These Android launchers make your smartphone better and more beautiful

Jan Johannsen

5.2.2026

Translation: machine translated

Pictures: Jan Johannsen

You don't have to be satisfied with the user interface of your Android smartphone. Launchers offer an alternative appearance and usually also additional settings.

After the second sale, the future of the popular «Nova Launcher» is secure, but it will receive advertising. Reason enough to take a look at other launchers. Octopi and Hyperion are suggestions from the Community. The six launchers - and the two mentions in the margin - in this list are free with one exception and offer additional options for a fee. You can at least try out the exception for free for a week.

Niagara Launcher: a simple list instead of app icons

The Niagara Launcher is the brainchild of a team of eight from Augsburg, Germany. With its minimalist design, it does away with app icons. Instead, the launcher sorts the apps alphabetically. I can scroll through this list or use the search function to launch an app. For quick access, I select favourites that appear on the home screen. The recommendation is not to select more than eight. There are also widgets, shortcuts to app actions and pop-up folders. Visual customisations are possible via so-called themes, which are a combination of background image, font and font colour.

The developers do not use advertising in the free version. The paid version Niagara Pro can be tried out free of charge for seven days. The additional functions include more themes and pop-up folders. You can also customise the clock, font and icons. You can stack up to four widgets - the calendar and weather forecast are more extensive. Some features such as the calendar and weather are only available after payment on the start page. If you want to limit your screen time with more than just the design, the Pro version offers so-called «Usage Breaker». These remind you to take a break when using apps.

• Costs for Niagara Pro: 12.99 euros / 13.50 francs per month or one-off 39.99 euros / 41.95 francs
• Niagara Launcher in the Play Store

Minimalist Phone Launcher: Digital Detox

Things get even more minimalist with Minimalist Phone Launcher. The app from Munich ensures that smartphone use is as distraction-free as possible. It comes very close to a so-called dumbphone. There are no colourful icons, instead a black start page with white lettering for the selected favourites among your apps as well as the date and time. The circle around the latter symbolises the battery charge level. In the bottom corners are icons for the phone and camera app.

You can access the alphabetical app list with a swipe to the left. You can block apps according to schedules or move them to hidden folders to make them more difficult to access. You can also set time limits for individual apps or display them in greyscale in monochrome mode.

To prevent you from constantly opening apps, you can activate a start delay. The idea behind it: If it takes 15 seconds to open Instagram and co., you'll check what's new less often. The Minimalist Phone Launcher also filters notifications.

The Minimalist Phone Launcher has no adverts and does not collect user data. Instead, you pay for it. There is no free version, but you can try it out for free for seven days.

• Costs: 4.99 euros / francs per month, 29.99 euros / francs per year or one-off 59.99 euros / francs
• Minimalist Phone Launcher in the Play Store

Lynx Launcher: Linux look

The Rostock-based Lynx Launcher is visually inspired by the Linux interface «Gnome Desktop Environment» and offers numerous setting options in the free and ad-free version.

The launcher displays the most frequently used apps in a dock on an otherwise empty home screen. You determine the background image yourself and can customise the look with widgets and apps. Swipe gestures take you to other areas in all four directions. Below the home screen is the desktop, which offers another area for apps and widgets. The search for apps, contacts, settings and the web, which also solves simple mathematical calculations, comes down from the top. Your favourite apps and contacts are on the left of the home screen, with all apps in alphabetical order on the right - with their colourful logos.

The Pro version of Lynx Launcher is comparatively inexpensive. It extends the launcher with a dark mode that can automatically react to sunset and sunrise, as well as themes and numerous other options. These include additional customisations for the home screen, selectable colours for folders, more control gestures, more shapes for the app icons and seven animations for screen switching.

• Cost of the Pro version: 3.99 euros / francs
• Lynx Launcher in the Play Store

Octopi Launcher: convincing leisure project

The Octopi Launcher is new. According to its own description, it is the hobby project of a single person. The dock for the apps at the bottom of the initially empty start screen is visually striking. You can add apps and stackable widgets. You can hide the navigation or status bar for a clean home screen.

When customising the design, the fact that you can resize app icons individually stands out. You can define various actions for swipe gestures on screens, including launching apps. The Octopi Launcher also has a private area, icon packs and a search function. As the layout can be customised for different screen formats, the launcher should also be suitable for foldables.

You can support the employees of Octopi Launcher with a symbolic coffee or breakfast. In return, you get access to Pro functions such as widgets that you can scroll horizontally in a loop or vertically in a stack. You also have access to nested folders in the app overview. The app icons are given shadows.

• Costs for Pro functions: either 1.29 euros / 1 franc or 3.39 euros / 2.70 francs
• Octopi Launcher in the Play Store

Hyperion Launcher: extremely configurable pixel feeling

The Hyperion Launcher was launched in Philadelphia in 2017 and is now managed by a global team of developers. Its design is similar to the Pixel Launcher. By default, it displays the Google search bar and a folder with Google apps, which can also be found in the dock. You can add the Google feed via the Hyperion Dock extension.

It differs from the Pixel Launcher in that it offers many customisation options for colours, grids, animations and icons. For complete visual flexibility, you need to purchase Hyperion Supreme. With the paid version, you can change the font, hide apps and dashboards and unlock hidden apps with a fingerprint. Supreme also offers customised gestures and widget stacks.

• Costs for Hyperion Supreme: 2.29 euros / 1.90 francs
• Hyperion launcher in the Play Store

Square Home: Windows Phone lives

Square Home is the launcher for all those who mourn the tile look of Windows Phone. The developer from South Korea last added glass tiles at the beginning of 2026. The tiles are widgets, apps and other elements. Among other things, I can go directly to my contacts in tile form or add separators and app shortcuts. The tiles can be arranged freely and I can customise the size to my liking. They can also be coloured or allow the background image to shine through unfiltered or with a refraction. The launcher should also work well on foldables.

Its app drawer sorts the apps according to usage patterns. Your frequently used apps and those with notifications appear at the top. The rest are sorted alphabetically below.

A 14-day trial period for the premium version begins when you start the app for the first time. In the trial version, however, the launcher does not show which options you would pay for. I only discovered the rounded corners on the tiles as a paid feature. After 14 days, you will realise whether Square Home is worth the price.

• Costs for the Pro version: 1.49 euros / 1.60 francs per year or one-off 5.99 euros / 3.90 francs
• Square Home in the Play Store

Microsoft Launcher and Smart Launcher: conditionally worth mentioning

Microsoft Launcher and Smart Launcher are two widely used apps that deserve at least a brief mention.

The Microsoft Launcher, which is not visually reminiscent of Windows Phone, is free. However, you give the software company access to your data. The launcher is characterised by integrating Microsoft services and software on your smartphone. It therefore only makes sense to use it if you trust the company.

With Smart Launcher from Apulia, which is now in its sixth generation after 13 years, advertising in the free version is causing concern. So far, I have discovered adverts for the Pro version and another tool from the developer company. So perhaps the Smart Launcher isn't as big an advertising machine as I feared. The seventh version is already in progress and should, among other things, adapt better to folding smartphones. Basically, the launcher is characterised by the fact that it automatically sorts your apps thematically. Games are moved to a games section, while banking apps and the like can be found under the finance icon.

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus. more

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