I really appreciate how Android made the “graphical shell” a user-replaceable component of the OS.
Back in the day, I used Nova Launcher and an icon pack to completely re-theme my home screen. I felt so cool.
I encourage anyone curious to take a look at the following subreddit for some neat themes that users have created for themselves over the years using custom launchers: https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all
I don't get it, how is it different from customizing any other OS, except that Android has many more options to do so than the very-limited iOS? You spend countless hours on your phone, why wouldn't you sit down for an hour to make it suit your needs better if the defaults bother you? I tweaked Nova Launcher on mine, spent an hour or two doing that, what, 8 years ago now? Definitely worth the time.
I very much hate the default Android and iOS experiences. I guess the downside is that making my phone more usable means, well, I actually use it more (i.e., too much).
> Android customization is sort of like junk food - enjoyable in the moment, but
not meaningfully improving your life.
Hard disagree. I assume you have some technical background, that's why you consider it not meaningful. Go speak to someone that knows nothing about it, which is the majority of the people I assume, I'm pretty sure they learn a lot in the way.
That may be true for purely decorative skinning for some people (although personally I enjoy using interfaces more when they have excellent visual design, iconography, layout and consistency). However interface customization can go far beyond aesthetic visuals to adding functions, default behaviors and time-saving shortcuts, improving interface hierarchy and surfacing frequently used options. Another key area is speeding up navigation by hiding unused things and increasing legibility with better UI density and typography. I find these kinds of customizations do meaningfully improve usage efficiency and utility, making a real difference on devices I use constantly.
For instance, taking control of my phone's three physical buttons with custom double-press and long-press actions that are contextual is so useful I can't imagine using a phone without it. I've also added a custom contextual action to double-tapping the back of my phone that I use constantly. This uses the phone's accelerometer and, surprisingly, works perfectly with no false positives. I use my phone a lot for reading e-books, controlling home automation, photography and other use cases where I'm switching between portrait and landscape modes frequently. Customizing automatic screen rotation to be per app, by time of day and even by location is another one of those seemingly little things that's just so nice in constant daily usage.
Some people argue all these things should just be built-in to phones and "it's a bug" the designers didn't just set-up everything "correctly" in the first place. But the reality is people have different innate preferences about some kinds of usage modes and defaults. For example, I'm highly spatial vs my wife who's very sequential. She prefers contextually adaptive "smart" interfaces that change to list the most likely options first. She can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want that. However, my brain expects stuff to be in the same place it was last time and it throws me when things keep moving around. I think this is more than just a preference or learned behavior, it's an innate trait like handedness. While people can force themselves to adapt across this divide, it will always be uncomfortable and slower.
Then there there is the current UX design obsession with "simplifying" interfaces by removing features, reducing density and increasing the remaining spacing and typography sizes to the point of, IMHO, insanity. This is another reason when it comes to devices I'll use constantly, I consciously choose those I can significantly customize and adapt (eg Android, Windows, Linux, Firefox, etc). Of course, I don't customize every use case. What matters is having the option to do so for those usages which make a meaningful difference to me.
Do you have any recommendations for launchers to check out? I don’t daily drive Android but keep a couple devices on that side of the fence around for dev purposes and have been underwhelmed with the options I’ve tried so far. I was expecting something more like the old Windows alternative shells (which could differ radically from Explorer) but third party Android launchers don’t seem all that different from what devices come with and overall kind of samey, either being app grids or lists.
I've used Nova for maybe a decade at this point. For me it's the best, hands down. I gladly paid for the premium version.
I have a super minimal and frictionless gesture-based interface going. No app clutter clogging up the screen at all.
Everything I need to do is executed by a one or two finger gesture, no scrolling to find apps and nothing obscuring a nice wallpaper that automatically rotates daily (using Tasker).
Email? Slide one finger up.
Messages? One finger down.
Calendar? Two fingers up.
Phone dialer? Two fingers down.
Maps? Double tap anywhere. Etc.
IMO it was really easy to set up and probably actually keeps me off my phone more than I would be otherwise. If it didn't exist it would be the launcher I'd build for myself.
If you are like me and want a super tranquil "phone-flow" I would highly recommend getting Nova and using the gestures feature.
I spent a long time after Windows Phone died trying to find an Android launcher that felt as clean and intuitive, and I failed. Microsoft did, however, release their own launcher which for me has proven to be the least sucking of the closed source options. I don't use any of the social features or other widgets, but I do clean everything off the home screen (including the dock) and just have a handful of large icons clustered along the sides where they are easy for me to reach. Combine with a nice icon pack and you can get a pretty minimal desktop. Swipe to get to the app drawer. It's still fundamentally a grid, though.
The closest launcher (that I know of) to Windows Phone UI is Square Home [0]. I used it for a long time, years ago, and is one of the few apps I actually paid for.
I loved Square but I eventually started getting a bizarre problem where it... wouldn't register my taps, until I swiped up from the bottom of the screen ("home" gesture) and then it would open whatever I'd been ineffectually hitting.
This is terrific. I just installed and within about 10 minutes had the home screen and drawer set up exactly how I like. The only thing I'm missing from Microsoft Launcher is the combo clock/date/weather widget.
I used to love LawnChair (also, best name), because it was simple and functional. Then it wasn't updated any longer, and at some point broke some Widgets. R.I.P.
After much searching, I've settled on Hyperion instead.
Essentially, I want the Google Launcher without the Google Search Bar. And maybe a slightly denser icon spacing. Hyperion does that trick, even with the free version. But, to stave off another LawnChair situation, I decided to give them a subscription regardless, just so it stays around.
Big coincidence, I just switched to Niagara, complaint: too much scrolling, no auto updates.
I like it better than Oasis (which I might be confusing for something else), complaint: too minimal.
My go to for years was Square Home, great until last years' reinstall, then something (I forget), which was prob a combination of my fault and Android whatever it's on now (maybe 11).
My only other (notable) like is Smart Launcher, which is honestly great except for all the "cloud integration" stuff.
Back in the day, I used Nova Launcher and an icon pack to completely re-theme my home screen. I felt so cool.
I encourage anyone curious to take a look at the following subreddit for some neat themes that users have created for themselves over the years using custom launchers: https://www.reddit.com/r/androidthemes/top/?t=all