Others have given a good description of what a launcher is.
But my reason for why I use a custom launcher is simple : I want a consistent UI experience, regardless of whether my current (or future) android phone is a Google, Samsung, OnePlus, ect.
For me a phone is tool, nothing more. I don’t have the time or interest to “explore” the difference in UI’s. In fact, Samsung’s Launcher (Bixby?) inferriates me the most as the default “back” and “apps” Buttons are inverted compared to many other launchers… so it messes with my muscle memory.
With a custom launcher (I use Nova), I can restore/import my settings on any device (or custom version of android like lineage) and I’ve got the same familiar interface. Actually, Nova is quiet nice as it’ll also show you greyed-out Icons for all the apps you has on your home screen. As the apps are installed, you can start to use them. This (for me) makes moving to a new phone much easier.
Samsungs launcher is called OneUI, bixby is just the shitty voice assistant that thankfully is possible to turn off now, and you can choose which side to have the back and apps button on in the settings :D
Others have given a good description of what a launcher is.
But my reason for why I use a custom launcher is simple : I want a consistent UI experience, regardless of whether my current (or future) android phone is a Google, Samsung, OnePlus, ect.
For me a phone is tool, nothing more. I don’t have the time or interest to “explore” the difference in UI’s. In fact, Samsung’s Launcher (Bixby?) inferriates me the most as the default “back” and “apps” Buttons are inverted compared to many other launchers… so it messes with my muscle memory.
With a custom launcher (I use Nova), I can restore/import my settings on any device (or custom version of android like lineage) and I’ve got the same familiar interface. Actually, Nova is quiet nice as it’ll also show you greyed-out Icons for all the apps you has on your home screen. As the apps are installed, you can start to use them. This (for me) makes moving to a new phone much easier.
Samsungs launcher is called OneUI, bixby is just the shitty voice assistant that thankfully is possible to turn off now, and you can choose which side to have the back and apps button on in the settings :D