Copycat iOS Launcher on Android Surpasses 50 Million Downloads

A popular launcher on the Google Play Store that looks to recreate the iOS experience on Android smartphones has surpassed 50 million downloads as it gets updated with design changes and features coming to the iPhone with iOS 16.

The app is not new to the Google Play Store and has been recreating the iOS experience on Android for the last three years. Starting with iOS 13 and for every subsequent major iOS release, the app has been updated to reflect changes made to iOS.

The copycat iOS launcher, named “Launcher ‌iOS 16‌,” recreates the iOS Home Screen, dock, Force Touch menus on apps, “jiggle mode,” App Library, iOS-styled widgets, and more. The launcher also replaces app icons with iOS icons, such as Messages, Notes, Camera, and even the Play Store has Apple’s App Store icon.

In standard Android nature, the launcher provides users with customization features not even offered to ‌iPhone‌ users, such as being able to customize the categorization of apps in App Library, tweak home screen animations, easily rename apps, and more.

The app, clearly well known in the Android community, was given additional exposure on Twitter earlier this week. The largest change to ‌iOS 16‌, the redesigned Lock Screen, made headlining news following Apple’s WWDC in June. The widespread coverage of the new Lock Screen may have prompted additional downloads for the launcher from users eyeing to try out Apple’s latest design. Unfortunately, this launcher does not sport the ‌iOS 16‌ Lock Screen, at least not yet.

For those unfamiliar with Android launchers, they’re programs that run on the device’s home screen with their own design, personalization features, and options other than those offered by the device’s original maker. As a matter of fact, casually browsing the Google Play Store, dozens of launchers promise to recreate the iOS experience on Android, with the vast majority having over one million downloads each.