5 unconventional Android launchers that will make your phone as unique as you are

Summary

Launchers are a type of mobile application native to the Android operating system, serving as total home screen replacements.
Owing to Android’s open and flexible nature, developers have been able to create some highly unique and quirky launchers.
Here are five of my favorite launchers, each offering an unconventional twist on the typical home screen formula.

There are countless reasons why I love the Android mobile operating system, not least of which being its diverse selection of launcher applications. Launchers are a type of third-party software that function as total home screen replacements, with broad compatibility across much of the Android phone and tablet ecosystem.

In the past, I’ve written about some of my favorite Android launchers of all time — classics like Niagara, Nova, and Lawnchair continue to offer advanced functionalities, customization features, and other niceties often not found on default out-of-box launchers from hardware makers.

However, there is a separate selection of more experimental, novel, and unique Android launchers out there that are less mainstream, but equally (if not more) enticing. Here are five such third-party launchers that offer a creative and wholly unconventional approach to the Android home screen experience.

5 ways Olauncher elevates my Android experience

I’ve tested a great many Android launchers throughout the years, and Olauncher remains one of my all-time favorites.

1

Pie Launcher

Ditch the grid layout and embrace radial design

Pie Launcher kicks the tried-and-true grid of icons paradigm to the curb in favor of something more radial. By default, the home screen is clean and empty of any and all interface clutter. By tapping and holding on any portion of the screen, a circular pie-style menu of app icons will appear, which can be scrolled around in a sweeping gesture motion.

To access the app drawer — which houses the rest of your installed apps — simply tap anywhere on screen without holding down. This setup is slick and incredibly intuitive in my experience, and I appreciate its one-handed friendliness in today’s world of comically large smartphones. Best of all, Pie Launcher is a free download over on the Google Play Store.

Why these 9 Android launchers hold a permanent spot on my phone

Making my app drawer and screen more customizable and organized, these launchers continue to be a real screen saver.

2

Yantra Launcher

A dream come true for command line lovers

Yantra is one of several Android launcher apps that aim to bring the traditional PC terminal or command line interface to mobile. In my experience, Yantra is the slickest and most well-thought-out option on the market, with an attractive design and access to a large set of commands with pre-configured prompts.

For a command line launcher, the app is surprisingly approachable, placing commands near the bottom of the display in a reachable manner. Of course, if you dig under the surface a bit, you’ll find a wide range of customization options and power-user features on offer. Yantra is an entirely free app, and it can be found on the Google Play Store.

I switched to the Niagara Android launcher and haven’t looked back

There are tons of awesome Android launchers out on the Play Store, but I find Niagara to be far and away the best of them all.

3

ReZ Launcher

The Nokia Z Launcher, reborn for the modern age

For a time, Z Launcher was the default home screen experience on Android-based Nokia phones in the mid 2010s. Now defunct, the launcher featured an adaptive user interface with a charming scribble feature, letting you draw out a letter to launch any of your installed applications. While the original Z Launcher may be long gone, a third-party developer has gone ahead and created a spiritual successor in the form of ReZ Launcher.

ReZ embraces Nokia’s scribble to search feature, with support for a variety of languages and in a number of written scripts. App suggestions, widgets, media controls, and other standard Android home screen options are all implemented, making this a solid option overall. ReZ is free to download and install from the Google Play Store.

How I turned my Android phone into a mini Wii

With a little help from the Revo Launcher app, my Android home screen resembles the iconic Nintendo Wii Menu from 2006.

4

Revo Launcher

Who needs icons when you can have channels?

Revo Launcher offers a home screen interface directly inspired by Nintendo’s 2006-era Wii Menu. Using original code to recreate the look and feel of the Wii’s interface, Revo manages to feel authentic while also being optimized for portrait display orientations. Rather than applications being represented on screen by icons, each piece of software is contained within its own ‘channel’ — analogous to real-world TV stations.

The real-world practicality of Revo is questionable when compared to some of the other launchers on this list, but it’s an excellent nostalgia scratcher (and it works great as a dedicated emulation app launcher). Revo is entirely free and can be readily downloaded from the Google Play Store, and so it’s worth checking out if only for novelty’s sake.

You won’t find these 9 excellent apps anywhere on the Google Play Store

F-Droid is a free and open-source alternative app store for Android – here are my favorite apps that are exclusively available on the storefront.

5

Kvaesitso

Free and open-source, with an emphasis on search

Kvaesitso is a free and open-source Android launcher that bucks the home screen icon trend by instead prioritizing its universal search function above all else. This particular search tool is rather powerful, working globally to locate apps, contacts, calendar events, unit conversions, calculations, and web results. In a sense, it functions a lot like Apple’s Spotlight Search, and that’s no bad thing.

Kvaesitso can be downloaded from the F-Droid app marketplace, with source code available on GitHub. Aside from its search prowess, the launcher offers a dedicated pane for widgets, an app drawer with the ability to pin apps to the top of the list, a minimalistic home screen, and a set of configurable gestures.