I spent 7 days using a text-only home screen and felt my stress drop

Most smartphone home screens look exactly the same. Between rows of colorful icons and folders packed with apps, there's a lot of visual clutter.

Add to that widgets that are competing for your attention and a brightly colored wallpaper, and you're looking at a recipe for distractions.

Every time I picked up my phone to check for a message or open an app, I would get sidetracked by something else. It's what led me to try Niagara Launcher.

This Android launcher takes a different approach to the home screen. Instead of filling it up with icons, it replaces them with a simple list of apps.

Most of what I see throughout the day is text. There are no endless pages of apps or crowded folders. Even the widgets are dropped down to a very minimal state.

After using it for a week, I noticed something unexpected. I was spending less time staring at my phone, and using it felt a lot calmer. Here's why it clicked for me.

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By  Anu Joy

Removing visual clutter changes how I use my phone

More intentional use reduces overstimulation

The easiest makeover you can give your home screen is installing Niagara Launcher.

Rather than presenting every app that you own or have installed on your phone, the launcher asks you to choose the apps that you actually use every day.

These five or six apps become the centerpiece of the home screen, and that's all that you see. This can feel a little limiting and even intimidating at first glance.

Years of smartphone use have trained me to think that I need immediate access to dozens of apps and widgets.

However, in reality, most of my daily use revolves around just a few messaging apps, email, the browser, and maybe a few productivity apps like tasks and to-do apps.

Niagara Launcher places all of those apps in a clean vertical list. It's not that you no longer have access to all your other apps. Everything else remains accessible through an alphabetical navigation system placed at the edge of the screen.

Instead of hunting through app drawers or swiping across multiple pages, you can scroll up and down by alphabet and get to the app that you need with one hand. Not only is this faster, but it's also less distracting.

Traditional home screen setups with an abundance of icons attract your attention anytime you unlock your phone. Or perhaps there's a game on the lock screen that you might open for a few minutes and end up wasting an hour on.

With Niagara Launcher, those visual triggers are completely gone. Since apps are represented by text instead of icons, they effectively become a utility over a place to launch or get distracted by.

Now, when I unlock my phone, I do so with a specific purpose. I'll launch whatever app I'm looking for and put away my phone when I'm done.

It sounds very obvious, and, on a base level, it is a straightforward change, but it makes a big difference.

Psychologically, when you start using this text-based method of interacting with your phone, the launcher isn't preventing you from using apps. It hides them out of the way, and that change alone is surprisingly effective.

Minimalism without sacrificing everyday usability

Fast access, one-handed accessibility, and quick notifications

One of my biggest concerns when I installed the Niagara Launcher was that the minimalism would come at the expense of utility and usability.

Many minimalist launchers are built around the idea of restrictions. Niagara Launcher limits you from accessing all of your apps at once on the home page, but instead of restricting you, it has found a great middle ground built around efficiency.

Yes, you don't see all your apps on the home screen, but the alphabetical app navigation is super quick, and it becomes second nature in minutes.

I can jump to almost any app in a fraction of a second without opening a traditional app drawer, and on larger phones, that one-handed usability is surprisingly useful.

Similarly, notifications are also handled beautifully. Rather than forcing you to pull down the notification shade every time you need to check for an update, Niagara Launcher can surface information directly alongside apps on the home screen.

If I have a Gmail notification, I will see it right there on the home page, under my Gmail icon, instead of having to pull down a notification shade. This further saves me time and effort.

The launcher has other thoughtful additions as well. I live by my calendar, and a calendar widget is very important for me to be productive.

In Niagara Launcher, I don't necessarily need a calendar widget, though I can add one. The launcher automatically displays the next event right under the current date.

Finally, while Niagara Launcher has reduced other distractions from my home screen, it's also taken away the distraction of constantly adjusting how my homepage looks.

Yes, I am one of those people who used to care about wallpapers and icon packs.

Now, with all of that gone and just a text-based screen, I can focus on unlocking my phone, tapping the app that I need access to, and switching the phone off when I'm done.

Does it take away a bit of the fun associated with smartphones? Maybe, but as someone with a chronic ability to become distracted, I will take whatever help I can get to stay focused on the task at hand.

A simpler home screen can change your usage habits

Seven days might not be enough to change a habit completely, but it's helped me notice patterns.

I spend significantly less time opening apps out of boredom or getting distracted by side quests. Moreover, I feel less overwhelmed every time I unlock my phone.

Niagara Launcher can't solve screen addiction, but by reducing the possibility of being distracted and the visual clutter on my home page, it's helped me reduce mindless phone use.

That, in my opinion, is the real appeal of switching to a text-based launcher.

Niagara Launcher ‧ Home Screen
Mellowdrop Studio
PERSONALIZATION
Price: Free
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