How To Transform Your Phone With Themer

Most Android users will already be very familiar with launchers. These apps replace the home screen and app drawer on your phone and present the simplest way of customising a device or of removing (or at least hiding) a manufacturer’s custom skin. A brand new launcher, Themer, takes the customisation angle to its logical, and beautiful, extreme. Themer comes packed with stylish home screen replacements that transform the look of a phone into any number of styles.

Themer removes much of Android’s widget support, but provides the key services such as weather, image galleries and RSS feeds. At the time of writing, Themer was still in beta, and you need to sign up at themerapp.com for a registration code. It will, in due course, be released for free in the Play store.

  • Customise Your Themer Experience

There are many settings that you can adjust to tailor your theme to best suit how you use your phone. Here’s our guide to the key settings…

  • Browse Themes

Swipe the sidebar open and select Browse Themes to view the latest and most popular themes in the app. Tap one for a preview, and swipe left and right to see all its panes. Hit Apply to make it your home screen.

  • Settings

Back in the sidebar, choose Settings>Themer. Here you can choose your default apps for web, gallery, weather and so on, as well as picking RSS feeds (including being able to import feeds directly from Feedly).

  • Get Advanced

Under Advanced Settings you can take greater control over your theme, including selecting the number of home screen panels and whether to show the dock. Be aware that the effect can differ between themes.

Feature:

  • Status Bar

The status bar is hidden on many themes, but a swipe downwards will reveal it. Another swipe will then open the notification shade just as it does on any Android device. A swipe upwards will hide the status bar again.

  • Add Panels

Long press on the home screen and you can add extra panels. They won’t match the theme on the other panels, but can be used to install important widgets. To add a widget go to the app drawer, select Widgets and drag them in as normal.

  • Find A Theme

Themer’s themes are radically different to your stock Android experience, or indeed any other phone. You will need to take your time to experiment with several in order to find one you are happy with.

  • Crucial Info

All themes include the core elements that most users will need. This includes weather information and music controls. Third-party apps, such as Spotify, are supported. Some themes also include RSS feeds with regularly updated news headlines.

  • Gesture Friendly

Themer fully supports a range of customisable gestures. Go to Settings>Themer and you can set up controls for one and two-finger swipes, plus a handy double-tap gesture. These are excellent options for power users in particular.