BUREAU Launcher: Retro Themes

App Mania Software Development

In-app purchases

About this app

BUREAU is a retro sci-fi launcher: an amber terminal home screen with a numbered app drawer, one-tap themes, icon packs, widgets, animated backdrops and a pixel-art clerk who lives in the search bar. A fast, one-handed launcher that is private by design.

ONE SCREEN, TOP TO BOTTOM
• Your favorite apps sit in a grid at the bottom, in thumb reach, built for one-handed use. Add up to three more home pages, or keep one.
• Swipe up and the same screen becomes an A–Z app drawer where every app has a number. Type the number and go.
• Or type a name, a category ("social", "games") or a command: "alarm 6:30", "timer 20", "torch".
• The ruler on the edge is a fast-scroll index: touch a letter and its section docks under your thumb.
• Hero widgets up top: clock, weather, forecast, a second city, your next event, today's steps, the headlines. Pick three.
• Past Z is THE DECK: two full pages for widgets, ours and any app's.

THEMES, NOT SKINS
• A theme changes everything in one tap: colors, typefaces, icon treatment, wallpaper and backdrop. The gallery previews each one on YOUR home screen, with your real apps and clock.
• Dozens of themes, and more every week without an app update: CRT terminals in every phosphor, clean modern looks, abstract patterns, scenic art.
• Or set your own typeface for the whole launcher.

WALLPAPERS AND LIVE BACKDROPS
• Browse wallpapers by subject and color. A filter bakes each one into the theme's palette, adds scanlines, dims it, or leaves it alone.
• 24 animated backdrops over any wallpaper, from drift, embers, starlight and code rain to snow, mist and northern lights.
• Motion runs only while the home screen is in front, pauses under battery saver, and never touches your lock screen.

ICONS, THREE WAYS
• BUREAU's own line-art icon set. Your phone's own icons. Or any icon pack from the Play Store, with coverage counted before you apply and your choice of what the uncovered apps get.
• Customize the plate under every icon: 15 styles (film, matte, bevel, gloss, neon, frost and more), 3 shapes, 3 sizes, line weights.

THE FRAME
• A drawn bezel around the screen: slim, full, or off, in six finishes from bulkhead to deco radio.
• The full frame carries instruments: a battery gauge, unread marks, a low-battery lamp, an edge glow that can breathe. Hide the status bar and the frame takes over.

CLERK
• A pixel clerk works the search bar. He blinks, watches your cursor, drops into his booth when called, and gives you the tour on first open.
• Tap him and speak: "open camera", "wifi settings", "search train times". Voice uses your phone's own recognizer; he listens only while his box is open.
• Music controls in the bar while something plays. Notification badges as a dot or a count, in the theme's ink.
• After hours there is a break room. It has a game in it.

BUILT LIKE AN INSTRUMENT
• Pixel-exact rendering on a 4dp grid, stepped animation, key clicks and haptics, scanlines and vignette. A retro launcher that behaves like a machine.
• TELETYPE, a built-in keyboard with a permanent number row and 16 layouts, from Latin and Cyrillic to Arabic, Hindi and Korean. Or keep your own.
• A full weather report: hourly, 7 days, air quality, sun and moon, alerts, in °C or °F, for any city, with no location permission.
• Long-press any app for shortcuts, app info, permissions or uninstall. Folders, hidden apps, locked apps, and "Add to Home screen" from any app.

PRIVACY BY DESIGN
• No ads. No accessibility service. No usage access. Notification text is never read.
• Your app list never leaves your phone. App search runs on the device.
• Permissions are optional and asked only when you use the feature: microphone for voice, contacts for contact search, calendar and step counter for their widgets, notification access for badges and music controls.
• Web suggestions in search are a separate lane you can switch off.

Free, with no ads. An optional PRIME upgrade is coming. Requires Android 8.0 or later.