A couple of weeks ago, I found myself installing Niagara Launcher for the first time. It had been years since I’d used a third-party Android launcher and the last time I did, it was Nova Launcher and its very stock-like experience. Niagara’s unique approach intrigued me, but after an hour of tinkering, I realized I could disable every single element on the homescreen. The icons, the widgets, the options, all of it: gone.
What started as a harmless exploration of Niagara transformed into a personal challenge. Could I live with a completely blank homescreen? What would it be like to unlock my Android phone and see no app icon waiting for me? Would it transform the way I use my phone? I decided to stick with that setup for a few days. 18 days later, I think it was time to call the end of the experiment, so here’s what I discovered along the way.