The best Android launchers for your phone 2021 - Android

Want to upgrade your Android experience? Try upgrading your launcher.

The way we arrange, organize, and interact with our apps on Android is called the launcher. Launchers usually consist of a series of home screens, where we can arrange app shortcuts and widgets and an app drawer. Every phone comes with a launcher, but when they drop the ball, there are endless third-party launchers that not only pick it up again but knock it clear out of the park. Everyone has their perfect launcher, but if you haven't found your favorite yet, then here are a few launchers we think will satisfy users of every type.

The best launchers

• Best Overall Smart Launcher 5
• Resurging Legacy Nova Launcher
• Swiss Army Launcher Action Launcher
• Best Productivity Microsoft Launcher
• Quick and Simple Niagara Launcher
• Honorable Mention Lawnchair 2

Best Overall: Smart Launcher 5

Smart Launcher has been around for years and years, but it really kicked things up a notch with Smart Launcher 5. The home screen features a grid-less widget placement system and modular page system, but the real star of the show here is still the app drawer. Smart Launcher 5 automatically sorts your apps into several categories, and if you pay for Smart Launcher Pro, you can add your own custom categories and sort your various drawer tabs in a variety of ways, from most-used to install time to icon color.

From a responsive and comprehensive categorical app drawer to some of the most precise widget placement on Android to the most diverse icon options on the market, Smart Launcher 5 has a lot to love. Its gestures are top-notch, too, especially the double-tap shortcuts for dock apps, which work worlds better than the swipe app shortcuts Nova and Action use.

Smart Launcher is also part of the holy trinity of quick home screen theming I've used for the last three years, and it's been used in our dead awesome Deadpool theme, NBA Finals themes, revamped MrMobile theme, and more themes coming soon.

Pros:

• Easy setup with simplified layout
• Tabbed app drawer is wonderful
• Quickest launcher to theme
• Best home screen app gestures

Cons:

• You can't place icons at the top of the home screen
• Premium system can be confusing

Best Overall

Smart Launcher 5

Free at Google Play

Simple setup and wonderful widget pages

With a smart, widely adaptable app drawer, insane icon options through Icon Pack Studio, and a drop-dead simple home screen, Smart Launcher 5 has won my heart and my home screen.

Resurging Legacy: Nova Launcher

Nova Launcher has been a major player in the home screen market longer than most of us have even used Android. The reason for this continued dominance is simple. Nova's mix of customization, convenience, and cunning is unparalleled. Nova lets your phone look more Pixel-y than a Pixel and more TouchWiz-zy than a Galaxy and does it all with ease and grace. It also lets you build a home screen that is unique, stable, and solid while being as plain or beautiful as you'd like.

A wide feature set allows Nova to achieve all these wonderful themes and let users build exactly the home screen they want, with small but infinitely useful features like subgrid positioning and a robust backup system. For users just getting used to third-party launchers, the "import from other launchers" feature is the most consistent and reliable on Nova than just about every other launcher I've tried in previous years. If you want to ease yourself from the basic launcher to a custom experience, Nova can help you get comfortable with launcher layouts and themes.

After being around for so many years, launchers have a tendency to get bloated unless they get regular overhauls to trim the fat and keep things simple, and Nova Launcher is getting one such overhaul right now. Nova Launcher 7 is the milestone update where Nova Launcher is moving to a new codebase with new features, more streamlined integrations, and that same utility and adaptability that we expect of Nova. It's not available on Google Play quite yet, but you can get it on the Nova Launcher Discord channel to test it out early.

Pros:

• Easy to import previous launcher layout
• Tons of customization options
• Great support and stability
• Buy Prime once and you're set for life

Cons:

• All the options can be overwhelming
• Theming can take a while

Resurging Legacy

Nova Launcher

Free at Google Play

Good ol' reliable launcher for the masses

Whether you want to build complex themes or you just want a smartly laid out launcher with excellent gesture controls, Nova is for you and your style.

Swiss Army Launcher: Action Launcher

The watchword of both Action Launcher and its users is quick — Quicktheme, Quickdrawer, Quickpage, Quickbar. To ensure it can be the quickest and best launcher for users who want to set everything up just so, Action Launcher has taken it upon itself to be one of the most customizable launchers on the market.

From its robust gesture controls to its ubiquitous Covers and Shutters to hide folders and widgets under app icons, Action Launcher makes it easy to get the home screen you want. If Quicktheme's color palette misses the mark, you can now set Material palette colors or custom hex code colors to get a more cohesive look! This was a long-awaited feature and it makes Action Launcher much more useful to live wallpaper users and themers.

Action Launcher is also quick to support features from the newest versions of Android, or as much as can be replicated on a third-party launcher. Action Launcher's developer Chris Lacy is devoted, dedicated, and is quick to jump in on Android issues that impact third-party launchers, such as the issues with Android 10's gesture controls and third-party launchers. While the actual theme-building power here isn't quite as adaptable as Nova Launcher, it's a launcher that works incredibly, well, quick about getting you set up and on your way.

Pros:

• Customize almost everything
• Great gesture options
• Robust support

Cons:

• Not quite as flexible as Nova Launcher
• Premium/Plus system can get confusing

Swiss Army Launcher

Action Launcher

Free at Google Play

Quick's the word and sharp's the gesture

Whether you want a launcher that's the peak of productivity or the height of sophistication, Action Launcher and its many quick features that can help you realize your dream setup.

Best Productivity: Microsoft Launcher

You'd think that if Microsoft was going to bring a launcher to Android, it'd match Windows 10 or maybe the old Windows Phone look — and you'd be wrong. Not only is Microsoft Launcher a completely Android-native experience, but it's a top-quality, ever-updating launcher. It's one of few outside Nova Launcher to offer edge-to-edge widgets and subgrid positioning.

Microsoft Launcher's experience centers around a clean home screen and a smart page to the left fed by your Microsoft account, your daily phone use, and any Android widgets you wish to add. Even if you're not immersed in the Microsoft ecosystem, having a scrolling page of widgets beats having to space them out over 3-4 pages. While this launcher's settings are somewhat clunky, it has all the launcher options you'd want and then some.

While Microsoft Launcher is definitely not as simplistic as Smart Launcher 5 or Niagara Launcher, it is still a fairly lightweight launcher that's well-worth considering, especially if you have any sort of reliance on Microsoft's ecosystem for work, school, or personal use.

Pros:

• Scrolling widget page
• Good enterprise integration
• Very active dev team

Cons:

• Settings need refinement
• Two-level dock is weird

Best Productivity

Microsoft Launcher

Free at Google Play

Integration and adaptability for the way you work

You can customize most aspects of this quite adaptable launcher, but it's also remarkably easy to have the launcher get out of your way and let you work.