unclutter (the pocket computer)

 

This is what I see now when I pull my phone out of my pocket. I recently came across one of those "apps that will change your life" posts. I always find those interesting, and Google knows this because it's always serving them up in my endless scroll of articles that was previously just a swipe away.

But it told me about a few apps I already had, plus a new launcher and a new background maker and I decided to give them a try as they sounded like they might be useful in my pursuit to simplify.

tapet is a series of "concepts" (for lack of a better word) - like "bricks" or "swirls" or, as I have currently, "hexagons". It creates a unique design based on that concept. Separately it colorizes the image. If you like the design, you can swipe in one direction to try different colors, swipe in another to change designs while keeping the color pattern, or swipe in another direction to call up a new design and a new color scheme. It makes it very easy to pick a new design each day just for a little bit of simple variety.

niagara is an android launcher that is really focused on simplicity. Apps are arranged in a line and they recommend around 8 max. When I connect my Bluetooth headphones, Audible and Pandora automatically appear at the top of the list. When I tap on the right side of the screen with my thumb, a list of letters and your full list of apps appear. As you wipe your thumb over the letters, it moves up and down in your list of apps. You can hide apps and rename apps. You can also place apps in folders on your desktop or in the apps list. You put widgets inside your folders. So I have a Fitness folder with a bunch of apps and when I open it, I see my step counter. When I open my Work folder, I see the my time tracker widget.

When a visible app (or an app in a folder on the desktop) has a new notification, it appears on the screen. For instance, when my our Roomba finishes its morning run, under "Home" a second line appears that says "iRobot - successfully completed...." and I can tap to see the notification or swipe to dismiss. 

All of your long-press options are also available with a swipe, so if I swipe Lose-It, all the logging optiosn appear before the app even opens. 

There's a lot of customization to the launcher and they also make it really easy to switch back to the normal launcher when needed. I found myself doing that some the first few days, but now I'm just really appreciating the simplicity and will probably pay the $14/year for the pro version.