5 abandoned Android launchers I wish were still alive today

I’d argue that the Android launcher space is the healthiest it has been in decades. Even though contenders like Nova Launcher are no longer considered the pinnacle for many, a slew of others focusing on various use cases and filling multiple niches are available.

Think of Octopi Launcher for its fluidity and support for multiple screen devices and layouts, Kvaesitso for a launcher that’s built with search first and foremost, Niagara Launcher for those who require a stripped-down yet visually engaging experience, or Lawnchair for an open-source taste of Pixel Launcher. And I’m genuinely just skimming the surface of a very deep pool.

However, whenever I think of the products we have now, my mind wanders to those that have paved the way for them. In earlier Android versions, we had access to genuinely revolutionary home screen experiences, many of which I miss to this day. Here are just a few Android launchers I wish were still around for us to enjoy today.

Z Launcher

Despite losing its lead in the mobile phone race by the mid 2010s, Nokia was still innovating on the software front. After it caved to consumer needs and prevailing trends, the company launched the Android-powered N1 tablet, the first product to feature the now-iconic Z Launcher.

One of the launcher’s biggest selling points was how it ordered icons on the home screen. It always privileged those popularly selected by the user — a stark departure from the static icon arrangement popularized by stock Android home screens.

If you couldn’t find the app you wanted, Z Launcher had another trick: scribble search. Users could trace a letter on the home screen with their finger; the launcher would then initiate a fuzzy search using that letter, bringing up contacts, apps, and other shortcuts that contained it. This was a brilliant use of otherwise wasted space, saving users from having to tap a search bar or icon, wait for the keyboard to appear, and then type a search query.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as it arrived, Microsoft-owned Nokia pulled the launcher from shelves, making it one of the bigger what-ifs in the company’s software catalog.

Notably, modern developers have taken Nokia’s Z Launcher’s smarts and reintegrated them into their own products. Third-party ReZ Launcher is effectively its closest spiritual successor, adopting the scribble search trick.

Evie Launcher

At a time when Nova Launcher was pushing the boundaries of launcher functionality, others were happy to live in the happy middle ground between a glut of features and a simple experience. Evie Launcher walked this line rather confidently.

Evie didn’t really innovate on home screen layout as Z Launcher did, but its relatively mundane UI layout hid a swift, sleek experience beneath. The best part of Evie is that it was great out of the box. If you wanted to customize it, making full use of its expansive grid layout or its news feed, you certainly could. But you could just as well enjoy it as is with minimal tweaks.

It’s unclear why Evie Launcher bit the dust, and its story is certainly murkier than the likes of Z Launcher. However, the app was removed from the Play Store in the early 2020s. While Evie wasn’t groundbreaking in the launcher space, its absence certainly hasn’t been filled by any modern launcher.

Aviate Launcher

2014 was a pretty big year for Android launchers. I’ve already mentioned one of the contenders in Z Launcher, but Aviate was perhaps generating even more buzz and handled much of the mundanities of managing a functional home screen.

It offered users a truly useful contextual interface that dynamically adjusted its home screen offerings based on factors such as a user’s location and the time of day. Imagine Google Now, but with the added bonus of commanding your entire home screen experience.

Aviate also organized apps by use case, which was a considerable advantage for users with many apps. It’s an idea that many launchers, including Smart Launcher and AIO Launcher, have continued to offer. While Aviate received support for several years after its acquisition by Yahoo in 2014, the app eventually fell into disrepair, and the Google rival pulled the plug just four years later.

While Yahoo has since tried to recreate its launcher heyday with its eponymous launcher, its efforts fall well short of what Aviate achieved. The launcher was so far ahead of its time, but it was cut short before it could truly become a juggernaut of its genre.

Apex Launcher

Is it dead, is it alive, or is it suspended somewhere between the two? In reality, Apex Launcher is likely a combination of all three. It’s certainly dead on the Play Store, alive via alternative sources, and something of a shell of its former self, at least according to former users.

Apex Launcher was similar to Evie in its execution. It offered a simple, straightforward home screen with an app drawer, pinned bottom bar, and support for widgets. It was snappy, smooth, and accommodating, but when developers released version 4.0, signs emerged that the good days were over.

Various posts on Reddit highlighted problems with shrunken icons and annoying ads baked into the app drawer (even for some premium users). It was so bad that a “Classic” version of the launcher was released, which is now dead as well.

While Apex can still be found, downloaded, and enjoyed, its golden hour has certainly passed.

ADW Launcher 2

It’s perhaps a little unfair to include ADW Launcher 2 on this list. After all, it is still available on the Play Store, making it the only product on this list with that honor. However, given that it last saw an update in September 2018, I think it’s safe to say that we’re not getting a patch to bring it up to modern standards any time soon.

ADW is an old-school launcher in every sense of the word. It looks best with Android’s three-button navigation beneath its pinned dock; its prolific use of sharp corners really takes me back to the early Material Design days; and its theme support makes it easy to change the launcher’s look with a tap. ADW Launcher 2 has some genuinely great ideas that far too few modern launchers are integrating. The template system allows users to easily save home screen designs for later or to share with others, while it also offers a custom widget editor.

As I mentioned, ADW Launcher 2 is still alive and twitching on the Play Store, despite its last update coming in the year that Russia hosted the World Cup. So why is it on this list? Well, given its lack of upkeep, ADW doesn’t appear in Play Store searches even on seemingly compatible devices. I’ve read reviews from those running Android 13 devices with the launcher installed, but I can’t seem to test it even on my Android 10 P30 Pro.

Perhaps it’s time for an ADW Launcher 3 with modern device support?

Android launchers come and go, but these five are etched in my mind for doing something a little different in this competitive app genre.

Do you have an abandoned Android launcher that you wish would make a grand return? Let me know in the comments below.