In the quest of best launchers for android, we found many apps and reviewed almost all the best launchers for android to have a deep-peep view into the performance and user experience of these launcher apps.
I personally used one of the following launcher apps on my android smartphone (running on android lollipop) and spent around 2-3 days on each app to review and find out which is the best one.
There is a huge list of best launchers for android phone and tablet but deciding which one is the best launcher for android kitkat and lollipop among them all was a tough task. So, we listed top 10 android launcher apps with their advantages and drawbacks.
What is Android Launcher App?
Launcher apps are simple a set of personalization settings as to display, wallpaper, icons, sliding effects and much more. Using the android launcher apps, you can change the inner attire of the little computer you keep in your pocket. You might have heard about the lollipop launcher which got huge success for android kitkat users.
For the users who can’t upgrade into lollipop from kitkat, lollipop launcher works like panacea.
Also check : Best iPhone launchers for Android phones
8 Best launchers for android phones
You always wanted to be stylish and stand out, But what about your smartphone? How much personalization did you put into it? Let’s change the wallpaper, themes, icons and animations today. Excited? Get ready..
#1. Google Now Launcher
Google now launcher is a 14 mb android application that turns your smartphone’s user interface into a modern trendy layout designed by the tech beast organization, Google.
Especially for those who are using MIUI (Xiaomi Mobile) and don’t like the home screen app drawer, its awesome. Even other launchers have the app drawer option but this one looks a bit loyal and royal.
#2. Smart Launcher
Launchers change the feel and performance of the device completely, as such Smart Launcher does. It not only does the aforesaid but gives highly recommended features. It has a very nice customizable drawer option. It has fine default icon pack and allows users to download from the internet as many and as preferable of others. It functions very smooth as it requires less space to be installed. It never causes the phone to hang up while multitasking. It has lock screen customization option with beautiful flower design assisting manage frequently used applications on a go. It also help hiding apps with password whichever you want.
#3. Nova Launcher
The free version of Nova Android launcher is a perfect app for those who hardly need mobile internet data on their smartphone. When I was using my smartphone on this launcher for android, the only thing I was irritated with was the advertisements.
Then I purchased the Nova Launcher Pro and everything was smooth and amazing. I would recommend the paid version of this launcher.
Loving Nova launcher has a reason which is really powerful. More extensions for Nova launcher such as icon packs, wallpapers and screen lock animations are available on play store. The Nova developers are awesome as they launch latest android icon packs to be loaded on your launcher such as android lollipop icon pack and kitkat icons pack.
#5. C Launcher
I never thought that I would find a kind of quality from C launcher because my experience with C launcher was not good in past. It took minutes in opening and the home screen was almost like dead. So many times, the launcher was downloading something on the notification bar which never completed even if I was on a high speed wifi connection.
But that was the time when I had a phone working on 256 mb Ram and 2 gb Internal Storage. I am pretty impressed with the appearance and themes of C launcher. But unfortunately, I can use only one android home launcher at a time.
For the modern smartphones (having 2+gb Ram), it is the best 3d launcher for android.
#6. APUS Launcher
When I was using APUS launcher, I felt that it consumes battery much faster than other android launchers. Still I managed to keep the battery consumption lowest by using Battery doctor.
The bitter truth : I still rate the APUS launcher as a launcher that consumes a lion’s share of my smartphone’s battery. The worst launcher among these 8 launchers for android on account of battery consumption.
You can buy a power bank rather than spending time in optimizing battery while using APUS launcher. Lol. I saw that it claimed to speed up my phone and in the greed to use my phone in a blazing fast mode, I enabled that mode. Nothing too good happened.
But if I see the visual interface, graphics, wallpapers, icons and animations, it actually deserves to be in the top 3 launchers. The headlines news panel like Samsung phones is yet another feature that I like but not much and that’s why I got rid of that panel by disabling Headlines from APUS menu.
#7. Go Launcher
Go launcher has beautiful icons, gestures feature, wallpapers and themes but the only thing that I hate in any android app is advertisements. That’s why I give it only four stars.
I guess Go launcher is the only android launcher that can visualize a lot of app icons (5*6) in one screen after Nova Launcher.
The inbuilt app manager and Trash cleaner makes it unique and I like only ads-free version which is paid but great to have on your phone.
#8. Zen UI Launcher
Once I was trolled by my boss when he said ASUS Zenfone is more costly than an iPhone. And right from the next second, I fell in love with the User interface of Zenfone. (The next day I installed Zen UI launcher and trolled my boss that I bought a Zenfone. 😛 )
It is impressive right from the beginning. I had an option to choose either the single layer theme of the two layer theme.
Single Layer means, everything (app icons) on the home screen where the first tab can be personalized. While two-layer means home screen too have tabs and app-icons are inside the app drawer.
Got it? It is the difference between the MIUI vs default android launcher.