Set up a new launcher. A whole new phone, in one app.

15 min · easy · 6 steps
Time15 min
Difficultyeasy
What can go wrong

Your home screen layout resets. Your apps, data and wallpaper stay exactly where they are.

Your home screen is drawn by an app, and that app can be swapped. Pick a launcher and the grid, the dock, the app drawer, the gestures, even the search bar become yours to decide. The other phone has one home screen for life. Yours is about to have its second. This takes about fifteen minutes. The only thing you lose is your current layout, which the old launcher keeps in case you come back.

Before you start

  • A launcher installed. This guide uses Lawnchair where the menus match, and notes Niagara and Nova where they differ. Lawnchair's F-Droid package is not in the v1 seed; Olauncher and Kvaesitso are.
  • Two minutes to screenshot your current home screen, so you remember where things were.
  • Android 8 or newer. TODO: device-test this guide on a Pixel and a Samsung before claiming a tested-on list.
  1. Step 1 of 6

    Install the launcher.

    Open the launcher's page in the directory and tap Get it, then install it from the store you use. Nothing changes yet: a launcher waits quietly until you choose it.

    Niagara or Nova? They install the same way. Steps 2 and 3 have different menu names, noted where they differ.
  2. Step 2 of 6

    Make it your home app.

    Press the home button. If your phone asks which app to use, pick the launcher you installed and tap Always. If it doesn't ask, open Settings, tap Apps, then Default apps, then Home app.

    On Samsung Settings, Apps, Choose default apps, then Home app. Can't find it? Search Settings for "home".
  3. Step 3 of 6

    Pick a grid.

    Long-press an empty spot, tap Home settings, then Grid. Five by five is a good start: tighter than stock, still easy to hit with a thumb.

    On Niagara There is no grid. Your apps are a list, and that's the point. Skip to step 4.
  4. Step 4 of 6

    Bring back your apps.

    Swipe up to open the drawer. Long-press an app and drag it to the home screen. Start with four. Add more only when you miss them.

  5. Step 5 of 6

    Choose your gestures.

    In Home settings, tap Gestures. Set swipe down to open notifications and double-tap to lock the screen. Small things you'll use fifty times a day.

  6. Step 6 of 6

    Make it yours.

    Pick an icon shape, a font, and an accent colour taken from your wallpaper. Then stop. Live with it for a day before you change anything else. ## Undo it Open Settings, tap Apps, then Default apps, then Home app, and pick the one that came with your phone. Your old layout is still there. ## Next guides Now the icons. Then the widgets. Then it's a new phone for the third time this week.

Undo it

Open Settings, tap Apps, then Default apps, then Home app, and pick the one that came with your phone. Your old layout is still there.

Next guides. Now the icons. Then the widgets. Then it's a new phone for the third time this week.

Back up before you switch

Ten minutes now. Zero regrets later.

Change your default apps

New apps, same taps.