The best Android launchers and interface tools of 2015

Oh, Arrow, you finally jumped out of beta, and hopped into the Play Store! A creation of Microsoft's prolific Garage incubator is one clean, small in size, and well thought-out launcher that features soothing graphics a far cry from the me-too flat trend that got introduced with Google's Material Design shenanigans. Moreover, it is not brimming with unneeded functionality, yet automatically puts your most used apps and contacts front and center for easier access.

The launcher gives you a home page with one row on top for your recently used apps, and three rows for apps that you use the most frequently. The apps displayed on the dock are determined by the user, and normally might include those used very often. A swipe to the right takes you to the Notes & Reminders page where you can type in a list of things to do and check a box once the task is completed. 

A swipe in the other direction brings you to a list of people from your contacts list that you recently got in touch with via phone, email or text. It also provides you with a list of frequently used contacts, as well. You can also swipe up to see more options including additional dock shortcuts. The app drawer is posted alphabetically, and you can use your finger to slide down a list of letters to reach an app faster.

One Launcher is less than 2MB in size, yet features real-time lockscreen notifications, its own tailored weather, clock and calendar widgets, as well as a bunch of curated high-res wallpapers. It bets on simplicity and speed, with numerous transition effects that promise not to lag, even on older Android gear.

Snowball aims to put an end to the flood of notifications you are bombarded with every day, letting through only the ones you would really want to check up on, and allowing you to reply to your Facebook, Twitter, texts and other messages inline, routing your answer automatically through the respective app afterwards. 

It takes some tutoring to catch up, as you have to either swipe away or authorize the notifications from each app for Snowball, but after the learning period it's smooth sailing, and a much needed break from the notifications spam.

Yandex Launcher has all the basics like app and folder categorization, widget and homescreen grid layout management, and security functions, but it also throws in some extras, like letting you use color schemes to search for your apps. Check out how it works in the promo video below - we don't know about you, but we seem to remember what color is the app icon easier than its placement in the app drawer or the folder on the homescreen.

Launchify places your favorite app shortcuts right in your notification bar and lock screen for quick access without obstructing the view, as simple as that. The tool can even recommend the right app for the time of day and the place you are at (home, work, or in the car).

Scout Launcher

The Scout launcher goes deeper into the timely snippets of information available to you at any given moment. The gist of it is in the short video below - Scout will have suggestions to you from the moment you wake up (weather, breakfast places), and throughout the day, digging up relevant apps you might have even forgotten you've installed on your phone, based on the occasion and location, too. 

Thankfully, it doesn't try to guess everything seamlessly like Google Now, but actually asks about your work and home locations, for instance, upon initial setup. Then it proceeds organizing your apps in groups (called "spaces") on separate screens automatically, though you can revamp those at will, too.

The "cards" it will use for popular tasks are actually standalone entities - you don't need to have YouTube installed to enjoy the YouTube card, for instance, but can have the full functionality and interaction within Scout itself. Some of the services offered include Weather, Calendar, Reddit, Uber, Yelp, SoundCloud, YouTube, Notifications, Lyrics, Events by Seatgeek, ESPN CricInfo, and contextual app recommendations - with many more to be added when Scout on with its development.