Would you prefer an iPhone or Android device? Another reason why many people are more attracted to Android is that it’s not an enclosed box. With an Android, you can configure a lot of things, including the main interface for launching apps. If you’re not satisfied with your current launcher, you can always change it to a new one, whereas with Apple you do not have that same level of personalization. Android offers its software service to many smartphone companies like Samsung, Motorola, LG, etc. which gives you access to hundreds of options to choose from, be it brand, size, weight, look, feel, price, quality, or features, list goes on. With Android, your options are practically limitless.
Best Apps to Customize Android Phone
Your Google Playstore has a wide option to help you customize your device, with more than 2 million apps available for download. We are here to share with you how to do it, and recommend the best apps to customize your Android phone.
Changing your Wallpaper
Selecting and changing your smartphone’s wallpaper is easy but a personal step that can be taken towards customizing your Android smartphone. This should not be overlooked, though it may seem obvious, we make use of our mobile phones almost all the time of the day. This would make a positive impact on your mood being welcomed by an amazing wallpaper!
Zedge is one of the best apps that will let you customize your home screen however you want. This is a free app that provides you with cool wallpapers. It offers millions of custom-sized home screen backgrounds and wallpapers. It also offers some other cool features like ringtones, notification sounds, icon packs, and cool widgets.
Zedge gives you access to personalize all audio aspects on your Android device. It gives you access to preview and download ringtones, alarms, and notification sounds. There’s a lot of different ringtones for every family member and friend, including country, rock, rap, comedy, and more! Zedge is more like a “one-stop-shop” for customization.
Customizing your Keyboard
Let’s say you want extra functionality, a more fitting way to type, or just something a little more “like you,” there’s a keyboard app out there for you which you can customize.
There are a lot of custom keyboard apps out there, and once you have downloaded and installed the one that fits your style, you will need to enable it before you can use it. Here are some custom keyboard apps you might like;
① Gboard – the Google Keyboard
② Microsoft SwiftKey Keyboard
③ Kika Keyboard – Emoji Keyboard, Stickers, GIF
④ GIF Keyboard by Tenor
Customizing your Icons
Icons change the look of your smartphone’s home screen and app drawer. You can swap the default icons on your smartphone for something way cooler with the following apps.
CandyCons – Icons pack
The CandyCons app follows Google’s material style language and uses its design color palette. All icons in the CandyCons app are handcrafted with attention to the smallest information.
Features
- Has 1127 icons
- Colour variants for some icons
- Support for many launchers
- Has about 20 wallpapers
Viral – Free Icon Pack
The Viral app has a classic and vintage design with dark-styled icons and sleek icons with hundreds of wallpapers included, and it supports all popular launchers.
Features
- Easy-to-use with over 200 matching wallpapers included
- Easily apply or download wallpaper
- Icon search and showcase
- Tap to send icon requests
- The beautiful and cool color palette
- Professional highest quality design
- Dynamic calendar (icon changes each day)
Customize your Settings and Apps
It’s good to have a nice wallpaper, but is that all? Many people have weather forecasts or clocks on their screen to supplement the cool wallpaper. These are widgets that act as mini-apps that only display information on your screen rather than just providing you with a shortcut for the app.
Notification Toggle
Notification Toggle creates notifications in the status bar of your Android device giving you access to switch Bluetooth, WiFi, Silent mode, Screen rotation, and Flight mode on and off, or to let you adjust the screen brightness and many more! In the settings, you can select which notifications should be active, and also, all colors and icons can easily be changed through the app for full customization!
Available toggles & shortcuts:
- WiFi
- Bluetooth
- Sound/ Vibration, sound / Silent, sound menu
- Screen timeout dialog
- Wake lock
- Rotation
- Mobile data
- Flight mode
- NFC
- Flashlight (might require “TeslaLed” app)
- Synchronize
- WiFi – & USB – tethering
- Music: previous / next / pause
- WiFi settings / advanced settings
- Mobile data settings
- Data usage
- Battery
- Camera
- Next wallpaper (requires “Wallpaper Changer” app)
- Lockscreen (requires root)
- Shutdown & Reboot (requires root)
- Own apps & shortcuts (requires an in-app purchase)
Getting a Custom Launcher
A launcher is an app that lets you switch or change the interface or style of your Android device, and makes everything customizable to you. Launchers are also essential to unlock some restrictions on your smartphone.
When searching for a new launcher, you need to take into which one is right for you. Below are a few custom launchers that tend to be the most popular globally.
Nova Launcher
This is a strong, versatile, and customizable home screen replacement that brings advanced features to improve your home screen. Nova Launcher remains an awesome and user-friendly choice for everyone, whether you want to completely realign your home screen or are searching for a cleaner, Nova Launcher is the answer. Nova’s newest features bring the latest Android launcher to all other smartphones.
Features
- Custom Icon Themes: This enables supports for hundreds of launcher features to all other smartphones
- Night Mode and Dark Theme: You can enable the night mode to come on automatically at a specific time, or just enable the dark theme
- Custom App Drawer: It has a vertical or horizontal scroll, immersive or card option, and page effects
- It has a Backup and Restores feature
- Nova has a smooth interface with snappy animations that will make your smartphone have a fast feel
Below are some other cool Custom Launchers:
① Apex Launcher
② GO Launcher
③ Smart Launcher
④ Microsoft Launcher
Managing your Mobile Data
We all make use of our mobile data, and we’re all about saving and minimizing data usage whenever possible. It is not always easy to tell how much data you are using, however, there are several apps in the Google Play Store that can assist you in managing your mobile data.
My Data Manager
This is the best app to help you manage your mobile data usage and minimize your spending rate on your monthly phone bill. It is used by 14.7 million users around the world.
The app is used to track how much data has been spent on your mobile device, and also gives alerts before you run out of data or when charged an unnecessary overage fee. Make sure you check your data usage for each app to avoid data overages caused by background app refreshes and other app functions.
Features
- Data Tracker: This monitors your data usage on your smartphone, roaming, and WiFi
- Alarms: This allows you to set custom alarms to avoid unnecessary data charges
- Track Apps: This allows you to know apps that are using the most data on your mobile device and how to avoid them
- Shared plan: This allows you to know how much data has been used across everyone in your shared or family plan
- Across Devices: this gives you access to check and manage data usage across devices
- History: This helps you to track your historical data consumption to ensure you are not spending too much
