µLauncher

jrpie

About this app

uLauncher replaces the home screen. Unlike classical home screens,
there is no grid of app icons, but apps can be launched by certain swipe gestures or by pressing buttons. Pressing <back> opens a searchable list of apps.

The source code is available at https://github.com/jrpie/Launcher . uLauncher is a fork of finnmglas's app Launcher (https://github.com/finnmglas/launcher ).

There are currently issues getting the latest update approved by Google. Publishing on Google Play is a miserable experience. Note that I am developing this app in my free time for no profit. I'd rather spent that time developing features than with Google's bureaucracy.

Consider downloading uLauncher from the free and open source repository F-Droid to get the latest version: https://s.jrpie.de/launcher-fdroid


In order to lock the screen, an accessibility service can be activated. This is entirely optional. uLauncher will only use the accessibility service to lock the screen. uLauncher will never share any data.

Ratings and reviews

I've used this launcher for over a year. The main attraction is that I can assign a gesture to open each essential, everyday app. I can enjoy my wallpaper with nothing to block it except the date and time. One thing I dislike about the layout is that I do wish date and time could be moved elsewhere instead of being dead center of the screen, even if a gesture gets blocked.

I dropped the Nova launcher I've used since forever in favor of μ, which has the simplicity of text based launchers but retains the icons. Apps can be hidden, launched with one of 22 gestures, and/or accessed from a swiftly scrolled list that I can give a transparent background through to the wallpaper — my priority. Tiny size, low battery use, and my system font. Perfect.

This is probably the first minimalist launcher I really liked. A gesture driven launcher was not something I had considered, but once you spend some time with it, it really makes app launching faster. Settings and customization are extensive for what this does. Also, I appreciate the detailed explanation prompt before enabling Accessibility permission.