The best launchers for Android are the perfect way to customize your Android experience. Choice is one of the best things about Android, but the default launcher your phone comes with tends to be pretty limiting. The launcher gives you the chance to tinker with the best Android phones as much (or as little) as you want, without the restrictions imposed by the manufacturer.
Launchers can also be surprisingly feature-rich. Whether you’re looking for ways to transform your phone or enjoying features you never knew were possible. Some launchers are designed with minimalism in mind, while others offer an explosion of color that would put a color swatch book to shame. But no matter what you choose, it means giving your phone a new look and feel — without the added cost 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 tried a bunch of 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 launchers for Android
1. Nova Launcher
You can’t talk about the best Android launchers without mentioning Nova Launcher. Fast, elegant and highly customizable, Nova Launcher balances extensive customization of appearance and utilities with minimal impact on performance, allowing you to get your home screen just right without slowing down performance.
There are plenty of options to work with, from color themes to icon packs, scrollable docks to app drawer customizations, to folder settings and infinite scrolling. The Nova team is never content to rest on its laurels, constantly adding new features, such as Sesame shortcuts, animations and other improvements.
If you want the most powerful features, turn to Nova Launcher Prime, a $4.99 version that offers more than a free download.
Download Nova Launcher: Toy shop
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 your home screen, and spam and persistent notifications are automatically filtered. The app drawer automatically displays your favorite apps and also provides convenient alphabetical shortcuts.
Still, Niagara’s extreme minimalism means you shouldn’t expect any of the unusual visual add-ons and options you might expect from most third-party launchers. it is updated frequently and has a lot of promise.
Download Niagara Launcher: Toy shop
3. Smart launcher 5
Smart Launcher has long been a favorite for the best Android launcher, with its simple “flower” favorites grid and sorted app folder. The latest version, Smart Launcher 5, adds a ton of features and improvements.
Smart Launcher’s floral grid is still there, but it’s joined by a host of other well-thought-out layouts designed to keep your favorite apps close at hand, while Smart Search and an intelligently sorted and customizable app drawer make it easy to find whatever you need, whether on your phone or on the web. Customizable icons and colors, fully resizable widgets, and more customizations round out the package, making for a great update to the classic launcher.
You’ll need to shell out $7 for the Pro version of Smart Launcher to access many of those extra features, including pop-up widgets and extended gesture controls.
Download Smart Launcher 5: Toy shop
4. AIO launcher
While other launchers might offer visual tweaks to declutter, AIO Launcher is all about cramming as much information as possible onto your screen in a relatively spartan format.
The app displays your frequently used apps 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 in a stream on the home screen. It’s not the friendliest interface among the best Android launchers, but it’s still an interesting choice if the information density doesn’t put you off.
Download AIO Launcher: Toy store
5. Hyperion launcher
A Pixel-like launcher from the team behind the popular Substratum theme launcher, Hyperion Launcher is a highly customizable Android launcher that lets you tweak a wide range of settings.
In addition to the standard wallpapers and widgets, users can configure a range of settings for themes, folders, transparencies, animations, icon packs and customizable icons. Hyperion offers a bunch of its features for free, but others — like launcher-level font changes and custom gestures — are unlocked with an in-app purchase for the Pro version.
Download Hyperion Launcher: Toy shop
6. Initiator of actions
Action Launcher Pixel Edition was among the first major third-party launchers to get a Pixel-style makeover, combining its extreme customization with the new interface features and styles introduced with Pixel Launcher.
Action Launcher includes a customizable app bar, a pill-shaped Google search bar, and Oreo-style app shortcuts (backwards compatible with Android 5). A sliding app drawer gives users quick access to their app library and widgets. Special gestures such as “lids” and “shutters” allow quick access.
Action Launcher automatically selects the dominant colors in your background and adjusts the app drawer, folder backgrounds, and search box to match.
Download Action Launcher: Toy shop
7. Apex Launcher
Apex Launcher lives up to its name as another great Android launcher with a good balance of features and performance.
Basic features include the ability to adjust 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. It’s $8.99 to download.
Download Apex Launcher: Toy shop
8. POCO launcher
Xiaomi phones, like the new Xiaomi Mi 11, may not be widely available in the US, but you can try Poco Launcher via the Google Play Store. The Poco Launcher departs from Xiaomi’s usual design sensibilities, offering an app drawer complete with smart category tabs that automatically sort apps into groups like Communication and Photography.
The launcher offers customizable screen layout, transition effects, icon pack support and notification badges. It doesn’t offer as much deep customization as rival launchers, but it looks nice and is designed to be on the cutting edge. And recent additions include support for dark mode and the ability to lock the phone by touching the screen.
Xiaomi says Poco Launcher is compatible with Android 10.
Download Poco Launcher: Toy shop
9. Microsoft launcher
Microsoft has rebranded its excellent Arrow Launcher as Microsoft Launcher, keeping Arrow’s compact, context-sensitive app pages and customizable feed, while also working to improve the interplay 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 their mobile device to Edge on their 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: Toy shop
How we picked the best launchers for Android
We tracked every launcher on this list, which is how we came up with the ranking conclusions above. A launcher is a very personal thing, but we appreciate the ones that give you a lot of functionality, even if the feature set itself is minimal.
Finally, we encourage you to try different launchers to see which one you like best. You may find the options with more features overwhelming, in which case you may want to look at one of the lighter options.
We’ve used some of these engines heavily over the years, which has also affected our ranking here.