I was poking around GitHub for Android apps when I came across Default Launcher, and the screenshots made me stop scrolling. It had the sparse home screen, clean app drawer, and restrained styling that can make Android look like a Pixel, except the project page kept mentioning things Pixel doesn’t give you much control over, including icon shapes, folder covers, widget stacks, and local search.

That was enough to get it onto my phone. Pixel Launcher has always appealed to me because it stays out of the way, although some of its most recognizable pieces are tied closely to Google, especially the search experience sitting at the bottom of the home screen. Default Launcher takes that same clean Launcher3 foundation in a different direction.

It starts simple, but gives you far more control

Stock Android with the handcuffs removed

Default Launcher isn’t available through the Play Store, though installing it doesn’t require building anything yourself. That does put it on the other side of Android’s increasingly tighter sideloading restrictions, since you’re installing the app directly from GitHub rather than Google Play. The GitHub releases page provides a regular DefaultLauncher-release.apk, so you can download the APK, install it, and choose Default Launcher when Android asks which Home app you want to use.

I did hit one snag on my Samsung phone. Play Protect blocked the APK during installation and warned that it could request access to sensitive data, so I temporarily paused app scanning to get past the warning and turned it back on afterward. That sounds ominous, but Default Launcher has features that can optionally search contacts, calendar entries, and files, all of which require access to personal data. The launcher itself is designed to stay offline, and you can leave those search sources disabled if you don’t want to grant the permissions.

After that, moving in was painless. Swiping up opens the app drawer, long-pressing the home screen brings up widgets and launcher settings, and apps sit on a conventional grid that doesn’t require a tutorial before you can find anything. Default Launcher is based on Launcher3 from Android 16 and uses Material 3 throughout, so it slots into a current Android setup without looking like a relic from the KitKat era.

Spend a minute in the settings, though, and it becomes clear how much further Default Launcher lets you push that foundation.

The customization goes far beyond what Pixel gives you

Google would never give me this many buttons

The home-screen grid is a good example. Rather than handing you a short menu of predetermined layouts, Default Launcher lets you choose the column count and works out the rows around it so square widgets stay square. Separate top and bottom padding controls also let you nudge everything into place when the grid technically fits but still looks awkwardly perched on the screen.

Icons get almost the same level of control. You can apply an icon pack, change their shape and size, choose how unsupported icons are handled, and adjust the background used behind shaped icons. The shape picker includes circles, squares, arches, and a couple of cookie-style designs if the standard Android geometry has started boring you.

I especially like that you don’t have to make every app obey the same rules. My Samsung phone can already do some of this through Samsung’s Good Lock, but Default Launcher puts individual icon controls directly into the launcher. Long-press an icon and the Customize menu lets you override its appearance individually, with separate settings for the home screen and app drawer. If one ancient banking app is still dragging around an icon that looks like it survived Android Jelly Bean, you can fix that one offender without redesigning everything else.

Folders get similar attention. You can change their appearance or use cover icons so a folder shows a clean emoji-style symbol rather than a tiny collage of whatever is inside. Expanded folders can also expose several apps directly on the home screen, which gives you faster access without scattering icons across another page.

Widget stacks are another addition I ended up appreciating. Niagara Launcher is another custom launcher that makes good use of the idea, and Default Launcher takes a similar approach by letting multiple widgets occupy the same patch of the home screen. I can keep information handy without giving every widget its own slab of real estate.

You could spend ages tuning every corner of Default Launcher, but you don’t have to. I left plenty of settings alone and only changed the things that bothered me. That keeps the launcher approachable even though its settings menu goes much deeper than Pixel Launcher ever lets you wander.

Search works without making Google the landlord

This search box has a few party tricks

Search is where Default Launcher makes its biggest break from Pixel Launcher.

Apps and shortcuts are searchable immediately, while contacts, calendar entries, and files can join the results after you grant the permissions they need. The launcher tells you when a source needs permission instead of leaving you wondering why half your phone seems invisible.

The search box also handles a few jobs I usually reach for another app to do. Type 24*67 and the calculator returns 1608, along with hexadecimal and octal equivalents. Enter 32 inches to cm and you get 81.28 cm right there. There’s also a timezone tool for checking times elsewhere without detouring through a browser.

Results can be narrowed using categories such as Apps, Shortcuts, and Tools, which helps once a broad query starts pulling information from several places. Web and AI search buttons sit alongside those local results when you want to take the query farther.

Those external searches aren’t hardwired to Google. You can choose which app handles web searches and assign AI searches separately, or let Default Launcher detect an appropriate app automatically. If you’d rather use one of the many private search engines instead of Google, you can configure your chosen browser accordingly and let Default Launcher hand the query off to it. The launcher itself stays offline and keeps its own data on your device, while online queries are handled by whichever external app you selected.

That setup makes search far more useful to me than simply replacing Google’s logo with somebody else’s. Default Launcher can still search my phone, run calculations, convert units, and surface shortcuts without turning the launcher itself into another network service.

I may have accidentally found my default

Default Launcher still comes with a few compromises. You have to sideload it, and depending on your phone, Play Protect may introduce an extra hurdle before you ever reach the home screen. It also isn’t trying to clone every Pixel-exclusive flourish Google ships on its own phones.

What it does preserve is the clean Launcher3 foundation that makes Pixel Launcher pleasant to use in the first place, then it gives you far more say over how that home screen works. I can keep the straightforward Android layout I already like, adjust the bits that bug me, and use local search without organizing the whole experience around Google.