Do you want to achieve a minimalist look for your home screen? Or you hate the clutter on your phone? Whatever your reason for wanting an invisible home screen is, setting it is very easy. The invisible home screen is a theme only available for Android devices, doubling as a fantastic trick and a customizable aesthetic feature as well.
This theme is so easy to set up because it works just like any other wallpaper. Using the invisible home screen is like hiding apps on Android – it could serve as a fun little prank or magic trick to fool your friends.
Setting up the invisible home screen on Android is not a complicated process, and anyone with an Android device can do it. But before you do anything, make sure your device is free from clutter because you want everything to disappear. You can use an app like Android cleaner tool to get rid of unwanted files and boost your device’s performance.
There are two methods in using this theme – you can completely delete the app icons, or you can create gesture launcher shortcuts. The first method, clearing the app icons, is easy to do and is available on most launcher apps that allow custom icons. The second method is a bit difficult to come by, but still doable.
In this article, we’ll teach you how to hide apps on Android using two of the most popular launchers on Google Play Store; Nova Launcher and Action Launcher.
The most critical part of setting up an invisible home screen on Android is to download a blank PNG, which you will use as your home screen icons. You can download your blank PNG here, or you can create your own using any photo editing app. Once you have your blank PNG, you can proceed with the next steps.
Choosing A Wallpaper
The great thing about this theme is that you can use any wallpaper you want. You can use an artsy wallpaper, a family picture, a minimalist wallpaper or a photo of your favorite music group. You can use any wallpaper under the sun. Just remember that you’re going to use this wallpaper to determine where your icons are on your home screen because your app icons will be invisible.
If you are using a wallpaper with a lot of design elements, you can use the features to mark where your shortcuts are. However, if you’re using a minimalist wallpaper, you’ll have to rely on your memory to remember the layout of your device’s home screen.
How To Clear App Icons Using Nova Launcher
To set up your invisible home screen on Android, you need to delete all the app icons one by one. To do this, follow these steps:
- Tap and hold the app shortcut on your home screen.
- Three options will appear: Remove, App info and Edit. Remove will delete the app icon, App info will provide you with information on what the app does, and Edit allows you to customize the app icon. Click Edit or the pencil icon.
- Tap the square icon. We want to replace the icon with the blank PNG that have been downloaded or saved on your device.
- Tap Gallery apps in the menu that appears.
- Tap Files and navigate to the folder where you saved the blank PNG icon.
- Tap Done, then tap Done again.
Follow these steps for all the app icons and folder on your home screen. Once you’re done, all you’ll see is your wallpaper. But you don’t have to worry because all the apps are still there, the shortcuts have just turned invisible. Cool!
How To Clear App Icons Using Action Launcher
Here’s how to hide apps on Android and clear your home screen if you’re using Action Launcher.
- Tap and hold the app icon on your home screen. A menu will appear with three icons; choose the pencil icon to edit the shortcut.
- Tap the icon. A menu with icon suggestions will pop up. You can also pick a custom icon from one of your folders.
- Choose the folder where you saved the blank PNG file from before.
- Select the blank PNG icon.
- Tap Done.
- Do these steps for all the shortcuts on your home screen until all icons have been replaced.
Now, if you have app labels turned on for your Action Launcher, you need to turn it off because we don’t want anything floating on your device’s home screen. To turn off the app labels, do the following:
- Open the settings of the launcher by going to Action Settings.
- Tap Desktop > Text Layout.
- Uncheck Home screens.
Once this is done, all the app labels on your home screen will disappear, and you’re left with nothing else but your wallpaper.
Activate Gesture Controls In Nova Launcher
The next step is to set up gesture controls for your home screen to make navigation more manageable for you. To set this up on Nova Launcher, you need to have Nova Launcher Prime, the paid version of the app. It costs $4.99, but the app is worth every penny you spend for it. Nova has 11 gesture controls you can set up for your home screen, but the three most popular are Swipe up, Swipe down, and Double tap.
You can assign any gesture to any app you like or any Nova Launcher task. You can even set up a gesture to directly launch a task like direct dialing or trigger a Tasker task. Once you’ve figured out what gestures you want to use for each app or task, you can set them up by following these steps:
- Go to Nova Settings.
- Tap Gestures & inputs.
- Tap the gesture you want to use.
- Choose the app, folder, shortcut, or Nova action you want to assign.
Activate Gesture Controls in Action Launcher
Just like Nova, gestures are also a paid feature on Action Launcher. You need to upgrade to Action Launcher Plus, which also costs $4.99, to be able to use gesture controls. Action Launcher has 12 gesture controls which you can assign to any app, shortcut or action. To set up gestures on Action Launcher, do the following:
- Go to Action Settings.
- Tap Shortcuts.
- Tap the gesture you want to assign.
- Choose the app, shortcut, or action you wish to assign the gesture.
After clearing all your apps and setting up gesture controls, you now have an invisible home screen! You can now brag about it to your friends and family, awing them with the wonder of an invisible home screen that only you can navigate.