Best Launcher for IPhone
The iPhone doesn’t support app launchers in the same way that OS X does, but that doesn’t mean app developers haven’t come up with smart workarounds. For example, we chose the best launcher, Launch Center Pro allows you to launch not only applications, but also certain actions in applications.
Launch Center Pro
Platform: iPhone (and iPad ) Price: $ 4.99 Download Page
Functions
- Provides shortcuts to thousands of apps
- Action Center Support
- 3D Touch support with customizable quick actions
- A simple tool to create a startup
- Organizational group support
- IFTTT support
- Automation settings to run at a specific time or location
- Light and dark themes
- Dropbox backups
Where is it best
Launch Center Pro is one of the first apps to properly understand the role of the launcher on iOS. Rather than simply linking you to the various apps on your iPhone (which your home screen already does), Launch Center Pro links you to what it calls activities. An action is what you do inside the application. For example, from Launch Center Pro, you can instantly jump to a new page with Facebook photos, write a text message to a specific person, write an email for a group, or more. Launch Center Pro essentially gives you access to a specific location within the app without having to click on a heap to get there. It will be incredibly helpful if you understand how it works.
Launch Center Pro does an excellent job of balancing between the average and power user. When you open the app, you are greeted with a series of guides to help you get started creating your own actions. Within minutes, you can instantly create launchers for simple things like sending text messages to a close friend or searching for coffee near your current location using Yelp.
If you want, you can stop right away and still enjoy Launch Center Pro. However, if you want to take it a step further, Launch Center Pro is packed full of features for power users . If you want to dig into it, you can set up Launch Center Pro to do some crazy stuff, including sending a specific set of text to a specific person at a specific time of the day, or combining multiple actions based on your location. You can even link Launch Center Pro with IFTTT to bring things together even more. It’s amazing how much you can do with Launch Center Pro if you want to spend time with it, but it’s also impressive how useful it is, even if you’re just scratching the surface.
Where it fails
While Launch Center Pro certainly does its best to make it easy to create actions, it’s still a bit tricky for the average iOS user. However, if you are willing to spend a little time on it, you will eventually understand how it works. Once you get past this hump, the usefulness will increase dramatically as you start experimenting with different types of actions, triggers, and more. All of this suggests that due to the complexity of the app, it would be nice if there was a free trial that people could try first.
Competition
Launch Center Pro’s most direct competitor is Launcher (free / $ 2.99 in-app purchase). The Launcher works in a similar way to Launch Center Pro, where you create a set of actions that run directly on specific parts of the application. Launcher is not as intuitive to use as Launch Center Pro, but the fact that there is an ad-supported free version means it is a good choice if you want to experience the water.
To a lesser extent, Workflow ($ 2.99) falls into the same app category as Launch Center Pro and Launcher. Workflow is an incredibly powerful application that lets you create your own set of activities that work like micro-applications. The workflow is slightly different as it doesn’t always require a third-party application to complete these steps. While Workflow is powerful and does much of what Launch Center Pro does, it is not really a launcher. The workflow is missing some of the basic functionality required by a launcher application, especially when it comes to the breadth of application support. However, Workflow can be used as a launcher if you spend some time on it, so it’s worth checking out if you’re looking for something a little different.