Keyboard Launcher Pro: Minimal

Keyboard Launcher Pro is a minimal launcher for Android that you drive by typing. It began on phones with real keys like the Unihertz Titan 2, Titan 2 Elite, Clicks Communicator and Zinwa Q25, and it works just as well on an ordinary touchscreen phone with your on-screen keyboard.

Home is a calm screen of text instead of a grid of icons. On a keyboard phone you just start typing. On a touchscreen phone you tap the Tap to type bar at the bottom and your keyboard comes up ready. Either way it searches your apps, your contacts and the web at the same time, with contact photos so you can see who is who.

The command bar does far more than search. Start a line with a symbol and it becomes an action:

@ messages someone by text, WhatsApp or whichever app you use for them
# calls them
* adds an event to your calendar
- adds a to-do
! writes a note
: sets an alarm
+ starts a timer
? sends a question to your AI app or search engine

You can write an email from the bar too. Dates and times like "tomorrow 3pm" are understood in your own language.

Tiles do the things you do most, eight on a keyboard phone and twelve on a tall touchscreen. You decide what each one is: an app, one of the launcher's own screens, or a hand-off to whatever you use for calling, messaging, the camera or the clock. Hold a tile to change it or reach that app's shortcuts, and group tiles into folders when you need more.

One swipe takes you to the Hub, your messages, email and notifications in one place with search, filters, inline replies and a mute list for the apps that never stop. Another swipe is your widgets. The home screen itself shows the time, the date, the weather, your battery, your next event, your next to-do and whatever is playing.

Notes, to-dos and a month calendar are built in, with private notes locked behind your fingerprint. It reads your real calendars, and you choose which ones to show, so the work one can stay hidden at the weekend.

Made for keyboard phones: hold a letter key on home to open the app you have set for it, and turn on the arrow-key cursor to move round the whole launcher without touching the screen.

Made for touchscreens too: switch on Open keyboard with app list and the keyboard is waiting the moment the list opens, so you can type a name straight away.

Make this minimal launcher yours with light and dark themes, Follow phone theme, wallpapers, accent colours and three typefaces.

Thirteen languages, including Korean, Japanese and Chinese. Backup is a single encrypted file you keep yourself, with no account involved.

Privacy: there is no account, no cloud, no ads and no analytics. It never asks for your texts, your call log, your microphone or your camera. The Hub is fed by Android's own notification access. The only thing that leaves your phone on its own is a weather lookup.

This app uses Android's AccessibilityService API for two optional features. Dragging down on the home screen opens your notifications (left side) or quick settings (right side), and the screen off tile turns the screen off. Those three actions are all it does. It reads nothing from your screen, collects no data and shares nothing. Both features are off until you turn them on, and the launcher explains what the service does and asks for your agreement before taking you to Android's accessibility settings.

One purchase, free updates, no subscription. A minimal launcher for keyboard phones and touchscreen phones alike.