Olauncher: a text-only Android launcher built to cut screen time

What Olauncher removes from the Android home screen

The repository describes Olauncher as a "Minimal AF Launcher for Android", with AF standing for Ad-Free. The stated goals are reducing screen time and providing daily wallpapers. That framing tells you what the project optimizes for: less surface area on the home screen. It is not a launcher that adds panels, feeds or widgets and then hides them behind settings. The home screen itself is the product, and it is deliberately small.

The target user is someone whose phone is the first thing they reach for and who wants friction placed between that reflex and the app they were about to open. A list of names is slower to scan than a grid of icons, and that slowness is the feature. The project also matters to people who care about distribution terms: it is licensed GPL-3.0, the source is Kotlin, and the README lists Play Store, F-Droid, IzzyOnDroid and the latest APK on GitHub releases as install routes. F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid listings are relevant to anyone who avoids the Play Store, and the GitHub releases page matters to anyone who wants the APK directly.

How the Kotlin app is put together

The repository is a standard Android Gradle project. The top level holds app/, build.gradle, settings.gradle, gradle.properties, the Gradle wrapper (gradlew, gradlew.bat), a fastlane/ directory for store metadata, and the LICENSE file. The declared topics include Kotlin, MVVM and ViewModel, so the app follows the Model-View-ViewModel pattern that Android's own guidance describes: UI state lives in a ViewModel, the view observes it, and the model layer supplies data such as the installed app list and the wallpaper.

The data flow implied by that layout is conventional. On launch, the launcher queries the package manager for installed apps, holds that list in a ViewModel, and renders it as text. The daily wallpaper is a separate concern, fetched or selected on some schedule and applied as the background. The README does not document the wallpaper source, the refresh schedule, or how the app list is filtered, so those details have to be read from the source in app/ rather than from the README. That is a real gap: a launcher is the component that sees every installed package on the device, and the README says nothing about what the app does with that visibility beyond rendering a list.

Installing Olauncher and setting it as the default home app

The README gives four install routes: Play Store, F-Droid, IzzyOnDroid, or the latest APK from the GitHub releases page. The F-Droid route is the one to use if you want the build to come from a repository that compiles from source. The direct APK route is the one to use if you want the newest release before a store listing catches up, since releases are tagged and dated in the repository.

There is no build-from-source command in the README. If you want to compile it yourself, the repository layout points to the Gradle wrapper at the top level, but the README does not document a build invocation, so treat that path as something you would work out from the Gradle files rather than something the project tells you to do.

After installing, Android asks which app should handle the home role. The package name is app.olauncher, and it appears in the store URLs and the F-Droid listing the README links to.

# F-Droid package page referenced by the README
https://f-droid.org/packages/app.olauncher

Once the launcher is set as home, the first thing you see is the app list. The README notes that some niche features are hidden to keep the launcher simple, and it points to the About page inside Olauncher settings for the complete feature list and FAQs. That is where to look for anything not visible on the surface.

Hidden settings and the features the README does not list

The README is explicit that a few niche features exist but are hidden, and it directs readers to the About page in the settings for a complete list. This is a deliberate documentation choice, and it has a cost. A user who wants to know whether Olauncher can do something specific has to open the app and read the About page rather than scan the README. For a launcher, that is a reasonable trade if the surface really is meant to stay small, but it also means the README cannot be used as a feature checklist. Anything you need to confirm before switching your home screen should be confirmed in the app itself.

The same applies to the daily wallpaper. The README states it as a feature but does not describe where wallpapers come from, whether they are fetched over the network, or whether they can be disabled. If network access or wallpaper sourcing matters to you, that is something to verify in the settings and in the source.

Where Olauncher is the wrong tool

The clearest limitation comes from the project itself: the README points to Pro Launcher, described as the pro version of Olauncher with extra features like widgets, weather and folders. If you use home screen widgets, want weather on the home screen, or organize apps into folders, Olauncher is not trying to serve you. That is not a defect, it is the boundary of the design. Choosing Olauncher and then looking for a way to add widgets back is choosing the wrong app.

A second limitation is the documentation. The README is short and points elsewhere for features and FAQs. There is no documented rollback procedure, no documented build command, and no description of how the app list is filtered or how wallpapers are fetched. For a component with visibility into every installed package, that thinness is worth weighing. A user who needs to audit what a launcher reads should read app/ directly rather than rely on the README.

A third consideration is device variation. Launchers depend on the operating system granting them the home role and on vendor restrictions around background behavior. The repository says nothing about which Android versions or vendors are supported, so compatibility has to be checked on your own device.

How Olauncher differs from minimalist phone, Niagara and KISS

People compare Olauncher with minimalist phone, Niagara Launcher, Before Launcher and KISS Launcher, and the comparisons are mostly about how much the launcher removes. Olauncher's approach is a text list of app names plus a daily wallpaper. Niagara and KISS are launcher replacements too, but they organize apps around search and lists with their own interaction models rather than around a fixed short list. Minimalist phone is a broader screen-time product rather than a launcher you install over your existing home screen. The practical difference is what you get on the first screen: Olauncher gives you names, and anything else has to be reached through search or the app itself.

There is also the sibling comparison the README makes directly. Olauncher and Pro Launcher come from the same developer, and Pro Launcher is the one with widgets, weather and folders. If a comparison between Olauncher and Pro Launcher is what you are weighing, the answer is in the README: the difference is the extra features, and Olauncher deliberately leaves them out.

Licence, maintenance and upgrade cost

Olauncher is licensed under GNU GPLv3. For an end user installing from a store or an APK, the practical effect is that the source is available and that redistributed modified versions carry the same licence. For anyone who wants to fork the launcher and ship it, GPL-3.0 imposes obligations on how that fork is licensed and what source is offered. That is a description of the licence, not legal advice; read the licence text if you plan to redistribute.

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-17, which is the same date as the v6.9.17 release. Recent releases include v6.9.17, v6.9.1 and v6.7.19, so the project has shipped within the last several months. There is no published upgrade policy, no changelog in the README, and no statement about how long a given Android version will be supported. Upgrading means installing a newer APK or letting the store update it. If a release breaks something on your device, the README does not document a rollback path, so keeping the previous APK is the only route the documentation supports.

Editorial conclusion

Olauncher suits Android users who want a home screen with no app icons, no widgets and no feed, and who are willing to switch launchers to get that. It is the wrong choice if you rely on home screen widgets, folders or a visual app grid, because the README points to Pro Launcher for widgets, weather and folders. Before adopting it, verify the current APK on the GitHub releases page and confirm that your device lets a third-party launcher hold the default home role, since Android vendors differ on how they enforce that.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: GPL-3.0
2. Project website
3. README
4. Releases
5. tanujnotes/Olauncher on GitHub