Smartwatches have brought the ease and accessibility of modern technology to our wrists, but even with the most recent Android Wear update being able to get to the app you need in a pinch can take longer than you'd prefer. Wear Mini Launcher has been solving this problem since the early days of Android Wear, and has continued to remain relevant as the platform evolves.
Wear Mini Launcher for Android Wear is opened by swiping from the upper left corner of your screen. You'll get a column with all of your currently installed apps in a list, similar to the current stock setup in Wear 5.1. Just tap the one you need and it'll open up for you without any issues. If you swipe from the top left a second time, you'll get access to all of your smartwatch settings. Instead of manually going into the settings you can use the launcher to easily adjust your screen brightness, turn on Wifi, check your phone and smart watch battery life, and more.
Like most things in the Android world, things start getting interesting when you customize the experience to your own preferences. While there aren't any options for customization from your smartwatch, if you open the app on your phone you'll see there is plenty you can tweak to your preferences. There are four tabs — Behavior, Customization, Tools, and Other, and each has it's own array of options. The Behavior tab has options like how you access the Wear Mini Launcher, how apps are organized in the launcher, and whether there are apps you don't want to appear in the launcher at all.
If you were hoping to be able to adjust the color of your background or foreground, then you just need to hop into the Customization tab. This is also where you can edit how many columns your apps appear in within the launcher, and the size of the app icons. Tools lets you adjust notifications if you go out of range of your phone, whether music will be played through your watch, and whether the brightness slider appears when you open the second launcher screen. The Other tab allows you to send anonymous crash info, and check out the app licenses.
With more customization options than you can shake a stick at, along with an easy interface that you can make your own, Wear Mini Launcher is a great addition to your app line up for Android Wear. Whether you use it to get to all of your apps easily, or to tweak and adjust your smart watch settings, this is a solid app with plenty of use in your day to day. Have you used the Wear Mini Launcher, or are you more partial to a different experience? Let us know below!
