With Android 4.4.2 Kitkat, Google showed off a brand new launcher which we called the Google Experience Launcher for quite some time until it hit the Play Store earlier this year, as the Google Now Launcher. Up until this recent update, the launcher was only compatible with the Nexus line and Google Play Devices. However, the Google Now launcher got an update last night, which brought support to HTC One M8, One E8, One Mini 2, Desire 816, Huawei Ascend P7, Samsung Galaxy S5 Active and LG G3. There’s probably more devices that it’s compatible with, but those are the ones that we know for sure it’s compatible with now. So if you have a device that it is now compatible with and we don’t have it listed, be sure to let us know in the comments. It’s likely compatible with any Android 4.4.2 device, but we don’t have any confirmation on that just yet. Even though the Google Now Launcher hadn’t been officially compatible with most devices, we were able to sideload it and use it without any issues.
The Google Now Launcher is one of my favorite launchers these days. As it has Google Now on the left side of the home screen, similar to what LG, Samsung and even HTC do with their own services and launchers. The Google Now Launcher is even better if you use Xposed XGELS module with it. This allows you to change a ton of different parts of the launcher, including adding icon packs.
So now the Google Now Launcher is available and compatible with many more devices. And now we don’t have to go ahead and sideload the apk to get the Google Now Launcher on our device. Again, if you find that the Play Store says your device is compatible with the Google Now Launcher, be sure to let us know in the comments down below.