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Before getting started, users have to make the choice between a light or dark overall theme and immersive or card-style app drawer. Finally, you can also choose whether to use a button or swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the app drawer. Buzz Launcher also has a quick setup process. Right off the bat, you can pick a theme from nine pre-selected choices. Of course, you can skip this step and choose one after looking at more themes later. Microsoft Launcher and Smart Launcher 5 only give you the option to select a wallpaper.
You can stick to your usual wallpaper and choose their recommended options. Apart from giving the required permissions to run the app, all you have to do is press start on the welcome screen. All these launchers are customization-friendly to some extent. Microsoft Launcher is definitely one of the ready-to-go choices.
The main screen has a clock and weather widget, a folder with Microsoft apps, a wallpaper toggle, the Cortana app, and the launcher settings. A swipe to the right opens the feed, with cards for your calendar, the news, recent activities, frequently used apps, and favorite contacts. As expected, everything is very Microsoft-heavy. Everything is synced to your Microsoft account.
The default search engine using the search bar is Bing but you can change it and the voice assistant is Cortana. One advantage of this integration is the ease with which you can transfer files from a Windows PC to your phone and vice versa using OneDrive.
A swipe up from the bottom of the screen expands the dock, which houses a few apps, quick settings toggles, and a display brightness slider. A swipe up from anywhere else on the screen launches the app drawer and you can also use the app drawer button in the dock. The Buzz Launcher home screen changes depending on which theme you choose.
You can also remove them if needed. Apart from the dock, the Nova Launcher has a couple of folders with Google apps and the launcher settings app. The Evie Launcher keeps things even simpler with just four apps on the screen.
Smart Launcher 5 takes a similar approach with a dock housing a few select apps. You can add more apps to the dock, but the true benefit of the Smart Launcher 5 is when you swipe to access the pre-sorted app drawer.
Finally, the Ap15 Launcher home screen is basically everything this launcher is about. All your apps are listed on the scrollable homepage with the size of the apps showing how frequently you use them.
You can hide apps if the page is too packed, but you will need to unhide them again to find and use them. However, quite a few OEMs, particularly those from China, are leaving out the app drawer from their software. Third-party launchers not only let you bring back the app drawer, but some take app drawer customization to a new level. At first glance, Nova Launcher has a standard-looking app drawer. However, its settings offer a slew of customization options just for the app drawer, like setting up the size of the grid, set it to a horizontal grid or vertical scroll, show frequently used apps, and other app drawer interaction.
With most of these home-screen replacements, they get smarter the more you use them because they learn which apps you use the most. Some even ask for your home and work addresses, so they know when you're at home or at the office and can show you appropriate apps for each situation.
The top home-screen replacements are Yahoo-owned Aviate and EverythingMe. Aviate comes with its own unique design that organizes your apps and widgets into their own cards to keep things tidy.
The app is always aware of your location, so it can show you the right apps and widgets when you wake up in the morning, commute to the office, walk around looking for lunch, or plug in your headphones to listen to music. You can't do much to alter Aviate's design, but you can use custom icon packs and change the theme from light to dark. EverythingMe emphasizes search, with a large search bar on your home screen that you can use to find apps and contacts or to search the Web for the information you need.
This launcher also automatically organizes your apps into "smart folders" based on category, such as social or fitness, and will suggest new apps you can download in each category. Another choice is newly-launched, US-only Terrain , which was born out of the Samsung Accelerator program, and designed to replace TouchWiz.
It's not just for Samsung phones though; it works on any phone running Android 4. Terrain is more subtle than Aviate and EverythingMe, leaving your home screen relatively untouched. It comes with two menus, one that houses helpful widgets for your Facebook news feed, your recent apps, your calendar, and more, while the other menu organizes your apps in an alphabetical list so they are easy to find.
You might remember that Facebook also tried its hand at a home-screen replacement with Facebook Home , which really just transformed your phone into a full-screen News Feed.
It's still available in Google Play if you want it, but the app's popularity has dwindled since it was released with the HTC First , also known as the "Facebook phone," in Using launchers can be overwhelming at first, and they aren't necessary to get a good Android experience.
Still, it's worth playing around with launchers, because they can add a lot of value and breathe new life into phones with dated software or irritating stock features. Even if you like your phone's setup as is, I urge you to play around with a launcher or two. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you can do with a new design, or how convenient it is when the apps you need appear when you need them. And if not, you can always go back to your stock experience with just a few taps.
Themer is my top pick for an introductory design launcher. It comes with hundreds of predesigned themes that help inspire you to create your own designs.
Once you've mastered it, I suggest trying out Nova. EverythingMe is my choice if you're just getting started with a home-screen replacement.
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