10 Best Android Launchers!
Tired
of staring at the same old icons on your Android home screen? Try installing a
custom Android launcher. A good launcher can give your phone a total makeover,
from changing the look and feel with different icons and themes, to adding new
functionality such as smart folders and assistive search. Here are the 10 most
feature-packed, innovative and customizable Android launchers on the market
today.
Nova Launcher (Free)
Fast, sleek and highly
customizable, Nova Launcher is among the best modern Android
launcher apps. Nova balances extensive appearance and utility customizations
with a minimal performance impact, letting you set your home screen just right
without slowing down performance. There are a lot of options to work through,
from color themes to icon packs, scrollable docks to app drawer customizations,
folder settings and infinite scrolling. Whether you're looking to optimize your
home screen or just want to spice things up, Nova Launcher is one of the best
launchers out there.
Apex Launcher
Apex Launcher lives up to its name and is another
excellent Android launcher with a good balance of features and performance.
Core features include the ability to customize the homescreen grid size, with
up to nine screens, as well as a scrollable dock with up to five pages.
Infinite scrolling, transition animations, numerous folder styles and multiple
app drawer styles add even more customizability. The paid version unlocks even
more options, such as more drawer options, additional gestures and added theme
support.
Action Launcher 3
(Free)
Action Launcher 3 updates
its launcher to give the app a Lollipop and Material Design look while offering
its own usability improvements. A slide-out app drawer provides users with
quick access to their app library and widgets (with alphabetical sort keys),
and special gestures such as "covers" (performed on top of a folder
icon allow you to run given apps or shortcuts) and "shutters" (swipes
on app icons to automatically display widgets) allow for speedy access. A
particularly neat touch is how Action Launcher automatically picks out dominant
colors in your wallpaper and adjusts the app drawer, folder backgrounds and
search box to match.
EverythingMe(Free)
Rather than try to build a fancier home screen,EverythingMe tries
to build a smarter one. The app's standout feature is a dynamic Prediction Bar
that provides you with a changing set of app shortcuts and bookmarks depending
on the place and time of day. For example, EverythingMe might display your news
reader apps in the morning, your note-taking and cloud storage apps during work
hours, and shortcuts to your favorite recipe books or movie and media players
in the evening. Smart folders can automatically sort your apps into convenient
categories, and a built-in smart search tool takes into account your usage
habits and device search, as well as Web results and app store recommendations.
Yahoo Aviate Launcher
(Free)
Yahoo's Aviate Launcher is its own sally into the smart launcher field of apps
that includes Google Now Launcher and Everything.me. Aviates approach is more
all-encompassing than those two apps, though. Aviate begins with a simplified
home screen and an auto-categorized app drawer. As you go through the day,
however, Aviate adjusts what's on the display to provide the info you need
right now. Check the weather, traffic and news in the morning, get commuting
and driving directions when on the go from work, or automatically pull up your
music apps and artist details when you plug in your headphones.
Nokia Z Launcher
(Free)
As with other adaptive launchers, Nokia's Z Launcher takes
into account your app usage habits and other factors such as time of day in
order to highlight the apps that Z Launcher thinks you'll find useful at the
moment, such as traffic navigation apps for your morning and evening commute or
productivity apps for work. Z Launcher's real selling point at the moment is a
handwriting-based smart search feature that allows users to scribble letters
onscreen, with the app pulling up what it believes are relevant results, such
as apps, contacts and frequently visited pages. Z Launcher doesn't support
widgets, and like other adaptive launchers, does require some time to learn
your habits, but it's a promising start.
APUS Launcher (Free)
APUS Launcher is a nice,
highly customizable launcher that comes with a ton of wallpapers, themes,
animations, as well as system tools to freshen up your phone's UI. APUS
automatically categorizes your apps into smart folders, gesture controls allow
you to quickly bring up notifications or search, and a Free Swipe tab allows
quick access to phone and system settings as well as frequently used apps. The
launcher also comes with a variety of extras, such as a performance booster, a
battery utility as well as app discovery tools. It's a nice, highly
configurable launcher, if a bit aggressive with ads and extras.
Smart Launcher 2
(Free)
Smart Launcher 2 provides
users with a minimalist home screen, consisting of a radial menu of slots where
you can place your most frequently used apps such as your dialer, contacts and
mail. The launcher also includes an intelligent app drawer, which automatically
sorts user apps into convenient categories like games, internet and multimedia
apps, while allowing users to manually sort. The paid version includes expanded
lockscreen functionality, as well as a secondary screen where you can place
widgets.
Buzz Launcher (Free)
Like many Android launcher apps, Buzz Launcher comes
packed with features for designing your own personalized Android interface.
Where Buzz Launcher shines is that it not only makes it easy to create home
screens, but also to share them online or browse through the work of other
users for your own particular favorites. Customization junkies can tweak icons,
wallpapers, folders, drawers and home screen options, while less seasoned users
just looking for a change of interface can just download whatever takes their
fancy.
Solo Launcher (Free)
For something with a more minimalistic effect, check out Solo Launcher,
a Material-inspired Android launcher replacement that adds a variety of custom
animations and transitions, as well as a variety of utilities and UI tools.
Users can define custom gesture controls, with swipes, pinches and double taps
loading up individual apps, system settings, and more. In addition, Solo comes
with a security tool and system cleaner, in addition to an app lock and battery
saver.
