'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
How to prevent Android apps from adding launchers to your phone's home screen
If you were to compare my Pixel 6 Pro and my wife's, you'd see a tale of two very different users. She has a home screen full of launchers, whereas mine is limited to a single row of folders at the bottom (which is the default for Android 13). I only have my most-used apps in those folders and access other apps from within the App Drawer.
Why do I Android like this? Simple -- efficiency.
Also: Android 13 on the Pixel 6 Pro is a brilliant upgrade -- with one exception
See also
When Android is allowed to add app launchers on the home screen (which happens by default when you install an application from the Google Play Store), it adds them in the first available spot. That means your home screen launchers are placed in random order. That can lead to confusion and a less than efficient experience.
I'm all about efficiency.
This is in polar opposition to the Android App Drawer, which keeps your app launchers organized alphabetically, which is much easier to manage. Sure, you could manually arrange those launchers, even collecting them in folders if you like. But even that can get messy.
If you're like me, you'd probably greatly benefit from a spartan Android home screen. Not only is it a much easier way to interact with Android, but it also allows that beautiful home screen wallpaper to show through. However, as I mentioned, out of the box Android is set to add those launchers to the home screen automatically.
Let's stop that from happening.
Requirements
This feature has been around with Android for some time now, so no matter which version of the OS you are using, you should be able to achieve the results. So, as long as you have an Android device, you're good to go.
How to prevent apps from adding launchers to the home screen
The way you do this is a bit counter to what you might think. You might think the setting would be found in either Settings > Display or Settings > Apps. It's not in either. Instead of diving into the Settings app, you need to home the Home Settings app.
1: Open Home Settings
Long press any blank space on your home screen and, in the resulting popup, tap Home Settings.
Accessing the Home Screen Settings app from the Android home screen.
2: Disable app icons on the home screen
From the Home Settings, tap the ON/OFF slider for Add App Icons until it's in the OFF position.
Disabling app icons on the home screen is but a tap away.
3: Remove all those icons
Once you've disabled the feature, go through your home screen and remove all the launchers. To do that you simply tap and drag a launcher to the top of the screen where it says Remove. You'll have to do this for every icon on your home screen. If you prefer, you can keep a single row of icons in folders at the bottom of the screen. Some versions of the Android home screen launcher do this by default and some do not force that issue.
Removing a green screen app from the Android home screen.
Once you've taken care of this, you'll wind up with a much cleaner Android home screen that should be more efficient to use. After all, the mobile experience should be one of ease and simplicity. When you're on the go, the last thing you need is to wind up staring, glassy-eyed, at your Android home screen in search of the app you need to use.