![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.online-tech-tips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/android.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIf for no other reason than simplicity, often, letting a launcher do the bulk of modifications for you is preferable to trying to customize the phone yourself.<\/p>\n
What follows is a list of the 10 \u201cbest\u201d Android launchers available. Again, Google Play Store lists over 275 of them. Some are free; some cost a few bucks; all are easy to download and install and just as easy to either deselect and then switch back to your previous launcher or uninstall altogether.<\/p>\n
Even so, to settle on these top ten launchers, I did not<\/em> download, install, and evaluate them all. Instead, I narrowed them down to the top 20 by choosing those with the highest user ratings and the most downloads, then I installed and evaluated the results.<\/p>\n Note: <\/strong>The following list of the 10 best Android launchers, then, is derivative of a combination of user popularity, product circulation, and my experience with each app. Note also that the stats accompanying each launcher is solely Google Play Store data and therefore does not reflect all available info from all the various download outlets; also, install numbers reflect the current version of the app, not its entire history.<\/em><\/p>\n Easy<\/em>, quick<\/em>, and adaptive<\/em> are three words that aptly describe Action Launcher. It has been around a while and has seen several updates, including v38 at the end of last year.<\/p>\n This launcher comes with numerous attractive themes and a few of its own widgets, including weather, date, and calendar appointments. You can create and color folders, even circular-shaped ones, to your heart\u2019s content, and a smart size icons feature automatically resizes icons to your layouts.<\/p>\n Action Launcher\u2019s Quicks (Quicktheme, Quickbar, and Quickedit), unavailable in most launcher apps, provide a wealth of, well, quick customizable features. Quicktheme, for instance, color coordinates your home screen with the colors from your wallpaper, while Quickbar lets you attach shortcuts and apps to the Google search bar for quicker access.<\/p>\n Quickedit presents, based on an app selection, alternative suggestions, without your having to drill through numerous app packs.<\/p>\n Finally, a Shutters feature allows you to place shortcuts for widgets. When swiping a shutter, the widget (say, for example, your Facebook feed) is revealed, allowing you to preview feeds, your inbox, whatever, without actually opening the app.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot more, but I\u2019ve got nine other launchers to talk about.<\/p>\n My first impression when I saw this app\u2019s name was that it was, well, big in the loaded-with-features-and-customization-options sense. But that couldn\u2019t be further from Big Launcher\u2019s main focus.<\/p>\n Instead, it\u2019s designed with the elderly, children, and anybody else who might have difficulty navigating and utilizing a standard-size home screen and icons. Oh, it\u2019s big<\/em> alright, but that means big, easy-to-see-and-touch icons, menu labels, page content, and more.<\/p>\n As you can see from the stats above, it hasn\u2019t, like several of the other apps mentioned here, been downloaded and installed hundreds of thousands of times. Undoubtedly, that\u2019s due in part to its somewhat steep $11 price tag. There\u2019s also a Big Launcher Easy demo, or a free version that has been downloaded a few thousand times, but it has the following stringent limitations:<\/p>\n In addition to big everything\u2014icons, fonts, text, apps, and so on\u2014you also get an SOS button that makes calling for help and getting located life-saving easy. It also comes in many different languages.<\/p>\n If your senior (child or impaired) smartphone user has trouble navigating and using his or her phone, Big Launcher is a relatively inexpensive way to bring both you and your loved one peace of mind.<\/p>\n Buzz Launcher is different from most other launchers in that it is less about configuring your smartphone manually and more about choosing from one of the many (over 700,000 at http:\/\/www.HomePackBuzz.com<\/a> and over 1,000,000 on the internet at large) user-defined home screens and accompanying features.<\/p>\n And, if you create a Buzz Launcher theme or wallpaper (or both) you\u2019re proud of, you can upload and share it to the Buzz community via Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.<\/p>\n All this is not to say that Buzz Launcher doesn\u2019t come with customization options. You can, for example, create multiple transition effects, edit icons, wallpapers, and home screens, but the real power behind this launcher is the speed and ease with which you can deploy ready-made Homepacks with all new colors, themes, home screens, and so on.<\/p>\n If, on the other hand, you\u2019re more into creating and customizing your own Android launchers and corresponding interfaces, you\u2019ll probably have better luck with one of the other nine launchers in this list.<\/p>\n Evie Launcher differs from the pack in that, while it offers a sophisticated array of customization features, it doesn\u2019t try to be everything for everybody, and therefore doesn\u2019t overwhelm you with options. Evie starts with a slick and easy install that creates a home screen consisting of only four icons, and the icon dock is turned off, leaving you a clean canvas to work from.