Ask HN: I want a minimalist phone experience

10 points by mattymf 3 years ago | 4 comments

I like my Pixel 5a but I don't want to see all the colored icons of the apps I have. I only want to see their names.

I'm now using the minimalist phone app [0]. It lets me favorite 3 apps (have 3 apps on my home screen), but there is a lot of wasted space. After the 3 apps are chosen, all others have to be searched for in the alphabetical list. But I want fast access to around 7 apps.

Is there a better solution than this? For someone looking for an optimized and minimalist smartphone experience

[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qqlabs.minimalistlauncher

spindle 3 years ago |

There are 10,625,322,952,242,003,625 launcher programs, many of which are minimalist. Personally, I like this one: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.vincent_falzon.discreetl...

mattymf 3 years ago | |

Thanks, I now know these are called 'launchers'. I'm now using the Before Launcher [0]. It is pretty much what I want.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beforesoft...

hlfnrd 3 years ago |

I recommend trying KISS launcher with the Frost monochrome icon pack.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/fr.neamar.kiss/

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.dkanada.icecons/

cheapgeek 3 years ago |

I use OLauncher.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.olauncher

Supports up to 8 apps on the home screen and 2 additional apps with left and right swipe.

Non essential apps can be hidden away from the app drawer.

Rotating minimalist backgrounds.