Microsoft Launcher

Microsoft Corporation

About this app

Microsoft Launcher provides a new home screen experience that empowers you to be more productive on your Android device. Microsoft Launcher is highly customizable, allowing you to organize everything on your phone. Your personalized feed makes it easy to view your calendar, to do lists, and more. Sticky Notes on the go. When you set up Microsoft Launcher as your new home screen, you can either start fresh with your favorite apps or import your current home screen layout. Need to switch back to your previous home screen? You can do that, too!

This version of Microsoft Launcher has been rebuilt on a new codebase to make new features possible, including dark mode, and personalized news.

MICROSOFT LAUNCHER FEATURES
Customizable icons:
· Give your phone a consistent look and feel with custom icon packs and adaptive icons.

Beautiful wallpapers:
· Enjoy a fresh new image from Bing every day or choose your own photos.

Dark theme:
· Comfortably use your phone at night or in low light environments with Microsoft Launcher’s new dark theme. This feature is compatible with Android’s dark mode settings.

Backup and Restore:
· Easily move between your phones or try Home Screen setups through Microsoft Launcher’s Backup and Restore feature. Backups can be stored locally or saved to the cloud for easy transfers.

Gestures:
· Swipe, pinch, double tap, and more on the home screen to easily navigate on the Microsoft Launcher surface.
This app uses Accessibility Service Permission for optional gesture of screen lock and recent apps view.

Microsoft Launcher asks for the following optional permissions:

· Microphone: Used for speech-to-text functionality for Launcher features, such as Bing Search, Bing Chat, To Do, and Sticky Notes.

· Photo and video: Used for getting features, such as your wallpaper, Blur Effect, and Bing Chat Visual Search, and to show recent activities and backups. On Android 13 and higher, these permissions are replaced with the ‘All file’ access permissions.

· Notifications: Needed to notify you of any update or app activity.

· Contacts: Used for searching contacts on Bing Search.

· Location: Used for the Weather widget.

· Phone: Allows you to call your contacts with a swipe in Launcher.

· Camera: Used to create image notes for the Sticky Notes card and to search for images in Bing Search.

· Calendar: Used to show calendar info for the Calendar card in your Launcher feed.

You can still use Microsoft Launcher even if you do not consent to these permissions, but some functions may be restricted.

TERM OF USE
By installing this app, you agree to the Terms of Use (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=246338) and Privacy Policy (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=248686).

Downloading Microsoft Launcher gives the option to replace the default launcher or to toggle between device launchers. Microsoft Launcher does not replicate the user’s PC home screen on the Android phone. Users must still purchase and/or download any new apps from Google Play. Requires Android 7.0+.

Ratings and reviews

For starters the launcher works perfectly fine on all of my devices. It is easy to use and gives your device's homepage new look. However I had to drop 1 star off from my review, because you've removed the AI assistant Cortana. Which is 95% of the reason why I downloaded this app in the first place. I'll be keeping it for a while then revert back to my device's default launcher. 'Cortana' you are missed. You were of great help, but your devs just couldn't keep their hands unto themselves. BAD!

I like this app, it's simple and makes your phone look professional. However, it doesn't have the option to automatically group apps into a folder by type. So if you have a lot of apps, it looks quite cluttered and you'll have to scroll up and down through your phone to find the particular app you're looking for. Hope they fix this and I will change my ratings to 5 stars.

This was an absolute game changer for me. My old phone broke, and I had to use an old Samsung phone with an interface that I didn't particularly like. When I discovered this app, I was a little skeptical at first, but then I was pleasantly surprised with how well you can customize all of the options and layout. It doesn't just use your phone's layout options, it provides a lot of improvements, such as allowing way more apps in the dock than the Samsung allows by default.