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Best Android Launcher

Chinese phones are dominating the Android market these days. Even in 2019, these phones come with iOS like user interface and it is boring to use such interface. Also, be it Sense UI or Touchwiz interface, there is no single OEM provided interface that ticks all boxes (speed, customizability, lightweight, support for wide range of themes etc). Here is a list of Android Launchers that can replace your OEM/stock Android home. Some of these emphasize on clean and fast UI while some give you extreme amount of features and customization. Read On! Please do share if you like our post.

Best of all

Microsoft Launcher

  • Price: Free
  • Compatibility: Android 4.2 and above
  • Rating: 4.6
  • Downloads: 10 million+
The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Bloatfree, no ads.
  3. Very well structured.
  4. Get amount of time you use each app and phone every day.
  5. The best for those who use lot of apps without widgets
  6. Bing daily wallpaper will set very good wallpapers every day.
  7. Frequently used apps page is extemely helpful.
  8. Wunderlist integration gives one click access to add/see reminders
  9. Very good integration with Office cloud apps
  10. Focus on function, not on gimmicks
  1. Nothing in particular

Evie Launcher

  • Price: Free
  • Compatibility: Android 4.4 and above
  • Rating: 4.7
  • Downloads: 5 million+
The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Lightweight and very fast
  3. Unread badges
  4. Swipe down for search and app launcher, swipe up for app drawer
  5. Huge amount of customization
  6. Intuitive bookmarking feature
  7. Powerful universal search can search in installed apps too
  8. Custom shortcuts
  9. Import/Export home page structure/app arrangement etc
  1. Few rough edges, being very new launcher
  2. Not as feature rich as other launchers

Nova Launcher and Nova Launcher Prime

  • Price: Rs.99/- for Prime while Nova is free.
  • Compatibility: Varies with device.
  • Rating: 4.6/4.8
  • Downloads: 50 million+ for Nova and 1 million+ for Nova Prime.
The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Lightweight
  3. Extremely simple UI
  4. Highly customizable
  5. Backup/Restore settings
  6. Import from another launcher
  7. Gestures support (dock and home screens) (prime only)
  8. Widget overlapping
  9. Hide applications (Prime only)
  10. Folders in app drawer (Prime only)
  11. Unread counts (Prime only)
  1. Only work on 4.0 or higher versions of Android
  2. Should have buzz like themes sharing and one click theme install/export/import.

New in 2019

Niagara Launcher

  • Price: Free.
  • Compatibility: Varies with device.
  • Rating: 5.0
  • Downloads: 1 million+.

The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Lightweight
  3. Clean and minimalistic UI.
  4. Made for one hand use.
  5. Interesting notification view.
  6. Always accessible applicationm list, scroll on the right from home screen to see list of applications.
  1. Not much of customization options.
  2. Lack of widgets.

AIO Launcher

  • Price: Free.
  • Compatibility: 5.0 and above.
  • Rating: 4.5.
  • Downloads: 100,000+
  • In-app purchases:  180.00 per item.

The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Lightweight
  3. Simple tab and text based UI.
  4. Excellent onscreen information.
  5. Colorful icons.
  6. Support for themes and icon packs.
  7. Gesture support.
  1. No widgets.
  2. Not for those looking for truckload of features and widgets.

Smart Launcher 5

  • Price: Free
  • Compatibility: Varies with device.
  • Rating: 4.4
  • Downloads: 10 million+.
  • In-App purchases: ₹ 40.00 – ₹ 480.00 per item.

The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. One of the most feature rich launchers out there.
  3. Theme changes colors according to wallpaper.
  4. Designed for one hand use.
  5. Gesture and hotkey support.
  6. Highly customizable, loads and loads of options.
  7. Redesigned smart search is very useful.
  8. Sort apps into categories in app drawer.
  9. Backup/Restore settings
  10. Import from another launcher
  11. Gestures support (dock and home screens) (prime only)
  12. Widget overlapping
  13. Hide applications (Prime only)
  14. Folders in app drawer (Prime only)
  15. Unread counts (Prime only)
  1. Nothing in particular.

Other great launchers

CM Launcher

  • Price: Free.
  • Compatibility: Android 4.1 and above
  • Rating: 4.5
  • Downloads: 100 million+
  • In-app purchases: ₹ 60.00 – ₹ 2,950.00 per item.

The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Built in antivirus
  3. Multi language support
  4. Design your own theme
  5. Automatic re-organization of apps based on function.
  6. Very good theme library
  7. Huge support for gestures
  8. Built-in battery saver
  9. Built in news aggregator like Google Now Launcher
  1. Too many ads
  2. bloatware
  3. 349/- too much for Pro (that only removes adds and provides few gestures)

Solo Launcher

  • Price: Free
  • Compatibility: Android 4.1 and above
  • Rating: 4.5
  • Downloads: 100 million+

The Good The Bad
  1. Free
  2. Lightweight and super fast
  3. Multi-lingual support
  4. Massive number of themes
  5. One click booster widget
  6. Built-in battery saver
  7. Gesture support
  8. Set photos as icons
  9. Handwritten fonts
  10. Weather Forecast, news etc
  11. HD wallpapers and hundreds of themes
  12. The current ‘super launcher’ on Google Play
  1. Nothing in particular


Go Launcher and Go Launcher Prime

  • Price: Go Launcher is free, Rs.300/- for Prime; ₹ 29.00 – ₹ 8,300.00 per item.
  • Compatibility: 4.1+
  • Rating: 4.5/4.2
  • Downloads: 100 million+ for EX and 100,000+ for Prime.
  • go_launcher_1
  • go_launcher_4
  • go_launcher_3
  • go_launcher_2
The Good The Bad
  1. Nothing else comes close w.r.t customizability and dev support
  2. Free to use
  3. Super easy to customize.
  4. Massively popular. 100 million + user base
  5. Works on age old Android 2.0
  6. Massive number of in-house developed apps that add extra function.
  7. Thousands of themes, icon packs, widgets, wide range of animations etc.
  8. Insane amount of customization features
  1. Heavy on memory and can slow down the phone
  2. Heavy looking UI out of the box

Amarendra

Co-Founder of GadgetDetail, gadget lover, addicted to American TV shows, fan of Ferrari and Federer, Bengalurian, FOOD LOVER, multiplex hater.

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