How To Customize Your Android Phone

You can live a perfectly delightful mobile existence using an Android phone without tweaking a single setting. But where's the fun in that, Especially when a handful of downloads and a few minutes of tinkering can turn, say, your Galaxy S8 from a TouchWiz minefield into a digital zen garden. This has always been true. And if you're an Android power user, if you've installed a custom ROM (or even know what that means), this guide is not for you. But there are two billion active monthly Android devices in the world now. Lots of those devices are smartphones. One of them might be yours. And if there's anything about that Pixel or Moto or Galaxy or LG that bothers you even a little—the keyboard, the gestures, the app icons—know that you can make it better. Let's start big with the piece of software called the launcher, which dictates not just how your smartphone looks but how you interact with it. A lot of the time, your out-of-the-box experience works just fine, especially if it hews close to the stock Android you'll find in a Pixel or Nexus phone.

But sometimes manufacturers marry terrific hardware with clunky software, or include embellishments that feel more like bloat. Sometimes you want more tinkering choices; sometimes you want fewer. Sometimes you just want to try something new. For all of those times, you can simply install a launcher. An extreme example might help contextualize this a little better. One Launcher transforms your Android phone into something that very much resembles iOS. But at the very least it gives you a small taste of how the other UI lives. And so on. The main knock against launchers is that they can slow your system down. It depends on how heavy a coat it puts on, but generally you either won't notice or, if you pick the right one, won't mind the trade-off. But which one is best, Apologies for the copout, but it really depends on what you're looking for. And if you don't even know that, go ahead and download Nova Launcher, which leads practically every "best launcher" roundup you'll find.

Nova's a delightful chameleon, giving you as many customization options as you could ever possibly want. Just clear out a little time on your calendar before you start; from gestures to themes to subgrids to notifications, you've got a lot of potential choices to make. Personally, I had used the Google Now launcher to try to get as close to stock Android as I could on my Galaxy S7. When Google relocated the search bar to the bottom of the display on the Pixel, Action alerted me that it offered that option within a few days. That works for me! It might not for you. The good news is, most Android launchers come free, so you can experiment until you find one that suits you. Also, Google offers an Android "taste test" that recommends various set-ups you might like. It's been so long since I've looked at the stock Android wallpaper, I don't even remember what it looks like.

But you can do better! And it takes no time at all. All you need to do to rotate in a new display background is tap and hold a blank spot on your homescreen. From there, a bottom row of options will appear: Wallpapers, Widgets, and Settings. Tap on Wallpapers, and from there you'll have the option to sift through My photos, or choose from your apps that provide "live wallpapers," animated backgrounds that liven up your screen time. Be careful with live wallpapers, though; they can be hell on your battery. In fact, be careful with wallpapers generally. There are countless apps to choose from, but not all of them are entirely reputable. In some cases, developers have even used wallpaper apps to sneak malware past Google Play's defenses. That's not to scare you off of wallpapers altogether; just try to stick to reputable vendors as best you can. Unfortunately, you mostly have to go by downloads and reviews, which obviously aren't foolproof.