There are many superior Android applications designed to replace your default Android launcher, customize and beautify your device. While there is no unanimous list of top applications, we are going to offer a list of currently popular and beautiful themes that have earned their reputation and positive feedback on Google Play.
While this list will include several standalone applications, we would like to focus your attention on those developers that have been steadily producing ever new and fascinating designer packs to extend the gallery of their launchers, namely Buzz, Themer, Nova Launcher, Go Launcher and Apex. Aviate is an awesome smart launcher, and we are getting very impatient as to when Yahoo finally opens it to the general public. These packs include so much more than just one pretty theme, but endless galleries of customizable themes in a variety of styles from minimalistic to high-tech, from artsy to eclectic.
Buzz launcher
By Homepack Buzz team
Buzz launcher allows you to apply shared home screens on your smartphone; download, apply, share, customize and even create your own home screens. You can choose from a wide variety of awesome home screens – homepack Buzz offers more than 200,000 of beautiful and unique home screens. You can personalize them with quite simplistic icon and the wallpaper editing; it is compatible with many widgets and offers some unique widget tweaking, as well as “create my own widgets” feature.
You can select to have your previous home screen settings, and set different wallpaper images for each screen. You can create your own icons with an easy to use icon tool capable of creating transparent icons. You can create folders, resize them, manage app drawers. Buzz launcher supports gesture controls, such as glide up, glide down, double tap and more.
Probably the only restriction is that Buzz launcher is available for Android 4.0 .3+ devices, as well as the Google Nexus 7.
Themer
Yet another gorgeous screen customization tool, which requires you install the regular apk file that would give you access to dozens and hundreds of completely new themes for your home screen in a matter of seconds. This intuitive and easy-to-use theme launcher is a delight for Android users because it offers a fun way to customize and personalize your Android home screen to suit your taste. There are some really outstanding themes in the gallery, and the best part is you can use all of them one by one until you choose something that gives you an aesthetic pleasure each time you look at your device. Here are a couple of examples of Themer’s offers.
Tiled
This is one of the most famous and one of the most beautiful themes, which has proved to be very attractive – the tiles are very well placed and spaced; the clock is set against a photo. You have four large tiles beneath the clock tile, with major shortcuts to your dialer, emails, text messages and current weather conditions. The shortcuts are customizable for all screens, and you can tweak them to your heart’s content. This theme offers only three screens, though.
Mountain minimal
This one’s for the lovers of minimalistic style and nature. Mountain minimal is simple, yet sophisticated theme that keeps your home screen clean and attractive, placing only some basic information on the first and only screen – no multiple screens, no left or right. One of the four buttons is “applications” at the bottom, which takes you to your apps drawer, while other buttons stand for browser, music, camera and your favorites.
Of course, you get the time and date, weather, missed calls, new text messages, and you emails and battery status on the main screen, but those icons are very small, nicely and stylishly done. Overall, this theme is simple, minimalistic, and loads a lot of information in one neat and stylish screen.
Seven
Nowadays a lot of Android launchers offer iOS 7 styled themes, and Themer is no exclusion. If you want your phone to look like an iPhone, you can customize the home screen and buttons to look exactly like the iOS 7. This theme keeps the visual style of iOS 7, complete with orderly rows, flat icons, full screen widgets, thin text, keeping up with Android’s flexibility and usability, and integration with your favorite apps. 7 by Themer is a great theme to try.
The home screen is preloaded with useful shortcuts you can customize, such as notes, browser, messages and the like, as well as other popular icons for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Now
If you’re a fan of Google’s, you will enjoy this Google Now – styled theme, which keeps everything organized into smart cards with a beautiful Google search card at the top, the weather card in the center, as well as apps card at the bottom, with a selection of frequently used applications, such as the web browser, dialer, text messages, Gmail and the like. You also have a button for the full apps drawer on the main screen.
You have customizable news headlines, articles from your favorite blogs on the left, and a short list of upcoming events, music player and an agenda on the right.
Bookmarks
Bookmarks theme does a great job of bringing that good old-fashioned day planner look to your Android home screen. In addition, that kind of theme is actually very useful and comfortable for those of you who are used to tabs and tabbed browsing. The right side of the screen showcases five tabs and the main tab displaying time and date, missed calls, unread emails, you text and battery status.
The rest of the tabs are in different colors taking you to contacts, applications, settings, music, weather, news headlines and more. The tabs are comfortable to control app – for example music playback, which does not require you to open the app; you just need to swipe over to the music tab. Likewise, opening the text messages tab allows you to start texting. Overall, this is a very streamlined and practical theme for enhanced productivity.
Horizon
This one is very minimalistic and offers the beautiful background and some basic information on the home screen: time and date, missed calls, battery health, emails and text messages. You have shortcuts to the web browser, apps list, image gallery and camera. You have several screens that take you to the weather display and shortcuts to your favorite applications and news headlines. The theme is very elegant and sophisticated, and will appeal to those of you would like to try out all sorts of minimalistic, yet elegant design.
