The best Android launchers are the perfect way to personalize your Android experience. Choice is one of the best things about the Android system, but the standard launcher that comes with your phone is usually quite limiting. A launcher gives you the opportunity to play with the best Android phones as much (or as little) as you want, without the limitations imposed by the manufacturer.
Launchers can also be surprisingly feature-rich. Whether you’re looking for ways to refresh your phone or enjoy features you didn’t really know were possible. Some launchers are designed with minimalism in mind, while others offer a burst of color that would put a paint sample book to shame. But no matter what you choose, this means giving your phone a fresh new look, without the added expense of buying a new phone.
There are many launchers to choose from. It’s just a matter of finding the right one for you. We’ve tested several launchers to see which ones are worth having and these are the best Android launchers we’ve found on the Google Play store.
The best Android launchers
1. Nova Launcher
You can’t talk about the best Android launchers without mentioning Nova Launcher. Fast, sleek, and highly customizable, Nova Launcher balances extensive appearance and utility customizations with minimal impact on performance, allowing you to set up your home screen to perfection without slowing down performance.
There are plenty of options to work with, from color themes to icon packs, scrollable docks, app drawer customizations, folder settings, and infinite scrolling. The Nova team is never content to rest on its laurels and continually adds new features such as Sesame shortcuts, animations, and other improvements.
If you want the most powerful features, check out Nova Prime Launchera $4.99 version that offers more than the free download.
Download Nova Launcher: Play store
2. Niagara Launcher
Niagara is a simple Android launcher designed to put your apps and notifications front and center, while keeping other distractions to a minimum. Notifications are displayed directly on the home screen and spam and persistent notifications are automatically filtered out. The app drawer automatically displays your favorite apps while providing handy alphabetical shortcuts.
That said, Niagara’s extreme minimalism means you shouldn’t expect any visual frills or unusual options that you might expect from most third-party launchers. It is updated frequently and is very promising.
Download Niagara Launcher: Play store
3. Smart Launcher 5
Smart Launcher has long been one of the best Android launchers, with its simple “flower” favorites grid and tidy apps folder. The latest version, Smart Launcher 5, adds a ton of features and improvements.
Smart Launcher’s flower grid is still available, but it’s joined by other thoughtful layouts designed to keep your favorite apps within arm’s reach, while smart search and a smartly organized, customizable app drawer make it easy to find. whatever you need, whether on your phone or on the web. Responsive icons and colors, fully resizable widgets, and more customizations complete the package, making it a great update to a classic launcher.
You’ll have to shell out $7 for the Pro version of Smart Launcher to access many of those extra features, including pop-up widgets and expanded gesture controls.
Download Smart Launcher 5: Play store
4. AIO Launcher
While other launchers may offer neat visual customizations, AIO Launcher is all about cramming as much information as possible onto your screen in a relatively spartan format.
The app displays the apps you use frequently, as well as system information, recently received calls, messages and emails, as well as upcoming calendar events and more.
While AIO Launcher is free, in-app purchases unlock other features, such as support for widgets, app icons, and Android notifications on the home screen. It is not the friendliest interface that exists among the best Android launchers, it is still an interesting option if the density of information does not discourage you.
Download AIO Launcher: Play store
5. Hyperion Launcher
A pixel-like launcher from the team behind the popular Substratum theme engine, Hyperion Launcher is an extremely customizable Android launcher app that lets you modify a wide range of settings.
In addition to standard wallpapers and widgets, users can configure a range of settings for themes, folders, transparencies, animations, icon packs, and responsive icons. Hyperion offers many of its features for free, but others, such as launcher-level font changes and custom gestures, are unlocked with an in-app purchase for the Pro version.
Download Hyperion Launcher: Play store
6. Action Launcher
Action Launcher Pixel Edition was one of the first major third-party launchers to get a Pixel-style makeover, combining its extreme customization with new features and interface styles introduced with Pixel Launcher.
Action Launcher includes a responsive app bar, the pill-shaped Google search bar, and Oreo-style app shortcuts (backwards compatible with Android 5). A slide-out app drawer gives users quick access to a library of apps and widgets. Special gestures such as “covers” and “shutters” allow quick access.
Action Launcher automatically selects the dominant colors in your wallpaper and adjusts your app drawer, folder backgrounds, and search box to match.
Download Action Launcher: Play store
7. Apex Launcher
Apex Launcher lives up to its name as another excellent Android launcher with a good balance of features and performance.
Key features include the ability to customize the size of the home screen grid, 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 customization.
The paid version of Apex Launcher unlocks more options, such as more drawer options, additional gestures, and theme support. That’s an $8.99 download.
Download Apex Launcher: Play store
8. POCO Launcher
Xiaomi phones, like the new Xiaomi Mi 11, may not be widely available in the US, but you can try the Poco Launcher through the Google Play Store. The Poco Launcher deviates from Xiaomi’s usual design sensibilities and offers a full app drawer with smart category tabs that automatically sort apps into groups like Communication and Photography.
The launcher offers a customizable screen layout, transition effects, icon pack support, and notification badges. It doesn’t offer as many deep customizations as rival launchers, but it looks good and is designed to be simplified. And recent additions include dark mode support and the ability to lock your phone by tapping the screen.
Xiaomi says Poco Launcher supports Android 10.
Download Poco Launcher: Play store
9. Microsoft Launcher
Microsoft has renamed its excellent Arrow Launcher to Microsoft Launcher, keeping Arrow’s compact, context-sensitive app pages and customizable feed, while also working to improve the interaction between your Android phone and Windows PC.
Users can quickly take photos from their phone and view them on their desktop; They can also open web links from mobile to Edge on PC, or start editing Office 365 documents from their PC and continue on the go with their mobile phone.
All of this is in addition to Microsoft’s universal search bar, customizable themes, and configurable gesture controls.
Download Microsoft Launcher: Play store
How we choose the best Android launchers
We tested every launcher on this list, and that’s how we came to the above conclusions about the rankings. A launcher is a very personal thing, but we value those that give you a lot of functionality, even if the feature set itself is minimal.
In the end, we encourage you to try different launchers to see which one you like best. You may find the more feature-rich options overwhelming, in which case you may want to look at one of the lighter ones.
We’ve used some of these launchers extensively over the years, which also influenced our ranking here.
