Although Android launchers aren’t quite as popular as they used to be in the early days of Google’s mobile operating system, they still offer one of the easiest ways to personalize a key aspect of your smartphone experience.

With a good launcher app, you can change not just the look but also the functionality of your Android device’s home screen. While there is no shortage of Android home screen replacement apps in the Google Play Store, open-source launchers offer significant advantages on privacy, security, and transparency fronts. And let’s not forget, most open-source Android launchers are available for free. So, here are five of my favorite open-source launchers to take your home screen experience to the next level.

5

Lawnchair

Lawnchair is a widely liked Android home screen replacement app that takes the aesthetic of Google’s Pixel Launcher and beefs it up with tons of customization options. While you can use it to get the Pixel look on your non-Pixel phone, its true strength lies in its granular controls to help you achieve the home screen look you want.

It supports “Material You” theming, allowing you to get a cohesive look based on your wallpaper colors, and lets you change fonts, icons, grid layout, pop-up menu, and more. It also features its own customizable “At a Glance” widget, which is similar to what you get in the Pixel Launcher.

One of the popular new additions to the launcher is support for folders in the app drawer, which you can either manually create or use the experimental Caddy layout feature to populate automatically. There is also built-in support for on-device search, allowing you to choose what it can look through when searching for something, such as apps, contacts, files, settings, and search history.

One thing to note is that the current version of Lawnchair, not to be confused with Lawnchair Legacy, is still in development and hasn’t reached a stable version. So, you may encounter odd bugs and issues.

4

Olauncher

Olauncher is perfect for folks who desire a minimal user interface that doesn’t include any distracting elements. It has a clean layout with no app icons. The app drawer and any app shortcuts on the home screen are simply app names.

You get the choice in what you want on your home screen, such as app shortcuts, date and time widget, and status bar. It’s a single home screen, with no other widget options available. Similarly, as mentioned, the app drawer is a simple list of all the installed apps with a search bar at the top. It’s typically most efficient to just search for the app you want.

One nifty feature of the launcher is its ability to directly launch the app you’re searching for. As soon as you have typed a few characters and there is a distinct match, the launcher will open it, reducing the extra step of tapping it open from the search results.

In terms of customizations, Olauncher is pretty barebones, offering adjustments to the alignment of app shortcuts, daily wallpaper downloads, dark or light themes, and the ability to hide select apps. However, if you desire ultimate focus, Olauncher is a top-tier option.

3

Stario

Stario is a compelling home screen replacement app that strikes a thoughtful balance, offering more functionality than extreme minimalist options like Olauncher, but without the overwhelming features of standard launchers.

Its unique interface is divided into five distinct sections: the primary home screen, briefing, notes, widget area, and app drawer. The main screen displays essential info (date, time, battery, weather, search) plus four customizable app shortcuts, whereas a swipe down reveals a dedicated area for all other widgets.

The “briefing” section is a built-in RSS reader, while “notes” provides a simple note-taking function. Finally, the app drawer offers two viewing modes – auto-categorized or a two-column list – both featuring a convenient, fixed search bar at the bottom.

While customization options are somewhat limited and there is a learning curve, Stario’s elegant and distinct design sets it apart from my other recommendations. The only major element that’s underwhelming is the built-in search, which doesn’t always provide good suggestions.

2

KISS Launcher

KISS Launcher is designed to deliver a neat and simple user experience. Its core strength lies in its powerful search function. You are encouraged to find everything by typing in the search bar. It can look through your contacts, device settings, and app shortcuts. It also gives you the option to use the selected providers if you want to perform a web search.

The home screen offers a streamlined experience with a single page, featuring a prominent search bar, space for a few app shortcuts, and widgets. The app drawer, which is essentially a list of all your installed apps, is available via a quick tap on the circular icon in the search bar. That said, you can also set up a gesture to trigger it. By default, both left and right swipes from the home screen are set to open the app drawer.

In terms of visual customizations, KISS Launcher allows you to choose from seven built-in themes and installed icon packs. You can also tweak system colors and various other aspects of the launcher.

1

Kvaesitso

Kvaesitso (pronounced ‘kuh-VEY-sit-so’) is an exciting open-source Android launcher that re-imagines the Android home screen around its impressive universal search functionality. Similar to macOS’s Spotlight, Kvaesitso’s search is incredibly versatile, allowing you to find everything from local files and items in your cloud storage to contacts, calendar events, installed apps, and even Wikipedia entries. It also functions as a basic calculator and unit converter.

Beyond search, Kvaesitso maintains a clean, clutter-free aesthetic. Users can customize visuals, icon shapes, grid layouts, and apply icon packs. Widgets are uniquely handled, residing on a vertically scrolling canvas that can either be your primary home screen or a separate page. I prefer the latter approach as it keeps the main home screen pristine.

Kvaesitso also offers plugin support, which primarily integrates external data sources. For example, dedicated plugins allow for seamless searching of files stored in OneDrive, or fetching real-time weather data from providers like Breezy Weather or OpenWeatherMap directly into Kvaesitso’s built-in weather widgets. Unfortunately, the current plugin selection is limited.

There is a slight learning curve to Kvaesitso, but once you have figured things out and set up the launcher properly, you’ll be pleased.

With such excellent open-source launchers for Android, which don’t collect any data, there is little reason for you to leave your privacy at the mercy of closed-source and proprietary home screen replacement apps. These open-source launchers not only offer cool and exciting features but also provide a secure and private environment for your smartphone experience.

Launchers aren’t the only Android app category in which the open-source community shines. You can also get open-source alternatives to popular apps, such as Google Messages and Google Photos.