This Custom Launcher Is the Fix For Your Bloated Samsung Device
I've become a fan of Galaxy devices, but I know many are put off by what can feel like bloated software. Fortunately, if you find Samsung's apps and interface to be a bit much, there's a custom launcher that not only solves this problem, but it's arguably at its best when installed on a Samsung phone!
I'm speaking of Niagara Launcher, an innovative home screen replacement that completely does away with the conventional grid of app icons that's been associated with smartphones since the original iPhone.
Niagara Launcher ‧ Home Screen
PERSONALIZATION
Price: Free
4.7
Niagara Launcher Simplifies Your Home Screen
Niagara Launcher is a replacement for the interface you see when you unlock your phone or return to the home screen. Instead of a grid of apps and widgets, you are presented with a list of your favorite apps. You can browse your entire collection of apps by swiping a finger along the side of the screen. This easy one-handed use is why my colleague called Niagara Launcher the best Launcher for big phones .
Niagara places helpful information at the top of your home screen, above the list of favorites. You can see the time, date, battery life, weather, and upcoming events all in one place. Tapping on any of these pulls up your agenda, giving a more extended weather forecast and a scrollable view of your calendar. Niagara also provides a number of custom icons and themes. At various times, I've used Niagara Launcher themes to create a more minimalist smartphone .
Samsung's Apps Integrate With Niagara Launcher
If you view Samsung phones as bloated, then you might avoid all Samsung software in favor of Google's apps. In that case, you won't run into any issues. Niagara Launcher can easily access the information in your Google Calendar.
I personally see Google's apps, not Samsung's, as the reason Samsung phones feel overcrowded. I view Google's apps as bloatware , since Google has required phone makers to ship a long list of Google apps if they want access to the Play Store. Companies are then left with the choice of shipping almost exclusively Google software or shipping Google software alongside their own, like Samsung does.
If you consider Samsung apps to be pretty good , you can rest assured that these also feel right at home with Niagara Launcher. I can access any of the events I enter into Samsung Calendar, including those added on my wife's phone.
You Can Easily Hide Apps You Can't Remove
Custom launchers typically give you the ability to hide unwanted apps, and Niagara Launcher is no exception. You can long-press any app to pull up a list of options and select Advanced > Hide from app list.
This is a good way to handle those few apps that you can neither uninstall nor disable, like the Samsung Galaxy Store. It's also a solution for those apps that you want to keep active but don't necessarily need to see whenever you pull up your list of apps.
I appreciate the way the Niagara team have implemented folders. While this is a feature baked into Samsung's own launcher, Niagara allows you to tuck folders away at the bottom of your app list. This is where I'm inclined to stick games, which feel separate from apps and often have app icons that feel wildly out of place.
Good Lock Is a Samsung-Exclusive Way to Improve Niagara Launcher
Samsung phones come with a lot of settings, contributing to the feeling of bloat for some people. I personally feel that newer Samsung phones do a good job of tucking these options away so that they don't feel overwhelming. It's the ability to configure nearly every aspect of your Galaxy device that makes Samsung phones in particular an ideal match for Niagara Launcher.
Samsung provides its own suite of software for configuring all the parts of your phone you can't configure out of the box, allowing a degree of customization unmatched by any other phone maker or even custom ROMs. This suite is collected into a single app known as Good Lock, which is made up of various modules that tweak different parts of your phone.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
TOOLS
Price: Free
3.8
I like using the "One Hand Operation +" module to view my recent apps without having to reach down to the bottom of the screen. I sometimes use diagonal swipes to access recent apps and long swipes to open a split-screen view.
The "Home Up" module allows me to swap out the default view of my recent apps. When using Niagara Launcher, I prefer a grid view or a vertical list over the current default.
I also use the "Theme Up" module to edit app icons and apply custom Android icon themes . This way app icon changes aren't limited to Niagara Launcher but also appear in the recent apps view and elsewhere.
Niagara Launcher is a one-stop shop for anyone looking to reduce the clutter on their phone, no matter if they're using a Galaxy or a Pixel. That said, I'm rather fond of the changes Samsung made in One UI 7 , which has been further refined in One UI 8 . If you haven't tried the latest version of Samsung's software and are basing your opinion on a prior experience, you may want to try One UI out for a bit before you swap it out.
