If you need a new launcher, you’ve come to the right place because I’ll be showing off the best android launchers of 2021. some of them are feature-packed, others are minimal, the majority are free, and some of them deserve a lot more publicity by showing off nine selections.
You’ll find a launcher that suits you well.
1. Ruthless Launcher
The first Launcher on the list is the ruthless Launcher which is one of the Best Android Launchers. It’s the most minimal option that replicates the pixel launcher and adds some additional home screen features.
First off, the Launcher is very fluid, loading apps quickly scrolling through the app drawer or home pages is very seamless and searching for apps is a breeze.
The settings could use a bit of work. It feels like the menus and switches are thrown all over the place without any proper categorization, but other than that, it’s still somewhat customizable.
You have icon pack support. The option to change the font, animation, grid size, lock apps with a biometric unlocking method, hide apps and bring them back using a keyword within the app drawer.
To add the google news feed panel on the home screen, you’ll need to download an extra apk to enable it. You can download the apk, the like button, and many more small customizations. Sure there are other more powerful options out there. Such as Hyperion launcher, but this still gets the job done.
The download size isn’t that big. It’s completely free with no in-app purchases, and the developers are extremely active.
2. KLWP Live Wallpaper Maker
The next Launcher on this list isn’t even a launcher, but it’s still an app that allows you to create a unique home screen setup that makes it look like you’ve installed a third-party launcher. I’m talking about the KLWP live wallpaper maker. There are plenty of apps out there that use this so that you can apply a sick setup with animation’s unique-looking designs and widgets.
I recommend using it on the Nova launcher, but once you set the KLWP as your live wallpaper, you can download a KLWP pack from the play store, such as new cards or lucid for KWP pro, and from there, you can apply a cool looking home screen setup from those apps plus. It’s crazy how a lot of them look like an actual launcher.
You can tap on buttons to slide in new cards or pages. The animations are always very mesmerizing, and some of them even allow you to customize the setup from the home screen.
It’s crazy because you’re doing all this on one home screen page. If you’d like help finding some unique KLWP packs, make sure to use an app called BITLIT to find the newest and most active ones. Also, make sure to have the KLWP live wallpaper Pro key installed as well. Otherwise, you won’t be able to apply those third-party packs.
3. Hyperion Launcher
Hyperion launcher is the third-best option in the list of Best Android Launchers 2021, and it’s been my go-to for the longest. It’s very similar to Ruthless Launcher, but it has many more features and is a bit more mature; not only can you customize the crap out of the home screen, but it also has custom font support. In addition, you can customize the color of any object, including the search bar, google calendar, widget folders, etc.
And you can enable two rows of apps in that dock and enable multiple dock pages to have a staggering amount of apps in the dock. But, of course, you still got the classical pixel launcher option such as the google to discover panel slide of the app drawer and the undo option when you remove something from your home screen.
The only complaint that I have is that you can’t add blank pages on the home screen, and it’s not as customizable as the nova launcher. A very powerful launcher that works amazingly. It’s just a tiny step behind Nova launcher.
4. Ratio – The Productivity Launcher
The Ratio is just one of those launchers that help you use your phone less by creating fewer distractions on the home screen.
It keeps everything black and white while adding a few hints of yellow to guide your attention it’s completely different from your usual swipe-up app drawer home screen; instead, there are three pages, one for your widgets, another for your apps, and a final screen for your messages on the widgets page. In addition, you can place the weather, music player, calendar, timer, etc., with most of the cards being expandable for your apps.
They’re automatically organized into categories to find them quickly. It has a handy feature where each section and app will show you the usage time long-pressing an app will give you a more detailed overview. You can also mark the icon mutants notifications, lock it, and a lot more.
Finally. the third screen to the right combines all of your conversations from Instagram. WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook .so you can respond to your newest messages much more quickly depending on how much spam you receive though from each social app.
