Slate

Slate is a minimal text-only Android home screen built for focus.

Most launchers want to keep you on your phone. Colourful icons trigger recognition without thought, notification badges create artificial urgency, and recommendation widgets are optimised for engagement, not intent. Slate removes all of that. Apps are presented as plain text, the same way a to-do list presents tasks. You open the app you meant to open, not the one that looked most appealing.


APPEARANCE

* Two homescreen layouts: Flow (apps wrap like text, sized by usage) or Minimal List (one app per line with optional alphabetical fast-scroll)
* Fully customisable background and text colours with a live colour picker
* Follow system theme: switches automatically with system dark mode
* Apply background colour to the lockscreen for a uniform look
* Per-app colour overrides to highlight what matters
* Notification highlight: app names change colour when an app has a pending notification
* Typography control: font family (Google Fonts plus import your own), weight, line spacing, word spacing
* Font size scales with usage in Flow view


INTERACTION

* Swipe up to search apps
* Configurable single-finger swipe gestures (any app, notifications, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, location, camera, more)
* Double-tap to lock screen (via accessibility service)
* Long-press an app to pin, hide, rename, recolour, uninstall, or move to a folder
* Pin apps to the top regardless of sort order
* Sort alphabetically or by most used
* Custom folders: each folder is a text label with a marker (chevron, slash, bullet, brackets, count, or plain). Tap to expand inline. Long-press to rename, recolour, or delete


QUICK TOGGLES STRIP

An optional row of text widgets at the top or bottom of your home screen. Choose from Clock, Date, Next alarm, Battery percent, Charging, Time to full, Battery temperature, Uptime, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile data, Airplane mode, DND, Volume, Ringer mode, Torch, Brightness, Location, NFC, and contact tap-to-call or tap-to-text shortcuts. Off by default. Pick widgets, position, and typography from Settings.


CONTROL

* Lock orientation to portrait
* Optional persistent search bar on the home screen
* Optional contact search: turn it on to surface contacts inline with apps when you type. Read at search time, never stored. Google-only sub-toggle skips duplicates from WhatsApp, Telegram, SIM
* PIN-lock the hidden apps list (4 to 8 digits, PBKDF2 hashed) with optional biometric unlock. Hidden-app launches stay out of Android Recents, with an opt-out
* Work-profile apps are listed too, marked with the profile name and grouped into a folder on first sight
* Export and import all settings as a JSON backup. Hidden-apps list and PIN are omitted by default. Opt in via Settings, with an in-memory PIN check on import


PRIVACY

Slate does not collect, transmit, or share any data. No analytics, no crash reporting, no network activity. All preferences are stored locally. App usage counts never leave the device. Each Android permission Slate declares is requested only for the specific feature that uses it. Full details in the in-app privacy policy.


OPEN SOURCE

MIT licensed. Source at github.com/roufsyed/Slate-Minimal-Launcher

Is Slate free to download?
Yes. The APK file linked from this page is free. The developer may offer in-app purchases once installed, but obtaining the installer itself costs nothing.

What Android version does Slate require?
Android 4.1+ or newer. Installing on older devices may cause crashes or refuse to install.

Is Slate safe to install?
We link to the exact APK published by Rouf Syed. We do not modify the file. Still, as with any sideloaded app, scan it with a reputable antivirus before opening it, and only grant permissions the app genuinely needs.

How do I update Slate?
Install the newer version on top of the old one — Android will keep your data. If the signature differs, uninstall first (you may lose local progress).

Why is the app not installing?
Common causes: not enough storage, an older Android version than 4.1+, or a conflicting build already installed. Free up space, check your OS version, and uninstall any previous copy before retrying.

1. Tap the Download APK button above and save the file to your device.
2. Open your device Settings → Security (or Apps → Special access → Install unknown apps) and allow your file manager or browser to install unknown apps for this one file only.
3. Open the downloaded com.slate.launcher.apk file from your Downloads folder.
4. Tap Install and wait for Android to finish.
5. Open «Slate» by Rouf Syed and grant only the permissions it actually needs.
6. Revoke the "unknown sources" permission once you are done installing.

Note: this page hosts or links to the installer only. The application name, icon and description are provided for identification. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.