The best Android launchers allow you to personalize your home screen completely.
With launchers ranging from simple skins to those that explode with color and features, you’ll find an impressively broad selection of alternatives for personalizing the greatest Android phones.
The launcher is the interface we use on Android to organize and interact with our apps.
Most launchers have several home screens where we may arrange widgets and app shortcuts while the rest of our apps are stored in an app drawer.
Every phone has a launcher, even the most basic budget smartphone, and the best Android devices.
Numerous third-party launchers pick up the ball as it is dropped and smash it out of the park. However, certain built-in launchers are superb.
With new icons and themes, as well as new features like smart folders and search assistants, these launchers may completely transform the appearance and feel of your phone.
Although Android’s appearance changes yearly, numerous launchers are available for your phone.
The best Android launchers on the Google Play Store are listed below.
1. Nova Launcher
With mentioning Nova Launcher, a discussion of the best Android launchers is complete. You can arrange your home screen exactly how you want it without affecting speed.
Nova Launcher’s quick, svelte, and highly adjustable design balances significant cosmetic and utility adjustments with a minimal performance impact.
There are many choices to explore, including folder settings, infinite scrolling, scrollable docks, icon packs, color themes, and endless scrolling.
The Nova team always introduces features like Sesame Shortcuts, animations, and other upgrades.
They are not happy to rest on their laurels. The $4.99 Nova Launcher Prime edition has more features than the free download if you want the most potent ones.
2. Smart Launcher 6
Although Smart Launcher has been around for a long time, Smart Launcher 6 took things to the next level.
Although the home screen has a grid-free widget layout method and a modular page system, the app drawer is still the show’s real star.
If you purchase Smart Launcher Pro, you may add your custom categories and order numerous drawer tabs in various ways.
From most-used install time to icon color. Smart Launcher 6 automatically organizes your apps into multiple categories.
Smart Launcher 6 has much to fancy, including a responsive and thorough category app drawer.
Some of Android’s most accurate widget placement and any smartphone’s most varied icon selections.
One of its many fantastic gestures is the double-tap shortcuts for dock apps. This works significantly better than the swiping app shortcuts used by Nova and Action.
The holy trinity of rapid home screen theming I’ve used for the past three years includes Smart Launcher.
It was used to create our insanely great Deadpool theme, the NBA Finals theme, the newly updated MrMobile theme, and others.
You can even combine it with Material You from Android 12 and the Icon Pack Studio in Smart Launcher to create a home screen experience that seamlessly matches any wallpaper you choose for your phone.
3. Action Launcher
Action Launcher significantly increased the use of gestures on the Android home screen compared to practically every other launcher.
In that regard, it keeps moving forward to address the drawbacks of the “Pixel” launcher and make that experience accessible to all devices.
The main feature of the Action Launcher is that it is shuttered. Which lets you swipe on an app icon on the home screen to open a popup window with that app’s widget functionality.
If you have a ton of widget alternatives with high usefulness but want to avoid committing pages of your home screen to suit them all, this is great. It is one of the best Android launchers.
Unfortunately, this function, essential to the Action Launcher experience, is only accessible through their “Plus” in-app payment option.
4. Niagara Launcher
A minimalist Android launcher called Niagara puts your apps and alerts front and center while minimizing extraneous distractions.
Your home screen will display notifications, with spam and persistent notifications automatically filtered away.
Your favorite programs are automatically surfaced in the app drawer, offering useful alphabetical shortcuts.
However, due to Niagara’s extreme minimalism, you should expect it to include something other than any distinctive aesthetic frills or features you typically find in third-party launchers.
5. Microsoft Launcher
Next on our list of best Android launchers is Microsoft Launcher. Microsoft Launcher is a premium, constantly updated launcher that offers an entirely native Android experience.
It’s one of the only apps outside Nova Launcher to support subgrid placement and edge-to-edge widgets.
The Microsoft Launcher interface comprises a simple home screen, a smart page to the left, your daily phone usage, and any Android widgets you add.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the Microsoft ecosystem, having a page of scrolling widgets is preferable to having them spread over three to four pages.
Although the settings for this launcher are a little awkward, it offers all the options you could ever need.
Even if Microsoft Launcher isn’t quite as straightforward as Niagara Launcher, it’s still very lightweight.
That’s worth taking into consideration, especially if you depend in any way on Microsoft’s ecosystem for your professional, academic, or personal needs.
The Microsoft Launcher is another excellent choice for owners of foldable phones. However, it was created for the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 rather than the Z Fold series.
6. Lawnchair Launcher
For those who need small tweaks, Lawnchair Launcher is another option that forgoes panache in favor of a basic supply of uncomplicated functions.
The top Google search bar, the weather, and the calendar display have good options in addition to the standard features you would expect from most of its rivals.
Additionally, it offers some lovely theming opportunities with its light, dark, and black themes.
Overall, Lawnchair chooses not to reinvent the wheel and strives to stay as close to Android’s design and functionality as possible.
7. AIO Launcher
AIO Launcher is all about squeezing as much information as possible on your screen in a sparse manner. This contrasts with other launchers, which may give up decluttering cosmetic customizations.
The app shows information about your system, commonly used apps, recent calls, texts, emails, scheduled calendar events, and more.
AIO Launcher is free. But in-app purchases grant access to extra features, including widget support, app icons, and home screen stream alerts for Android.
Although it doesn’t have the friendliest user interface among the best Android launchers, it’s still a good option if information density is manageable.
8. Apex Launcher
Another top-notch Android launcher that strikes a decent balance between features and performance, Apex Launcher lives up to its name.
The key features are the ability to change the home screen’s grid size with up to nine displays—and a scrollable dock with up to five pages.
Additionally, endless scrolling, transition animations, folder styles, and app drawer designs provide personalization.
9. POCO Launcher
The new Xiaomi Mi 11 and other Xiaomi phones might not be widely accessible in the US, but you can download a free version of the Poco Launcher from the Google Play Store to try it out.
With an app drawer that includes clever category tabs that automatically arrange apps into categories like Communication and Photography, the Poco Launcher departs from Xiaomi’s traditional design sensibilities.
The launcher provides customized notification badges, icon packs, transition effects, and screen layouts.
It does have a nice appearance and is meant to be relatively simple, even though it doesn’t have as many deep customization possibilities as other launchers.
Recent enhancements include dark mode support and the ability to lock your phone by pressing the screen. Poco Launcher, according to Xiaomi, is compatible with Android 10.
10. Hyperion Launcher
Last on our list of best Android launchers is Hyperion Launcher. Hyperion Launcher is an incredibly configurable Android launcher program that lets you change many settings.
It is created by the same company behind the well-known Substratum theming engine as the Pixel launcher.
Users can customize a wide range of options for themes, folders, transparencies, animations, icon packs, and adaptive icons in addition to normal wallpapers and widgets.
Many of Hyperion’s features are free. However, some, such as launcher-level font adjustments and custom gestures, need an in-app purchase for the Pro edition.
There are many of the best Android launchers available on the market. Each launcher offers unique features and customization options.
AIO Launcher, Apex Launcher, POCO Launcher, and Hyperion Launcher are some of the best Android launchers available today.
They all offer a variety of features to help you customize your device to your liking.
Whether you’re looking for an information-dense launcher, a launcher with plenty of customization options, or a simple and easy to use-, there’s an Android launcher for you.
