Nova, Action, Evie, Lawnchair etc. Third-party launchers like these have always been an integral part of the Android ecosystem. The flexibility of Android allows users to change the default look and feel of the UI with their personal preferences.
Android OEMs like Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi have improved their offerings by a mile. Even then, there is a section of power users who want to control every aspect of the home screen experience.
While the likes of Nova, Action and Microsoft launcher dominate the Android launcher space, newbies Evie, Lawnchair and Smart Launcher 5 are asking for a minimalist and unique take on the Android look.
Lawnchair recently received a major upgrade that provides a capable Pixel UI to all Android devices.
We have already compared Nova with Action and Microsoft launcher and in this post we will pull Evie launcher over Lawnchair to see which one fits better on your home screen.
Home screen Customization
Both Evie and Lawnchair offer a variety of customization options at launch.
With Evie, you can change column grid lines, rows, icon sizes, labels, and scroll effects.
Evie lets you remove my preferred search from the home screen as I don’t use Google search as often as others.
You can also toggle the Evie feed menu (which I’ll talk about later) from the home screen settings.
Lawnchair identifies it as a desktop, and you can similarly change the icon grid, lock the desktop, hide labels, change icon size, and more.
Lawnchair also lets you change the text color and customize the shortcut bubble menu options.
Slot Settings
Evie disables the dock from the home screen by default. However, you can enable it from the settings and customize it to your liking. You can change the columns, icon size, dock background and even blur the background.
In terms of dock options, Lawnchair stands out with a few additional functions.
You can enable/disable the page display and even set the corner radius of the dock to your preference.
App Drawer Menu
Evie provides a list style menu in the default drawer. From the settings you can switch back to a grid style with a customizable column, icon size and labels.
Lawnchair offers more ways to customize the drawer experience. You can change the drawer background to any color, change the text color, customize a shortcut bubble, and create app categories.
Categories are similar to what you find in Poco launcher and Smart launcher 5, except that classification is done by the user, not the system, here.
You can create as many categories as you want and they are just a swipe in the main app drawer.
Speaking of an app drawer, if you want to remove them, read our post on the best Android launchers without app drawers.
Motion Support
Evie offers all the basic moves. You can customize the home button, double tap, swipe up/down, pinch in/out to quickly search and access other parts of the UI.
Lawn chair options are also similar to Evie. By default, it is set to emulate vanilla Android navigation.
Search and Feed Menu
Lawnchair supports a long list of search engine options in settings. You can choose from Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo and more.
By installing Lawnfeed from the plugin menu, Google feed menu can be added to the home screen.
Similar to what you usually find on stock Android phones with news integration. Evie lets you choose from the Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo search engine.
Evie feed, which you can enable on the home screen, is just a news app on the home screen.
The feed provides news and weather information and is powered by Yahoo. You can also customize the news interest.
Backup and Extras
Evie backs up the launcher settings to the default Google account. Other functions include universal home search, customizable folders, unread badges, and the ability to hide apps.
Lawnchair offers a similar functionality to Pixel phones at a glance. You can back up on the device or cloud provider of your choice.
The app also provides Sesame shortcuts as an add-on. It integrates directly with the default Lawnchair search bar and then you can take advantage of the universal search in the system.
Note:
Customize Android Like a Pro
Evie and Lawnchair are excellent alternatives to popular options like Nova and Action. Evie has smart search and its news integration is independent of the shadow of Google.
Lawnchair offers better theme engine and more customizable options right out of the box.
Next: Confused between Lawnchair and Nova launcher? Read the post below to see a detailed comparison.
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