This could be a hit-or-miss feature overall. But, it still gets the job done of having my phone distract me less without just eliminating it. Everything off the home screen.
If you want something a lot more minimal, check out Before Launcher below.
5. Minimalist launcher for focus | Before Launcher
Before Launcher is the simplest Launcher in the list of Best Android Launchers. It only comes with three pages; the main screen has all of your most-used apps, the screen to the right has all of your apps in the list format. It also has app suggestions at the very top and the leftmost screen filters.
When you receive an important notification, such as a text message or email, instead of a less important one, such as a game notification, that’s pretty much the entire Launcher. Of course, you can change the background or icons, but that’s about it.
So if you want the ultimate Launcher that gets natural distraction, download Before Launcher.
6. Smart Launcher 5
if you’re looking for something a bit more robust and organized, check out smart launcher 5. it’s very similar to the traditional android launcher. Still, the twist here is that the app drawer categorizes your apps into sections, swiping between each page.
Lets you switch to a different category of apps and on the home screen. You have a handful of your favorite icons, the clock, and the weather. The search bar is also universal so that you can search for apps, contacts and the web swiping to the right includes a page where you can place your widgets, and the leftmost screen provides. With the news, you can’t customize much, but it’s designed to be used with one hand, and I think they nailed it.
7.Square Home – Launcher: Windows style
Switching things up a bit square home takes it to a whole other level by making your home screen look like a windows phone. No two home screens will ever look alike since the tiles can be moved around, resize, customize and contain various things. I have tiles for the clock, a live photo style that scrolls through my pictures.
Some live tiles to see the RAM, battery, and storage capacity. I can have folders filled with tons of apps, a cube that lets me find the right social app, and some tiles that hold widgets.
The more tiles you add, the longer the page will get, or you can add multiple pages to the side, and honestly, I love having some of the tiles always animate because it keeps the home screen looking alive. Well, if you jump into the settings, you’ll also be able to customize a lot more such as the icon pack, the background, the overall size of the tiles, and a lot more.
The only thing to keep in mind is that you’ll only be able to use some of the features for 14 days before needing to pay to unlock them all again. Still, give it a shot.
8. Microsoft Launcher
If you want something refreshing, Microsoft hasn’t done many things right, but their Launcher isn’t one of them.
This is a very functional and highly fluid launcher in the list of Top 9 Android Launchers. It provides no lag at all and gives me some helpful information when I need it. The leftmost shelf screen catches my attention since it gives me the Bixby panel never could my calendar, events, tasks, sticky notes, most frequently used apps, documents, screen, time, and recent activities. Sure they have their little advertisement at the bottom, but I’ve seen some companies do a lot worse.
Samsung and in that same panel, you can tap on the news tab to catch up on your daily news. Another reason why I love this Launcher is that it can apply some excellent, high-quality backgrounds. They’re all photographs of the earth and just by tapping on a shortcut. I can switch to a different one easily; there’s also a hidden trick where if I swipe up on the dock, it’ll expand it and reveal more apps, the search bar is also universal, and within the settings, you can modify a lot more.
I don’t have anything wrong to say about this Launcher Microsoft nailed this one.
9. Nova Launcher
Last but not least, let’s talk about the well in the room Nova launcher. It’s the most popular and well-rated Launcher on the play store. It’s also one of the oldest launchers around, and the developers have managed to still keep it up to date with the latest Android features.
Most people who extremely customize their home screen always use nova since it allows them to modify everything. You can increase the grid size to an insane amount, remove everything from the home screen, including the status bar.
You can create blank pages, which for some reason, a lot of launchers can’t do, and no matter how you modify your home screen, the Launcher is still extraordinarily fluid and loads up everything quickly.
If you don’t like any of the recommended launches, you can at least fall back to the classic either way that’s been the best android launchers of 2021.
I’m sorry for not mentioning Lawnchair too, but recently the developers have stopped developing it, and there will be no more updates for it. So I didn’t want to recommend a launcher that would just become outdated.