13 beautiful homescreen replacements and how to get them

posted by Chris P. / Jan 10, 2014, 6:13 AM

13 beautiful homescreen replacements and how to get them

Everybody needs a change every now and then. If you're at all like most people, chances are that you're finding yourself truly enjoying your phone less and less with each consecutive month it has been in your possession. The reasons contributing to this are manifold, and vary wildly from person to person, but more often than not, they have to do with just how static your phone's interface is, month after month. This effect is actually so profound, that a massive niche of launcher applications has been spawned, all offering a fresh take on Android. And as more resources and interest are being fed into this particular field, so are the offers on the table becoming more and more compelling.

Back in the days, it used to be the case that a seriously customized and streamlined, full-blown homescreen replacement required quite some work. If words like theming or zip-aligning mean anything to you, you likely know all too well. That status-quo, however, has been changed profoundly, and forever. The most contemporary crop of launcher apps offer a no-frills, non-laggy experience with instantaneous and gratifying effect. In fact, they've matured enough to get even us, who consider ourselves appreciators of the stock Android experience, to become something of converts. Below are 10 seriously beautiful and creative homescreen replacement and dead-simple instructions on how to get them. There are just a taste. All strata of hardware are very likely to run these very smoothly, meaning that we took the time to test them on something inferior to a Snapdragon 800, and they ran smoothly.

Note: there is more to the launcher space than just Themer Beta and Buzz Launcher, though we've found these closest to our understanding of how a launcher needs to be set-up. Alternatives, like Apex, GO, and so on, are still something that you should consider, if you find yourself intrigued.

Download Buzz Launcher (Android)

Download Themer (Android)

10 beautiful homescreen replacements and how to get them

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18 Comments

1. PapaSmurf

Posts: 10457; Member since: May 14, 2012

The beauty of Android. :')

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 6:19 AM 17

9. akki20892

Posts: 3902; Member since: Feb 04, 2013

Yes it is.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 9:49 AM 3

2. hafini_27

Posts: 951; Member since: Oct 31, 2013

I love number 13

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 6:32 AM 0

3. tiara6918

Posts: 2263; Member since: Apr 26, 2012

I'm gonna download one of them now, thanks for the info pa

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 6:55 AM 0

4. PAPINYC

Posts: 2315; Member since: Jul 30, 2011

Those screen replacements are absolutely horrid, who gets paid to develop those screens. My grandmother (who suffers from Alzheimers) can do better. Things like this make me think about switching back to an iPhone (but, then I'd need wi-fi at home...).

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 7:00 AM 0

10. WHoyton1

Posts: 1635; Member since: Feb 21, 2013

Are you alright?

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 10:08 AM 3

14. Chris_Bakke

Posts: 247; Member since: Jan 23, 2013

I agree with WHoyton1, you might need to go to an optometrist and get your eyes checked, then a psychiatrist to get your head examined.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 12:26 PM 2

5. Shubham412302

Posts: 592; Member since: Nov 09, 2011

they are great but themer crashes sometimes which keeps me away from it

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 7:07 AM 0

6. blinkdagger

Posts: 81; Member since: May 04, 2012

Themer is still in beta though. Lots of bugs and crashes.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 7:30 AM 0

7. kaikuheadhunterz

Posts: 1157; Member since: Jul 18, 2013

#11 seems like something that I don't have to force myself to adapt to, as long as I can replace the weather page. Okay I'm too used to the normal homescreens (aka Apex Launcher, Nova Launcher, etc.), so I doubt I'll actually change my homescreen

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 7:32 AM 0

8. clarkjeferson

Posts: 67; Member since: Dec 22, 2013

Needs more Lighting Launcher. That or you could browse to mycolorscreen for the amazing launchers.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 8:47 AM 2

11. RandomUsername

Posts: 808; Member since: Oct 29, 2013

Lightning Launcher is the best launcher ever :)

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 10:10 AM 1

12. jellmoo

Posts: 2660; Member since: Oct 31, 2011

I agree that Lightning Launcher is great (recently switched to it from SS Launcher), but this looks like a list of easy screen setups. Lightning Launcher is powerful, but not the most user friendly item out there for a new themer.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 10:27 AM 0

18. clarkjeferson

I love LL's free mode, since I can have all my buttons in strange sizes, and some of them are upside down. Not to mention I can get the "Zune" look with LL if I wanted to. And yes, it does take a bit of time and a learning curve to use Lightning Launcher at it's fullest.

posted on Jan 11, 2014, 11:18 AM 0

13. dorianb

Posts: 617; Member since: Oct 24, 2012

#10 is for every grandmother that has worn a holiday sweater.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 11:55 AM 0

15. Blazers

Posts: 766; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

I don't like Buzz. Most of the themes require UCCW widgets, which I can't seem to get working correctly. I'll stick with Nova

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 4:59 PM 1

16. jellmoo

UCCW is a very powerful widget theming tool, but it does have a bit of a learning curve. The big problem with Buzz is that you need to make sure you get the UCCW skin from the theme creator in order to apply it. I actually learned how to use UCCW (and Zooper for that matter) through Nova, as it's a lot easier to play around there than in Buzz.

posted on Jan 10, 2014, 5:10 PM 1

17. GeekMovement unregistered

I'm kind of on the same page as you too. Got confused with the whole UCCW customization. In the end, even though I found some themes that I really liked, I went back to Nova Launcher. I just like the look of stock android I guess.