in one place.
When you install it for the first time you will be taken through small tutorial. Moreover, this launcher has various widgets like currency exchange, calculator, tasks, notes, audio recording etc. Everything that you see here is nothing but a widget. Moreover, just like a normal widget, these widgets are movable ,customisable and deletable.
Also to access the app drawer you have to simply press back button. In case you use navigation gesture just use back gesture on your phone. So, after you have done that you will see the app drawer come out from the left side. Enough talking about the AIO Launcher let’s have a look on the next one.
App Link: Link
Lawnchair 2:
This is one of the oldest launcher in the market. It’s UI is simply plain no complicated stuff and all. If you are the user of anyone of the smartphone brands like MI, Oppo or Vivo. Then Lawnchair 2 will be helpful to simplify your home screen.
In addition to that, to customise the home screen experience long press on a free space. Then you will get the option of “Home Settings”. So select that, you will get the various option to control the look and feel of your home screen. In a nutshell this app provides basic to medium level of customisations.
App Link: Link
Nova Launcher:
It is one of the best launcher among all the android launchers in the market. It is in the market since from 2011. Initially the purpose of this launcher was to restore the features that was removed by the google. In this launcher, the basic customisations is simple, that includes wallpapers and icons.
Furthermore, to access Nova Settings overlay you should long press on the free screen. And to see the list of available widgets simply swipe up. Also there is a search bar on the top to search apps or other stuffs on your phone as per the search keyword. So now the time is for minimalistic launchers so have a look at them one by one.
App Link: Link
Ratio Launcher:
Ratio launcher is developed by a company called Blloc. This company focuses mainly on minimalism and safety of privacy for a few years. In the past, they have also developed few phones based on those features.
The main benefit of this launcher is that it cuts off unnecessary bloatware and features from the phone and thus it justifies its position in the minimalistic android launchers category. Also it is splitted into the three screens and they are ‘Tiles’, ‘Root’ and last but not the least ‘Tree’.
Let’s discuss these three one by one. Firstly, what are Tiles? It is an obvious question that may come to your mind. So basically, the tiles are nothing but the home screen, where the smartphone users can arrange their apps in a clean app drawers as per their usage and categories.
Let’s come to the second one, When you swipe from right of the home screen it will eventually open up the ‘Root’ screen. This section of the launchers has root’s own widgets. And those include widgets like weather, news ,calendar, media player and so on.
At last comes the ‘Tree’. To open the ‘Tree’ of the ratio launcher swipe left of the home screen. So the Tree is the place where you can manage all of the conversations on one screen across the multiple apps. Moreover, this app requires notification access to display all the messages in a clean manner.
App Link : Link
Before Launcher:
This is another well known minimalistic launcher in the android launchers space. It provides a simplistic home screen where users can pin at most 8 apps. It enables users to customize the home screen to some extent. For enabling all features you have to buy the pro version of the app.
App Link: Link
Niagra Launcher:
Last on the list this is another simple yet powerful launcher to use. As it comes under the category of minimalistic android launchers, it provides very simple and clean home screen. You can select and pin up to at max 8 apps on your home screen.
This launcher enable user to change their smartphone wallpapers and also comes with own wallpaper collections. Also Niagra Launcher includes some built-in widgets for weather and calendar. Furthermore, it has an accessible and functional scroll bar presented with the alphabetical list of apps. Not only this, the scroll bar also has the fluid animations in it.
App Link : Link
Bonus: How to make downloaded android launcher as default home app?
The steps are very simple and easy to follow.
- First of all head to settings on your phone.
- Then search for Default Apps.
- After that go for a setting named Home App.
- Go to the menu and select your launcher of your choice. That’s it.
So I hope you liked the post if you liked it please consider sharing this post with your friends and family. If you are looking for live wallpaper apps for android you can read this article here. And also thanks for reading the post. See you in the next one.
