POCO Launcher comes from the house of Xiaomi. It’s a great alternative to MIUI Launcher. The launcher is loaded with some cool and unique features such as app categorization by colors and tabs, in-app search and more. Excited to know about them? Let’s check out the POCO Launcher features that will improve the overall experience of using it. Before that, we will tell you how to open launcher settings as you might need to do that regularly. Download POCO Launcher
How to Open POCO Launcher Settings
There are three ways to do this.
Method 1: Using App Icon
POCO Launcher adds a setting icon on the home screen. Tap it to launch the settings. In case you can’t find the app icon, long-touch on the home screen of the launcher. Then go to Widgets. Tap on POCO settings under POCO Launcher widget.
Method 2: From App Drawer
Open the app drawer in POCO Launcher by swiping up on the home screen. Then tap on the three-bar icon at the top-right corner. You will be taken to settings.
Method 3: Pinch Gesture
On the home screen, use the pinch-in gesture to go into the editing mode. Tap on Settings at the bottom followed by More. Now, let’s dive into the tips and tricks for POCO Launcher.
1. Add Apps to Categories
POCO Launcher comes with the categories feature, which are automatically populated depending on the app type. For instance, you will find all your social and communication apps under the communication category. Similarly, media apps will be grouped under the entertainment category. Sometimes, either the launcher can add an app in a different category or you want to move the app to a different category. For that, you can manually add or remove apps from the categories. To do so, open the app category that you want to edit. Then long-tap (press and hold) an empty space to go to the editing mode. You will find the selected apps at the top. Then select the apps to add and unselect them to remove from the category.
2. Rename App Category
Don’t like the default app category names? Change them to your liking. For that, edit the app category as shown above. That is, long-tap an empty space on any app category. Then tap on the category name at the top and enter the new name.
3. Switch Categories Quickly
If you swipe right or left to switch between categories, you must have noticed that it takes time to reach the ones at the end. What you can do is swipe right or left on the category names. That way you can access the categories quickly. Once you reach the desired category, tap on it to view the apps inside it.
4. Add or Remove App Category
If you only want to use some categories, you can hide the rest of them from the launcher. For that, go to Launcher Settings followed by Manage app categories. Use the three-bar icon next to the app category to drag it down under the Hide section. And if you want more categories, use the add icon next to Display to create a new category. Type a name and add apps to it.
5. Reset App Categories
Sometimes, while playing with categories we create a mess instead of improving them. If you feel that has happened, you can reset app categories to their default values. For that, tap on Reset under Manage app categories in POCO Launcher settings.
6. Disable App Categories
In case you feel the app drawer seems cluttered by app categories or you don’t like it due to some other reason, you can disable them altogether. For that, turn off the toggle next to Categorize apps under Manage app categories.
7. Scroll Quickly in App Drawer
Use the scroll bar on the right edge to scroll quickly in the app drawer. The phone will vibrate when you use the scroll bar. To turn off this behavior, go to launcher Settings > App Drawer. Turn off the toggle next to Vibrate when scrolling.
8. Show Alphabets Instead of Scroll bar
By default, you are shown a vertical scrollbar in the app drawer. You can replace it with alphabets. When you do so, you can tap on the alphabet to view the apps starting with that letter. To replace the scroll bar with alphabets, go to the launcher Settings > App Drawer. Tap on Scroll bar and choose A-Z.
9. Categorize Apps by Color
Besides organizing apps in categories, this launcher lets you organize apps by color. The app icons having the same color will be grouped together. Once you enable it, you will see color dots at the bottom of the app drawer. Tap on the color to view its apps. To enable this feature, go to launcher Settings > App Drawer. Turn the toggle on for Group icons by color.
10. Use Advanced Search
The search bar present in the app drawer is used to find installed apps and contacts. But you can also use it to search for things online. It’s different from Google search for the results are shown app-wise. And not just for apps installed on your phone but other apps too. For instance, I searched for Guiding Tech and as you can see, I was shown its various social profiles and even YouTube videos. Do note that Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter aren’t installed on my phone. To enable this feature, go to the launcher Settings. Turn the toggle on for In-app search.
11. Create Folders on Home Screen
POCO Launcher doesn’t support creating proper folders in the app drawer. But you can create them on the home screen. For that, hold one app icon and drag it over the other. A folder will be created. Then drag other apps over the folder. To rename a folder, open it and tap on the folder name.
12. Add Multiple Apps to Folders
Instead of adding apps one by one to a folder, you can add them together. For that, hold an empty space on the home screen. The app icons will have a grey dot on them. Tap on the apps that you want to select and add to a group. Then tap on Group at the top. That will create a folder.
13. Remove an Icon from Home Screen
To remove an app icon from the home screen, hold it and drag it upwards towards the Remove button.
14. Remove Multiple Icons
Similar to grouping multiple items, you can remove them from the home screen. For that, hold an empty space on the home screen. Then select the apps that you want to remove. Once selected, tap on Remove at the top.
15. Change Notification Badge Type
I’m a fan of numeric notification badges. They make it easy to identify the number of notifications in an app. Fortunately, this launcher supports both dot and numeric badges. To switch between them, go to POCO Launcher Settings > Notification badges. Select Number.
16. Use App Shortcuts
Android Nougat 7.1 introduced app shortcuts. Fortunately, POCO Launcher supports them. To use them, long-tap an app icon in the app drawer or on the home screen. A bunch of useful options will be revealed.
17. Hide Apps
Very few launchers let you hide apps and even if they provide the feature, it’s limited to premium variants. But POCO Launcher is gracious enough to offer the feature for free. Once you hide an app, it disappears from both the home screen and app drawer. To hide apps, open the app drawer first. Then swipe right twice to launch the hide apps screen. On this screen, you can both hide and view the hidden apps. You will be greeted by the apps that you have hidden. To hide more apps, tap on the edit icon at the top. Then add the apps that you want to hide.
18. Add New Screen
To add a new screen on the home screen, hold any app and drag it towards the right edge onto the next page. A new page or screen will be added.
19. Change Transition Effect
To change the effect when you move between screens, long-tap an empty space on the home screen or use the pinch-in gesture. Tap on Settings followed by Transition effects. Select the transition mode of your choice.
20. Enable Dark Mode
If you like launchers with a dark mode, POCO Launcher won’t disappoint for it comes with a native dark mode. To enable it, go to the launcher Settings > Backgrounds. Select Dark.
Is Old Really Gold?
POCO Launcher is a new entrant in the world of launchers. But as you have seen above, it’s feature-rich and doesn’t disappoint at all. In fact, it gives good competition to Nova Launcher too. What are your thoughts about this launcher? Let us know in the comments below. Next up: POCO Launcher doesn’t support Google Feed. But there are other launchers that offer this feature. Know more about such launcher by reading the linked article below. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
