Forget Niagara and Nova, this minimalist launcher is a favorite for older Android hardware.

Think for a moment about which Android app is at the heart of your smartphone. If you answered the phone app, you’re probably still stuck in the early 2010s. But if you answered the launcher, you’d be right. That’s why choosing the right home screen makes all the difference in the quality of your phone usage experience.

This is especially important when choosing a home screen for an older or less equipped device. I recently found myself in this predicament when I retrieved my old Android tablet from the depths of a defunct device drawer. A UI home just doesn’t cut it, so I turned to a minimal, lightweight Android launcher to bring back some much-needed pep. The answer, which I quickly discovered after dragging F-Droid, was Mako.

I’ve used a few stripped-down launchers in the past, but none quite as streamlined as Mako. It cuts out all the fluff in many modern launchers, from AI integrations to widget support, and prioritizes app shortcuts.

Let’s talk about the setup first. While I’ve spent hours setting up Nova Launcher and Octopus Launcher in the past, Mako is just about install-and-go. The launcher uses a single screen that displays the most relevant information including time, date, current day of the year, ambient temperature and battery details in a built-in widget. It’s useful and adds color, but I wish it included scale changes and full weather details.

Initially, Mako lists all apps alphabetically on the home screen, which is an absolute nightmare if you have hundreds of apps installed. However, the launcher encourages users to create groups and configure these apps. Grouping is the only organizational tool at your disposal, and it’s a boon. I find that the more management tools the launcher offers, the more time I waste managing them.

On my old Samsung tablet, now my e-reader of choice, I only have a handful of apps installed. I use Mako’s groups to organize my most-accessed reading-related apps at the top, apps in the middle, and everything at the bottom. Groups can also be collapsed, allowing me to effectively hide apps I don’t use often. It works like a charm. If you can’t find what you want at the moment, Mako includes a search bar below.

The Mako’s featherlight construction translates into quick performance. It’s fast, even on my 2019 Galaxy Tab A, and while it’s nice, keeps eye candy to a minimum. Mago is one of the most beautiful home screen experiences on Android. Its use of sharp angles, even with the default font selection, is refreshing in a world that tends toward rounded corners and soft fades.

I’m a fan of its pastel-based themes with quirky names like “Dracula” and “Catbusin Mocha” with purple, pink, green and blue UI elements. You can create your own themes and probably spend hours matching hues with the wallpapers that are the only part of this launcher. I’d love to see user-importable themes in future releases of Mako, but for now, the theming system is a simple but useful feature.

All of these features (or lack thereof) contribute to the Mako’s polish as a minimalist launcher. I’ve used productivity-oriented launchers in the past, from Niagara to Key Launcher, but Mako is definitely easier to use. It is so foolproof that it can be used without any practical problems. I would happily install Mako on my parents’ devices.

While I don’t believe the Mako is the best on a smartphone, at least not for power users, it certainly works well on dated hardware. I’ve turned this aging Galaxy Tab into a revitalized content portal, and Mako is central to this transformation. However, on a smartphone, I crave more powerful customization options, wider organization tools and more functionality. Mako falls short here.

Finally, I have to touch on the Mako’s privacy and security features. As an open source app, you can dig into its code yourself to verify the developers’ claims and processes. Unlike other Android launchers I’ve liked, Maco has no trackers or ads.

Mako has been my favorite flavor of the month since I installed it on my tablet. It is lightweight, quick and easy to use; It keeps management and customization options to a minimum while adding just enough color and style to keep the home screen fresh. While its organization options aren’t as robust as more comprehensive launchers, it actually contributes to its usability and performance on slower hardware.

If you struggle to control your smartphone use or want to develop more productive smartphone habits, Mako is even more useful. If you’re planning to refresh older Android hardware, I recommend Mako as a much-needed fresh coat of paint for your device.