Launcher

[shelliewnj]

Okay, I think I am getting this. a launcher is an overlay of sorts? it changes the background, icons, widget look but not the way the phone runs? and when I get the blank screen it is because all my apps are in the app drawer, not because something's wrong with it. *slaps forehead* So this theme thing, I just install and uninstall various ones until i find one i like? do they have to be launcher specific? what else can I do with it?
Please bear with me as i learn one step at a time I know my get annoying at times, but at least I have been able to put input into the community by now I am the longest-living newbie alive! (android since sometime in July of this year)

 

[Hadron]

A launcher is an app that provides you with homescreens, the app drawer and dock (if any). There is one that comes with the phone, but you can choose to run a different one instead. You'll find that if you set up one set of widgets and screens on one launcher, you'll have to set them up again with a different launcher. But if you then swap back to the original launcher you'll still have that launcher's setup.

A launcher is an app, and the number of screens, arrangement of icons and widgets on them, are settings of that app.

The wallpaper is in my experience a system setting, so if you change launcher the wallpaper does not change (and if you change wallpaper that change is applied to any launcher you use).

Using a different launcher may change the app drawer's appearance and behaviour, but will not change the system menus.

I've never been a big one for launcher themes, but yes, those are specific to the launcher (though there are some customisations, such as icon packs, that can be used with more than one launcher).

 

[shelliewnj]

Thanks, hadron! I appreciate the time you took to type that all out, and now I FINALLY understand