I love customizing my Android phone. Frequently, I switch between launchers and try them out. While many prefer sticking to the popular ones, I try getting my hands on the lesser-known ones. However, the one thing that these launchers have in common is that they either present your apps in a list or in a rows-and-columns grid. But Android has an answer to almost everything, and Nocebo Launcher presents things a bit differently. You don’t get a simple list of apps; instead, you get a spinning wheel of apps that you can flick around like a dial. Quite interesting, isn’t it?

A home screen that spins

Not even a single static page of icons

Credit: Sagar Naresh/MUO

When you launch Nocebo Launcher for the first time, the first thing you’ll notice is a spinning wheel with app icons on either side. You also won’t see a single page of icons. Instead of swiping left and right between pages or scrolling vertically, you spin the wheel with your thumb, and the app icons circle.

It sounds like a novelty, and it kind of is, but it changes how you reach for apps. You stop hunting through pages and start rotating toward the thing you want, almost like spinning a dial on an old radio. You do get to swipe to open the good-old app drawer, which is something you would access if the app you want isn’t on the spinning wheel.

Right in the middle of the wheel sits a customizable “sticker,” a static or circular graphic you can swap out to match your wallpaper or mood. You can upload your own image or use the default bull sticker. It’s a small touch, but it’s the difference between a wheel that looks interesting and one that looks like it was designed on purpose. There are a few built-in options to choose from, or you can remove it altogether.

OS

Android

Price model

Free

The app drawer is still familiar

Setting up takes a few minutes

Nocebo doesn’t try to reinvent everything at once. The app drawer underneath the wheel supports drag-and-drop sorting, custom folders, and widgets you can drop straight into the drawer instead of just the home screen. That’s a nice safety net: if the wheel ever feels like too much, the drawer is still there to fall back on.

Here is how you can set it up:

1. Get the Nocebo Launcher app from the Play Store.
2. Open it and set it as your default launcher when Android prompts you. You can skip this if you want to try it first.
3. Add your favorite apps to the wheel first, then fill in the rest from the drawer.
4. Long-press the sticker in the middle of the wheel, pick one from what’s available, or upload your own.

You don’t expect much from a launcher beyond being clean and easy to use. Nocebo Launcher brings a fun element to the table. Of course, the spinning wheel is nice when you are bored, and it lets you access your apps a few seconds faster. However, it won’t entirely change the way you use your phone.

But that is not the point of Nocebo Launcher. It tries to bring in a fun element and tries to break away from the traditional home screen that you get with other launchers. People who have ditched Samsung’s One UI home screen (though you get customization with Good Lock) and moved to launchers like Lawnchair also have to make some adjustments. Once your muscle memory adapts to a different shape, the standard grid stops feeling neutral and starts feeling dated.

While spinning icons is not necessary, it is a new way to operate your home screen. You will get the hang of this new setup in a few days, and for some it might feel more natural than swiping. That’s partly because the wheel gives you a physical sense of where things are, similar to how a dial phone’s rotary felt came from actual resistance instead of a flat swipe.

Frankly, it is not for everyone

Something that is a good fit for you may not be a good option for someone else. The same thing applies to Nocebo Launcher. While the spinning thing might feel good to you, others might want to have a simple home screen setup. Nocebo isn’t the only launcher that tries to bring in a fun element. There is Mango launcher, where icons react to how you move your phone. Or you can use the Key Launcher that brings a T9 keypad to your home screen. You can even totally get rid of the app drawer and launch apps using hand-drawn gestures with Glyf.

I’ll be honest. The wheel in Nocebo launcher isn’t the fastest way to reach an app buried at the back. If you keep dozens of icons on your main layout, spinning through them takes longer than a quick swipe across a grid. It works best if you keep your wheel lean and let the app drawer handle the overflow.