This Android home screen won me over because it's the fastest at launching apps
Hello fellow data overhaulers. Thank you for joining me as we break down everyday tech and help you get control of your online data
This video is part of a multi-part series of reviews where we're taking a look at alternative Android launchers
or home screens for digital minimalists and those who want to take back some of their privacy
Taken right from their website, Kids Launcher lets Android users simplify their home
clean their screens, and access functions they need as quickly and as simply as possible
And it's true. I'm able to launch my most frequently used apps, tasks, and contacts
with only one to two taps from the home screen. Let's take a look at Kids and I'll show you how to use and configure it for fast app launching
When you first launch Kids Launcher, you're presented with a request to access your contacts
And normally I would deny that, but I'd like to show you how the power of this launcher works
So I'm going to click on Allow. And this launcher is set up in such a way that you have just one single panel
and that normally will carry your search results as well as your history
Your search results come from launching apps and having access to contacts
So if I focus in on the search bar and I start typing my loyalty card app
I can then launch my loyalty card app from that point. I can also maybe search for a contact
So let's go with Paula. And I can easily make a phone call or text message to Paula
This search area will help you search for apps, contacts, and even sub-tasks
So in the case I want to turn on airplane mode, I can start typing airplane
and easily get to airplane mode from this point. So as I begin to launch apps, you'll see that I'll receive history that will show up
So I'll launch the loyalty card app. I'll launch my podcast player
And maybe I'll launch a calculator. And these items begin to become part of their history
You can make this launcher really fast by tuning the history portion of it
So let me go into that. You go to the overflow menu and choose settings
You go to history setting. And I choose the history mode adapt to user usage
And that includes how often I use it, when I use it, and in the order in which it is used
You should definitely play around with some of these options and choose one that best fits you as you begin to play with it
Let's go back to the home screen. And by itself, if the history works well for you
you'll begin to be able to use the history alone to launch apps very quickly within one tap
I prefer to change it up a little bit and make another adjustment
So let's go back into kit settings. Let's choose user experience. And display keyboard on start
If I click this on and go back to the home screen, I'm immediately focused in on the search bar and I can begin to type
The reason is that I may not type all that often. For example, my audio recorder
Audio is just two taps away and I'm not able to launch that
Another great option here is to use the favorites. And they're picked on by default, but you can adjust them further
The favorites are listed here. It's below the history, but above the search
And as you use those particular items, they do not show up in the history list above
The last item that I would really like to point out is the search results
So if I'm searching for coffee, if I don't have an app or a contact that has the word coffee in it
I'm presented with a default option to go search using a search engine
In this case, I choose not really to use Google that much anymore
so I can adjust that setting. And here's how you get to that
Go to your kit settings, search settings, and come down to the select web search providers
I'm going to pick the Google option off, but I'll turn on DuckDuckGo, which is more privacy respecting
I might also choose to keep YouTube and hit OK. I'm going to go back to my home screen and choose coffee
I can then launch directly into DuckDuckGo using the default browser or maybe to YouTube and go ahead and look at YouTube dealing with coffee
There are a few other options around theming in your settings that you can explore in your user interface
There's a lot of room options, and take a look at them. See if one works best for you
Overall, KISS takes three important points from me. One is productivity. I want to be able to get to a contact or get to an app
and launch that as quickly as possible. Number two is privacy. This is open source. All the data stays on the device
The app doesn't even have Internet access to push those outwards. And three, I really appreciate a minimalist aesthetic
And so there's a lot of nice open space here and it doesn't get confused when it's bogged down
KISS is my hands-down pick for an alternative Android launcher. Do you think it's a bit heavy on customization
to be considered a minimalist launcher? Or is it worth it for the fee in getting where you want to go
Tell me what you think in the comments and I'll see you in the next video