Xiaomi had recently introduced its Pocophone sub-brand, and the first smartphone released with its branding, the Poco F1, and now the POCO Launcher is available in the Google Play Store. For those of you who are not aware, POCO Launcher is the name of the launcher that comes pre-installed on the Poco F1, and even though it has been available for download from a third-party provider, and you were able to sideload it for days now, it was not officially available in the Play Store, until now.
Do keep in mind that the POCO Launcher is available, but it still has the ‘Unreleased’ tag in the Play Store, which signalizes that the app is still in beta, basically. So, what is POCO Launcher, and how different is it to Xiaomi’s MIUI Android skin? Well, POCO Launcher is quite similar to MIUI, but it comes with an app drawer, and it includes some of stock Android’s design into the mix. POCO Launcher is also extremely fast, claims Xiaomi, and can compete with the best out there. This launcher also comes with a built-in search which will show you app recommendations, icon color categories, and so on. You can group your apps in various categories in this launcher, while icon customization is also supported.
Now, it is worth noting that this launcher is not compatible with all Android phones, not even most of them, you will need to own a Xiaomi handset which is running MIUI in order to install and use this launcher. Now, we’ve wanted to download it and install it on the Mi 5, that we have at the office, but were unable to do so at the time of writing this article, as the Google Play Store listing says that the early access program is full (we were able to sideload it, though). All in all, you can try navigating to the Play Store listing of this app, as a space for you may open up, but don’t be surprised if you’re unable to download the app. In case you really would like to try it out, and you don’t mind sideloading, check out this article.