Grey and Peach
This modern and smart-looking theme is indeed beautiful and convenient in usage, not just on screenshots. It does not overload the home screen, but creates a unique blend of beauty and usability. If you’re not a big fan of peach, you might reconsider when you take a look at the screenshots. The theme is surprisingly functional and somewhat seasonal, but it’s worth checking out.
Diagonal Tiles
This is an elegant, bright and very well-organized theme, which does not offer too much information on your home screen, but gives you all important shortcuts and basic information, arranging it in a diagonal checkerboard pattern. Beautiful large buttons are very easy to tap without missing. Overall, this theme is great for a sophisticated and streamlined look with exquisite imagery.
Super Mario
for Themer
Just for fun, Super Mario fans can try out this colorful reminiscent theme, which brings you back to the good old Super Mario Bros game. It’s not just appealing to your not nostalgic feelings, but it’s also very fun and easy to use. You have time and date at the top of the screen, basic shortcuts like dialer, email, browser, text messages, as well as your app drawer at the bottom of the screen. This theme belongs to the simplistic style in a way that it does not overload your screens with too much shortcuts and information; to some users it may look a little bit bare, but it has its hidden gems.
For example, if you tap on Mario, you’ll see the weather forecast; if you tap the coin, you will be taken to Google Play to install Mint, America’s favorite personal finance application. If you tap the fire flower, you will launch flashlight application. If you swipe right, you will see more shortcuts and customizable icons you will easily get used to. You will see a power-up mushroom that opens the Foodspotting, a social network for food fans and gourmets. The invincibility star will take you to your favorite applications while the warp pipe takes you to the game deals and news headlines. Overall, Super Mario turned out to be surprisingly functional and fun theme to use.
Go Launcher EX/Next Launcher/Smart Launcher
Go launcher EX is an extended version of Go Launcher and very popular on Google Play because it offers highly customizable home screen makeover, smooth operation experience, personalized themes and very useful tools to create fresh and extraordinary looks for your Android device. Go launcher EX features hundreds of free personalized themes with featured widgets, smooth home screen transition, fancy mobile operation experience and a large database of user tips and tweaks.
Next Technology Theme 3D
by Go Launcher Dev team.
One of the many superior Go launcher themes, which includes some awesome 3-D live wallpapers styled in the high tech and spatial imagery. This theme has been ranked number one in Next Launcher 3D and very high in Google Play store. It offers amazing 3D elements on your screen, which are responsive to the touch, and can be directed. The theme offers 20 icons that cover main Android applications and the most popular third-party apps.
For those of you who are fond of futuristic images, everything high-tech and science fiction, Next Technology Theme is a great deal.
Robot Go Launcher Super Theme
For Go Launcher EX
This is a dynamic and very beautiful theme abundant in neat app icons, awesome wallpaper and vivid elements. This theme provides a total makeover for your Android device, making it look futuristic and Star Tek-like. Note that you will need to have installed Go Launcher EX to be able to apply the theme. This one will appeal to the Halo and Final Fantasy gamers and folks who love all things sci-fi.
WP Toucher Theme
For Go Launcher EX
For those of you who are big fans of Windows 8, we recommend you try out this colorful and streamlined them. The technology implemented in this theme is called Toucher, which expands the iPhone’s assistive touch feature to Android devices,. It’s a highly personalized and customized theme that gives you access to even more themes with a large variety of skins.
Next Time Tunnel for Next Launcher 3D
Here is one more beautiful theme for Next Launcher 3D that offers awesome shining stars rotating in the time tunnel with gravity. You can speed through the time tunnel by moving your finger, and the blue stars would react as you swipe or tap across your home screen.
Minimal SL Theme for Smart Launcher
As the title suggests, you will need to have Smart launcher installed on your smartphone to be able to apply this theme. Indeed, it is a very minimalistic, yet functional and streamlined theme for those who like to keep it straight and simple.
Apex
Apex launcher allows users create highly customized home screens on their Android 4.0+ devices. It gives your phone a complete makeover with highly customizable home screen grid size and up to nine home screens. It offers some fancy transition effects, elastic scrolling, scrollable dock with seven icons per page, and up to five pages. You can customize icons, labels and shortcuts; you can choose different folder preview styles and backgrounds, use home screen gestures and a lot more.
Aviate
Currently, Aviate is an invite-only beta, and we really hope Yahoo is going to drag it from that stage and out the general public. It automatically categorizes all your applications and rearranges your home screen throughout the day depending on where you are and what you do. It’s not just theme or a launcher – it’s an intelligent home screen application that makes your phone smarter. Your device surfaces information relevant to your current location and occupation.
Aviate automatically brings up weather forecast and your meetings for the day when you first launch your device in the morning. Likewise, when you’re at the office, you have all the productivity applications you need on the main screen. When you’re in the car, Aviate launcher automatically gives you destination directions and traffic situation updates. When you plug in your headphones, Aviate gives you music app on the home screen, with relevant information about the music you’re listening to, as well as recent tweets, biography and upcoming concerts of the artist. Can you imagine other launchers do that?
