Launchers
are the way Android users customize their smartphone and tablet
experience. There's superficial stuff, like changing screen transitions,
icons, and fonts, but the best Android launchers out there enable users
to tweak the device's behavior to suit their daily usage, so long as
you're willing to put the time into defining those customizations. You
can make your home screens as simple or complicated as you wish, while
tweaking every little detail or just taking what's given to you by
default — but either way you can replace what your phone's manufacturer
gives you with the install of a single app.
If you're looking for a change of pace from the out-of-box software
experience on your phone, consider a new launcher. We've found the best
ones available today, and listed all of the pros and cons of each.
1. Action Launcher
Action Launcher
is a great option that mixes things up and changes the interface
paradigm from what you'd expect in a "normal" launcher. There's no
regular dock and app drawer, instead replacing it with a slide-in drawer
to house your apps. You also get Shutters and Covers, which give you
innovative ways to launch into folders and widgets with swipes — it's
all about getting to your apps and content quicker.
The newest version, Action Launcher 3, takes things up to a new
design that fits in with Android 5.0 Lollipop, and introduces a few new
features as well. There's a free version of Action Launcher for everyone
to try, with a pro upgrade costing just $4.99 — and after you figure
out the time-saving features you'll want to unlock it.
DOWNLOAD: Action Launcher (Free, $4.99 pro unlock)
2. Google Now Launcher
The Google Now launcher is the obvious pick for anybody looking for a
pure, clean Android experience. It comes right from Google (and is
pre-installed on Nexus
phones), so you can shear away anything the manufacturer has loaded up
in one install. Transitions are quick and clean, and there's nothing
superfluous getting between you and your apps and widgets. Beyond that,
the left-most home screen becomes Google Now,
so you can launch into searches, view cards populated based on the time
of day, your location, and general browsing habits, and execute all
sorts of hands-free "OK Google" commands. The only real downside here is
that you won't be able to enjoy the level of customization available on
more robust launchers — you get what Google gives you here.
Use the Google Now launcher if you're looking for high stability and a consistent Android experience. Pair it with the Google Keyboard for the full experience.
DOWNLOAD: Google Now Launcher (Free)
3. Nova Launcher
Nova is a massively popular launcher that offers a whole bunch of
animation options, folder views, and desktop behaviors. If you shell out
$4.00 for the premium upgrade you can program gestures to perform
certain actions, and fully customize unread badges including corner
radius, border, background and text color. One particularly cool
addition is swipe actions, which allow app icons to act as a folder with
a swipe, or a standard app launch with a tap. If that's not enough, you
can always explore the wide world of Nova-compatible themes in Google
Play to dramatically change the look and feel of your Android device.
You'll even find some Android 5.0-style options tucked away in Nova.
Nova is a highly functional launcher that can be as subtle or as loud
as you like, making it completely unique if you spend the time.
DOWNLOAD: Nova Launcher (Free, $4.00 pro unlock)
4. Aviate
Aviate
builds collections of your apps based on different types of activities.
You can, of course, tweak those collections manually as well, and
Aviate can offer suggestions to fill in collections. Aviate figures out
where you are and what time of day it is, and serves up relevant
collections in custom-built interfaces called Spaces so you can better
handle those activities. For example, if you plug in your headphones, it
offers you quick access to media controls and your favorite music apps.
Hit the road, and you'll be offered shortcuts to navigation home and to
the office.
Aviate excels for having a high amount of polish and requires minimal
maintenance, even though you might lose out on some customizability. .
DOWNLOAD: Aviate (Free)
5. GO Launcher EX
The Go Launcher is a particularly flashy launcher with a great range
of screen transitions, including 3D ones. Launcher settings are
available through a readily accessible drawer that's summoned with an
upward swipe from the home screen. There's a dedicated theme storefront
app that lets you cruise through available Go Launcher compatible apps
and punts you out to the Play Store when you're ready to download. It
even has a section of dedicated custom lock screens via the
Go Locker app.
For $5.99 you can upgrade to Go Launcher Prime, which offers security
lock for individual apps, removes ads and adds a few more bells and
whistles.
It's impressive that even Go's settings menus manage to stay flashy with all of the functionality the launcher provides.
DOWNLOAD: GO Launcher EX (Free, $5.99 pro unlock)
6. Apex Launcher
Apex offers a similar range of functions as Nova. You can tweak the
icon tray size and scrolling, change animations, adjust home screen
behaviors, and customize gesture commands for various pinches, taps, and
swipes. A plug-in allows notification data to be fed to Apex from a
variety of apps, and out to any Android Wear
devices, too, so long as you're willing to upgrade to the pro version
for $4.49. There are a wide range third party themes available in the
Google Play Store which let you change the overall look of your Android
experience, but as a functional core, Apex does extremely well.
Android power users will have a field day with the Apex launcher.
DOWNLOAD: Apex Launcher (Free, $4.49 pro unlock)
7. Honorable mentions
Though we spent the most time on our absolute favorite launchers, there are quite a few more out there worth your consideration:
Your favorite launchers?
The Google Play Store
has a ridiculous number of Android launchers available, so we're always
interested to hear what you guys are using. We're curious to see how
you've customized your own launchers too — sound off in the comments!
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