How to customize your home screen on Android – Easy Steps

Android is an obvious choice for people who don’t want the kind of top-down control you get from companies like Apple, where everything is prefabricated to fit a specific brand identity rather than cater to user needs and preferences. Google’s open source software gives developers plenty of room to customize their operating system experience, but that freedom also trickles down to you, meaning you can further customize your home screen to your liking.

But that doesn’t mean you can just flip a switch and have everything your way. Not everything is customizable and there are limits to what you can do with what is.

So without further ado, here are some of the coolest ways to customize your home screen on Android.

Home Screen Customization: The Basics

Some simple customizations to personalize your home screen on Android don’t require downloading any new apps.

The first, and most obvious, is the wallpaper you use as your background. You can choose one of the provided wallpapers, download new ones or use your own existing photos.

How to change your wallpaper on Android:

• Touch and hold an empty space on your home screen.
• Tap “Wallpapers” at the bottom of the screen.
• Choose from existing wallpapers or use one of your own photos.
• Once you’ve made your selection, press ‘Set wallpapers’.
• Choose if you want this image to be your home screen, your lock screen, or both.
• Repeat the process if you want different images in your home and lock the screen.

(Note that some Android phones require you to pinch the screen to access the home screen settings, rather than a long press.)

How to remove app shortcuts from home screen:

• Touch and hold an app icon.
• Drag the app icon you want to hide to one of two locations:
  • The app drawer (represented by an icon at the bottom center of the screen).
  • Or at the ‘x’ at the top of the screen labeled ‘Delete’.
• If you want to completely uninstall the app, you should see ‘Uninstall’ next to ‘Remove’ at the top of the screen; just drag the icon from the app.

How to add app shortcuts to your home screen:

• First, open the app drawer.
• Touch and hold the app you want, then drag it to your home screen.
• Drop it where you want it and touch and hold to drag it to another location.
• Drag it and hold it near the edge of the screen to go to the next page.

How to create an application folder:

You can also create groups of apps on your home screen by combining similar apps into categories, each with its own quick access folder:

• Long press an app
• Drag it onto another app and drop it.
• Both apps need to be merged into a shared folder.
• Drag other appropriate applications to the folder.
• Touch the folder to open it, and change the order of apps by touching, holding, and dragging.
• Rename the folder to something like “Messaging,” “Games,” or something else.

How to add/remove widgets:

You can also choose which widgets to display on your home screen. The process is almost identical to moving apps on and off your home screen:

• Touch and hold an empty space on your home screen.
• Tap “Widgets” at the bottom of the screen.
• Choose the widget you want on your home screen.
• Tap and hold.
• Drag it to the desired position on the Android home screen.

Personalize your home screen: get a new launcher

In addition to tweaking your home screen using what’s already on your phone, you can also download new launchers, which will change the layout and functionality of your home screen. Launchers change the look, feel, and behavior of even more components of the Android operating system. , allowing you to really customize it.

Launchers also allow you to change their icons, allowing you to customize your home screen to even affect the branding of third-party apps. Many launchers support navigation and gesture shortcuts, offer many other widgets and transition effects, and can even learn your habits and adapt. to your needs throughout the day.

Take a look at a few launchers and see which ones best suit your personality. Once you’ve found one you like, install the app, open it, and hit the Start button. You should see a notification about your default launcher being changed. Just change your default settings to the new launcher. If you want to go back (or if the popup doesn’t appear), go to your settings and search for “launcher”. You should be able to find the correct menu fairly easily, then select the one you want. the list of installed launchers to make this your new default.

conclusion

There are many ways to customize your home screen on Android, either by using your existing settings and options or by downloading new ones via third-party launchers.

Have fun with your devices Make them yours!

What are your favorite ways to customize your home screen? Did you find any third-party apps that make a big difference? Give us your feedback in the comments below!