<\/p>\n Light and fast, some of Evie\u2019s features include an Adjustable Grid, Universal Search, Quick Navigation, and Custom Shortcuts.<\/p>\n In addition to swiping up to display the app drawer, you can swipe down from the top inside app drawer to return to the desktop, or home screen, and there\u2019s also a double-tap-to-lock gesture for handily locking the screen.<\/p>\n But mostly, compared to the others discussed here, this is a lite and fast launcher. Evie has undergone a lot of updates lately, and as a result it becomes increasingly more attractive overall.<\/p>\n LuuTinh makes a couple iOS skins for Android, Launcher iOS 12 and Control iOS 12. Both are, in a sense, the quintessential poor man\u2019s iPhone. Either one makes your phone look like, and to some degree, act like an iPhone. About that, the publisher says:<\/p>\n \u201cLauncher iOS 12 sets a new standard for the Android mobile operating system. It makes your phone better than before. And now it opens up to amazing possibilities for [a] launcher on your phone. With Launcher iOS 12, Your phone is the most powerful, personal, and intelligent devices they’ve ever been.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a tall order, and the assumptions are mind-boggling. This launcher simply, wherever possible, makes your Android device mimic iOS 12. Your settings menus are organized into an iOS-like Control Center, and several gestures and other features perform similar to Apple\u2019s Assistive Touch. It comes with the default iOS theme, and like iOS it lets you make various customizations.<\/p>\n You get the rounded-corner icons, animations instead of transitions, and so on. Other than financial considerations, though, I\u2019m not sure why one would buy an Android device and then install software to make it run like an Apple device; that\u2019s like putting a Harley logo on a Honda. But hey, users love it and it\u2019s free. What more can you ask for?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a launcher to help make your phone operate like Windows 10, or Windows Phone, there are other launchers, such as Win 10 Launcher, more suited to that. Instead, Windows Launcher helps integrate your Android phone into your Windows ecosystem.<\/p>\n It works with your Microsoft account and Microsoft apps, such as Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, and so on, to help make all your gadgets and applications sync up and work together. We wrote a full review of Microsoft Launcher<\/a> here.<\/p>\n This launcher\u2019s features are extensive; here\u2019s a smattering of the more important ones:<\/p>\n Few apps play as nice in an environment dominated by Microsoft than Microsoft Launcher.<\/p>\n One of the oldest and most popular launchers to date, Nova Launcher offers so many features and customization options that it\u2019s difficult to know where to start. If you\u2019re into tweaking to get everything just right, Nova is a good place to start. Here\u2019s a sampling of the free version\u2019s features:<\/p>\n Adding the Nova Launcher Prime upgrade adds gestures, custom drawer groups, hide apps, icon swipes, and more scroll effects. Nova Launcher lets you do things your way but be prepared to spend a little time doing so, unless, that is you use Nova\u2019s import feature to bring in a layout from another popular launcher.<\/p>\n According to the publisher, One Launcher is:<\/p>\n An easy-to-use, no-frills launcher for Android. We believe Simple is Beautiful. Our Launcher does not hog your precious memory resources, nor do we use up your CPU cycles. We just give you a highly-optimized, better-than stock Android Home Screen replacement with a clean and polished interface. <\/em><\/p>\n One Launcher is similar in features and behavior to the launcher on the Google Pixel and it supports Google Now. One Launcher really is light and relatively elegant.<\/p>\n The home screen replacement is customizable with many theme options, as well as smart widgets, and special effects. If you\u2019re not happy with your phone\u2019s default configuration, One Launcher is a quick and clean replacement.<\/p>\nAction Launcher 3<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.2\nInstalls:<\/strong> 93,230\nPrice:<\/strong> Free w\/$3.99 Adaptive Pack upgrade<\/pre>\n
Big Launcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.3\nInstalls:<\/strong> 10,000+\nPrice:<\/strong> Free Demo w\/$10.99 upgrade<\/pre>\n
\n
Buzz Launcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.4\nInstalls:<\/strong> 254,577\nPrice:<\/strong> Free<\/pre>\n
Evie Launcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.4\nInstalls:<\/strong> 254,577\nPrice:<\/strong> Free<\/pre>\n
\n
Launcher iOS 12<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.8\nInstalls:<\/strong> 135,096\nPrice:<\/strong> Free<\/pre>\n
Microsoft Launcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.6\nInstalls:<\/strong> 789,785\nPrice:<\/strong> Free<\/pre>\n
\n
Nova Launcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.6\nInstalls:<\/strong> 1, 157,614\nPrice:<\/strong> Free\/$4.99 for Prime version<\/pre>\n
\n
One Launcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUser Rating:<\/strong> 4.3\nInstalls:<\/strong> 27,420\nPrice:<\/strong> Free<\/pre>\n
Smart Launcher 5<\/strong><\/h2>\n