The Galaxy S9 is a stellar device. Launched earlier this year, this is the company’s foremost flagship device, sold alongside the Galaxy Note 9 which broke cover a few months ago. Given its flagship status, the Galaxy S9 has a lot of admirers around the world. However, users don’t often like the themes and launchers that come by default.
This is where custom launchers kick in, and thanks to a growing number of developers, there are several custom launchers out there that you can use on your Galaxy S9. We’re going to talk about a few of these custom launchers today in the hope to give you the best experience on your Galaxy S9.
Some of these launchers might be familiar to you, but we’ve made sure to include a couple of surprises to diversify the list. So without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?
Evie Launcher
First up, we’re taking a look at Evie Launcher. Evie Launcher is a minimalist home screen that focuses on decluttering your life. It gets rid of a lot of the bloat that slows down the traditional Samsung launcher. It also makes thing quicker and more efficient.
There’s an easy-access universal search — you can easily search inside all of your apps in one place. Or, you can quickly access all of your apps by swiping upwards on the home screen. And naturally, Evie Launcher has a lot of customization settings, too.
Niagara Launcher
The Niagara Launcher is probably one of the most unique launchers on the market today. This one isn’t your traditional launcher, instead creating a fresh home screen that has a clean and minimalistic interface. You essentially have one screen, with all of your apps in a neatly arranged list that is sorted alphabetically and by usage. No need to dig through a cluttered app drawer to find the app you want!
Additionally, incoming messages are pushed right on your home screen. You can see small previews, but then you can see the full notification by swiping right on it. Niagara also has an internal filter, which help unwanted messages like advertising or persistent notifications get blocked, and therefore, not displayed on the screen.
ADW Launcher 2
ADW is a launcher that has been around for quite some time, but has somehow been forgotten due to the emergence of newer launchers. But as far as features and performance go, ADW is still among the best out there and with good reason. The developers claim that the launcher was way ahead of its time and the competitors are only catching up now.
You have heavy customization options here, allowing you to modify every aspect. Although this has received criticism from some people as “offering too many options”, we don’t think it’s a bad thing.
This is the second iteration of ADW Launcher, which means there are some new additions here, including some animations, transitions, as well as all new themes. The launcher also comes with dynamic UI coloring using the wallpaper on your homescreen.
Microsoft Launcher
Microsoft has its own launcher for the Android platform and it’s pretty exciting. This launcher comes with a bunch of features that make it stand out from the crowd, with one of my favorite features being the ability to connect to your Windows PC and share files between a computer and your smartphone. Not a lot of launchers can offer this feature by default, giving Microsoft the clear advantage in this regard. It also comes with a bunch of customizable gesture features to access features more easily.
The launcher also brings a universal search feature, allowing you to search your phone or the web conveniently. Further, the launcher lets you access a wide range of information directly from your home screen in the form of widgets for weather, news and more.
Smart Launcher 5
As the name suggests, this is the fifth iteration of the popular Smart Launcher with special emphasis on improving the speed and efficiency of the launcher. With several custom launchers, customers complain about speed being a primary concern. But no such issues exist with Smart Launcher 5 thanks to the app having gone through a significant overhaul over the past iterations.
One way this helps keep your device “smart” is by automatically categorizing your app for easier access. Gestures are also pretty crucial here, with the ability to lock or unlock the screen with a couple of taps on the display.
There’s a vast collection of wallpapers offered by Smart Launcher 5, with the ability to backup a wallpaper before changing it. Since security is one of the most concerning factors today, Smart Launcher 5 comes with the ability to hide your apps with a PIN, keeping it away from prying eyes. This is an extremely versatile launcher and highly recommended for everyone.
Apex Launcher
Apex is yet another popular launcher that lets you extensively customize your homescreen. One feature that I particularly like here is the ability to get a preview of your homescreen before you put the changes into effect. There are a bunch of neat transition effects as well, which add to the appeal of the launcher. Apex Launcher works just the same on a tablet or a smartphone, so you no longer have to get a separate launcher for your tablet.
There are several aspects that you can customize here, which is what makes Apex a pretty decent launcher even several years after it arrived on the scene. You also get the ability to set a scrollable dock here, so the developers have covered all their bases with Apex. The launcher is a free download, and has no ads or in-app purchases.
Nova Launcher
It’s hard to talk about custom launchers today without bringing up Nova Launcher. Having dominated the launcher space for quite a few years now, Nova is still one of the highly rated launchers available on the Play Store. As you would expect, it comes with a bunch of customization options, themes, and granular controls that let you change even the tiniest aspect of the homescreen. Infinite scrolling is available by default here.
The ability to add widgets in docks (4×1) is pretty amazing too, and takes customization to the next level. You can also modify colors for folders, fonts, and so on. Lastly, all your home screens and edits can be carried over to another device thanks to a handy backup/restore feature. This is a free download on the Play Store with no ads or in-app purchases.
Verdict
As you can see, there are a lot of excellent launchers available for the Galaxy S9. There are far more available on Google Play, but we’re confident that these are the seven best that will work with the Galaxy S9. Many of them bring you a much cleaner interface than the current Samsung UI, and come with far more customization options.
Do you have a favorite launcher to go with the Samsung Galaxy S9?
