Custom App Launchers offer quite a lot of personalization options than pale stock launchers. Good news is the Play Store has hundreds of app launchers with thousands of customization options but the bad news is there are so many of them that choosing the right one to fit your need can be difficult. But fear not, we are here to aid you. We’ve have narrowed down the options to just 15. Here are the best android app launchers!
Go Launcher EX
Developer: GO Launcher Dev Team
Price: FreeGo Launcher EX’s age is on the same level as Apex Launcher. Also, this is the most popular app in the Store with over 200 million users and tons of add-ons, features, themes, icon packs. It is super smooth with more than 25 transaction effects. It looks even good when you use it with its supporting apps like Go Keyboard, Go LockScreen, and tons of widgets. What’s impressive about this launcher is that despite its age, it has still managed to keep its rating on the Play Store (i.e. 4.5). You can also purchase Go Launcher Prime to get rid of ads and unlock some new features. Unfortunately, some users may consider it as a launcher with too many bloats.
Price: $4Nova Launcher is one of those oldies which are still praised and preferred. It has enough customization options to make your phone yours. Nova Prime supports gesture controls, dock with pages, unread notifications, app hiding among others. There are dozens and dozens of themes and icon packs available for Nova. Moreover, the icons are scalable and the fonts are changeable too. You can change the theme’s color, increase or decrease the scroll speed and animation speed and the notification bar on few devices. The dock is scrollable with few pages on its sides. But its main feature (customization options) is also is bad feature. Customization takes time as there are too many options and figuring out where everything is takes time.
Price: FreeThis one is my personal favorite. Apex Launcher is old but it’s stable and has been stable from a long time. It has tons of useful features including theming support, icon pack support, gesture controls and others various features. Since this launcher has been around for a quite a long time, there are loads and loads of themes and icon packs available for it in the Play Store. It supports up to 9 home screens which is pretty much enough for everyone. It also has a paid version which adds several features like ability to display count of unread messages, two figure gestures and overlapping widgets. The only thing that prevents this app to be on the top is that it hasn’t been able to keep up with the updates regarding Android L but other than that this app launcher is sleek and solid.
Price: FreeThe reason why this launcher app has made it up to our list it because it is a new kid in the block (about a year old) but it has already made a name for itself. It has loads and loads of new and innovative features like sliding quick drawer which enables you to access all your apps at any time, which may take a little time to get used to but will definitely be useful at many times. There’s another feature called ‘Shutters’ which allows you to swipe on an icon to make its widget appear. Other innovative feature include ‘QuickPage’ and ‘1-Swipe’ which add even more functionality to your home screen. You’ll get updates from time to time and this launcher has full tablet support so you don’t have to worry about the icons being pixelated on your tablet. This launcher packs almost all the features a third party launcher should have and the best thing is it is free but you can buy pro version as an in-app purchase or via the Play Store. There have been a few reports of bug but none major.
Price: FreeWindows Phone may lack the functionality and customization of the Android but its user interface is pretty solid and good looking. So someone decided to bring that UI to android and you got to admit, it look gorgeous! You can combine it with many WP inspired apps to create WP experience. You can add, edit, remove, resize times and even use the ‘widget’ tiles. It even features live tiles and offers more customization than Windows Phone itself. Launcher 8 will work with certain apps such as Messages, Phone, Facebook, etc. to display notifications, missed calls or new SMS. But it lacks the colors of an Android and some users might find it monotonous after a time being. Users have even reported some bugs.
Price: FreeYou know the launcher is good when Google itself develops and maintains it. Google released this launcher when it became popular on the Nexus 4. There are a few innovative features such as Google now integration, ‘OK Google’ support among others. This launcher is simple but sleek so it’s easy to use for everyone. Unfortunately, this launcher lacks customization options and although it has some unique features, they are not much compared to what other app launchers on this list offers. Maybe Google’s doing that intentionally; it want to keep this launcher the way it is – minimal.
Price: FreeMi Launcher offers the classic looks (bright, colorful and simple) of MIUI ROMs developed by Xiaomi. It can support an arsenal of icon packs (because it supports ADW Launcher icon packs) and themes plus all the regular launcher stuffs such as transition animation, scrolling options, widgets resizing among others. This launcher is often compared with iOS as it looks and feels like it. The apps are laid across a number of home screens. You can even change your lock screen as MiLocker is intrigated into Mi Launcher. Despite the bulk themes this launcher runs smooth even if you’re using a low-end model. Although it can be frustrating at times when you’re trying to theme as most of the themes are in Chinese.
Price: FreeThis launcher is one of those few ‘contextual’ launchers available on the market. What it does is that it analyses your habits to recommend apps based on the situation you’re currently on (such as studying or driving) and it is pretty good at it too. ‘Prediction Bar’, which is simply the dock contains four icons which changes based on the time of day, your location and your app usage. There are many other such features such as ‘Smart Folders’ which you can discover if you want as this app is completely free without any in-app purchases. But no matter how good it is with its ‘contextual features’, it sometimes make mistakes which can be irritating and the customization options are less too.
Price: FreeBuzz launcher features an innovative and unique Homepack System in which you can use the homepacks uploaded by other users across the globe. It has a solid community of active members and features over 500,000 homepacks to choose from or create and submit your own homepack. If you don’t fancy the themes that other users have created then create your own theme from scratch to meet your need. Since the themes are dynamic, you can change whatever you want including icon size, swipe animation, icon margins, status bar, etc. And this app is absolutely free without any in-app purchases. The downside to this app is that it has focused too much on making the home screen bling but forgot to add features, so it has less features compared to other launchers on this list. Moreover, creating your own theme requires a big time investment.
Price: FreeThemer also relies on the community driven by skilled themers and members like you and I. you can do whatever you want using this launcher; install an icon pack, choose any of the 500+ themes available on the community, or further customize the theme you’ve applied. Gesture control is supported by this app launcher which enables you to perform certain functions such as opening certain app with a gesture. You’ll even enjoy using its app preferences and customize its widgets without being confused by it. Unfortunately, like the name says, it is ‘only’ a themer without a lot of functionality. Fortunately, there is no performance issue whatsoever.
Price: FreeAviate was acquired by Yahoo when it was still in beta phrase. The main contrast of this app launcher is that it suggests you app based on your activities. Moreover, it also provides custom-built interfaces depending upon the time of day or where you are. For example, when you plug in your headphones, it’ll show up media controls and if you’re on the road, it’ll show up navigation tools. Aviate will automatically sort all you apps into categories and you can even customize these categories if Aviate messes up. The best thing about this – it’s completely free! Although this might be too simple for some users as there is no theming options but the minimalist will love it.
