Not all Android devices are created equal, a fact that has helped the platform grow to what was surely an unimaginable size in the early years of its existence. Having said that, many Android devices these days do appear much closer to each other on the software side of things than they used to. The beauty of Android, though, is the immense capability to customize the user interface from top to bottom, right down to the icons. Much of this is made possible with third-party home launchers, which, are also not all made equal as many have different features to set themselves apart from the massive pack. One such launcher which takes a wildly different approach than many out there is ASAP Launcher, a relatively new home launcher which is more or less all about the speed and access to the app drawer and the apps in general which you use often.
If you want simplicity, this may not be the best launcher for you. That is not to say that it isn’t somewhat simple and that it’s too complex to use, but more so that it just works very different from popular offerings like Nova Launcher or Apex Launcher. For starters, one of the biggest things on Android, widgets, is not available with ASAP Launcher. So if you’re a fan of those and are giving ASAP a shot, kiss them goodbye. You can also say goodbye to multiple home screen pages. With ASAP, there can only be one.
If this hasn’t completely turned you off from the prospect, ASAP does have quite a bit to offer which seems focused on helping you use the launcher and your device more efficiently. First off, the launcher has intelligent learning qualities. You have access to a feature called the “App Dock” which is more or less like an app drawer for your most used apps only. Over time, the more you use certain apps, ASAP will learn which ones those are and place them in the app dock. You also have the full app drawer which has everything listed in alphabetical order. To access both of these, simply swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen or the left edge of the screen respectively. Following on from that, other features are also accessed by utilizing swipe gestures. For example, there may be no extra home screens or widgets, but there are “Cards”, which you can access by either swiping left or right or up and down from around the middle and top of the screen. Upon doing this, you’ll reveal cards for things like the calendar, weather information and forecasts, a todo list, and contacts, while swiping up from towards the top of the screen (not the very edge where the status bar is) reveals the clock in a sort of widget form, and swiping down brings back the Google search bar that is always present. Swiping inward from the right edge, reveals a quick settings bar with toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and more.
This sort of unique approach puts many standard things within reach from the home screen more or less, and it does it all with a sleek material design approach that quite a few users will surely appreciate. It’s certainly different, but different doesn’t have to mean worse, and although this may not be the launcher for everyone, it clearly has some qualities that will be a big hit for some users. ASAP Launcher is free to install and it does seem to offer in-app purchases which more than likely do little more than expand its feature set, similar to what you would see from Nova Launcher Prime vs the free version. You’ll also find other lovable features about ASAP that you can find in other launchers, such as light and dark theme support, icon pack support, and more.
