How to Install and Use a Custom Launcher on Android Devices

Home » Tutorials » How to Install and Use a Custom Launcher on Android Devices

Customizing the look of your device without rooting is somewhat tricky and comes with a lot of restrictions. However, not everyone is brave enough to attempt to root their device and risk voiding their warranty for nothing. So, an alternate solution to this predicament is to use any of the custom launchers available on the Play Store. Of course most people do get confused when it comes to custom launchers but they’re very simple to install and use, so there’s nothing to be scared of.

Before I instruct you on how to install and use a custom launcher on your Android phone, let’s address the more important question: What exactly is a custom launcher and what features does it offer? Well, a custom launcher is basically a software that allows you to totally change the way your device looks. With a custom launcher you can change various graphical aspects of your device which includes being able to do things like getting funky icons, having a different app drawer, getting customized widgets, being able to change into different themes etc. So, basically these launchers allow you to completely overhaul your phone’s user interface into something you might enjoy more. Of course, the exact list of features and things you can play around with differs from launcher to launcher as they all usually try to bring something new to the table.

How to Install and Use a Custom Launcher

Now, that’s out of the way, let’s discuss how you can install a custom launcher to your phone by breaking the process down into simple steps.

• Go to Play Store and download any custom launcher of your choice (prime examples include: Nova Launcher, Google Now Launcher, Apex Launcher, Themer etc.)
• Once the launcher finishes installing, tap the Home button
• A menu will pop up on the screen with the title, “Complete Action Using” with two apps (one would be your Homescreen whilst the other would be the installed launcher, provided that you have only installed one launcher on your device). Select the newly installed launcher and tap the “Always” button to set it as the default launcher for your device.
• Once that’s done, you can simply use the custom launcher to change anything you like on your device. You can do this by playing around in the Settings of the launcher which can be brought up by tapping and holding the home screen till a menu pops up.