If you own a smartphone, one of the most impressive ways to
customize it is by installing a launcher. Launchers provide tons
of options, themes and icons for your handset, as well as
offering near complete control over how your phone performs when
switching screens, launching apps and more. Here are the best Android
launchers for your smartphone or tablet.
Next Launcher is one of the best launchers on Android.
Solo Launcher - clean, smooth DIY: intuitive and light
With more than 50 million downloads, Solo launcher is a pretty hot
app right now. It's marketed as clean, clear and smooth, and it
delivers on all accounts.
It doesn’t use many of its own icons, but it does use feature
some sweet animations, and it's lighter on "bundled apps
and widgets" than most launchers we encounter.
Solo Launcher houses some neat gestures like a simple upward
swipe on the home screen to perform a search (online or for local
files), but it doesn't deliver any huge changes in functionality
to your normal device. It's a simple, subtle alteration
which could even go unnoticed, and this is its greatest strength.
Solo Launcher looks great with the Doodle Style Theme.
Buzz Launcher: don't like your launcher, borrow someone else's
Buzz
Launcher has left a mark on over a million Play Store user's
minds, earning it a rating of 4.4 stars, and for good reason.
Buzz offers some of the most unique and inventive themes we've seen
on Android, with the community coming up with a whole range of
"professional-looking" ideas to suit all tastes.
Buzz is unbeatable if you want a radical new look on your Android
without investing any effort in creating it yourself, but you will
need to download the additional Buzz Widget app to get the most from
it.
Just one of the wild themes you can get with Buzz Launcher.dodol Launcher: an understated improvement
With over 10 million installs and support for thousands
of free themes, dodol Launcher keeps it simple and does themes right.
It isn’t a complete reworking of the Android system, it’s a
lightweight but effective launcher which isn’t going to destroy
your battery life with crazy effects and animations. It's another
less-is-more kind of launcher, and could be a great place to start if
you're new to the world of Android customization.
This neon-style theme for dodol Launcher is a minimalist delight. / ©
ANDROIDPIT
Smart Launcher: catered to your needs and habits
Smart
Launcher takes things and turns them inside out. Instead of neat
rows and boxes, Smart Launcher gives you rings of the most commonly
used apps and vertical cascades of categorized apps. It's linked with
the app manager too, so if you delete an icon, the app is deleted
too. Simple and unique with a 4.6 star rating based on over five
million installs.
Smart Launcher gives you rings of the most commonly used apps. 
Next Launcher: the wicked 3D-effect launcher
Next
Launcher is quite possibly the coolest 3D launcher available.
It's hard to put into words just how radically different this
launcher is compared to anything else on this list. All the best
features aren't free, as with most launchers, but what the Premium
version lacks in free-ness it makes up for in wow-ness. If you want a
hi-tech, attention grabbing launcher on your phone, try the free
version out and try to resist upgrading.
Next Launcher is known for it futuristic look and 3D effects. APUS Launcher: for subtle, sophisticated design
APUS is currently one of the most popular Launchers on Android,
and largely thanks to its gorgeous Pinko theme. This Launcher
combines themes, custom icons, and some APUS own-brand features to
make it one of the most comprehensive launchers to date. As a free
app, you should definitely check this one out; APUS'
own animations are top-notch.
APUS Launcher is feature-packed and tightly designed: it's Pinko
theme (seen above) is one of its most popular.Hola Launcher: simple, clever, colorful
Hola Launcher has made a name for itself largely thanks to how
economical it is - the initial download comes in at just over 1 MB
in size, and with that comes a reorganized interface and new app
icons. But it's not just its file size that is slim, the processing
power used by Hola also takes some beating, requiring less RAM than
even some of the quickest Android Launchers. It also supports some
gorgeous themes.
Some of the Hola Launcher themes are minimalist delights. Apex Launcher: for customization freaks!
Apex
Launcher is one of the most popular custom launchers available
right now, with over ten million installs in the Play Store and an
average rating of 4.3 stars. Like most launchers on our list it
offers near-endless customization options, complete home screen and
app drawer control, gesture settings, and tons of icons, themes,
launch animations and transition effects. There's also a paid version
which adds even more features to an already formidable free launcher.
This is my current Apex Launcher setup - exactly how I like it.Nova Launcher: the every man's launcher (it's got it all)
Quite possibly the undisputed king of alternative Android
launchers, Nova
Launcher holds a spot on basically everyone's smartphone. With
over five million Play Store installs, the fans can't be wrong, with
Nova scoring an impressive 4.7 star user rating. Nova is quite
similar to Apex and offers much the same functionality, but Nova is
pretty much the go-to launcher for anyone not terribly familiar with
launchers. You really can't go wrong with this one.
Nova Launcher has a vast array of options, it's easy to see why it's
so popular.GO Launcher EX: style and simplicity
GO
Launcher EX has over one hundred million installs and a 4.5 star
rating, making it the unparalleled Android launcher
extraordinaire. GO is basically as polished a free launcher as you
can find, and features some excellent animations and 3D effects. The
downside of GO Launcher being that there is a lot of
cross-promotion which can get a little annoying.
Launcher: one of the best on Android.
Are you rocking a custom launcher we missed? What do you think is
the best launcher on Android?
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