Frequently asked questions

A launcher is the app that runs your Android home screen: the screen you see when you press Home, with your clock, your apps and your app drawer. Your phone comes with one, and Android lets you replace it with another from Google Play. Yin Yang is a launcher.

A minimalist launcher replaces your home screen with a simpler one: usually a clock and a short list of apps, with fewer icons, colours and badges competing for your attention. Yin Yang is a minimalist launcher that helps you use your phone less.

Yes. Your home screen is the first thing you see every time you pick up your phone, so it shapes what you open next. A quieter home screen gives the apps that pull you in less of a head start. Because Yin Yang is your home screen, its tools are there every time too: a short pause before the apps you choose, daily limits, a break from an app for a few days, and focus sessions. You can switch back to your old launcher anytime.

A screen time app, like Android's Digital Wellbeing, runs alongside your home screen: it tracks your time and can set limits. A launcher changes the home screen itself, so it changes what you see every time you pick up your phone. Yin Yang does both: it's a minimalist launcher with screen time and its tools built in. You can keep using Digital Wellbeing alongside it.

Start by seeing where your time goes: Android's Digital Wellbeing or Yin Yang's Mind Space shows your screen time by app. Then make the apps that pull you in harder to open on autopilot: take them off your home screen, turn off their notifications, and add a short pause or a daily limit. In Yin Yang that's Mindful Pause and Mindful Timer, and Mindful Break blocks an app for a few days. For work or study, Focus Mode shows only the apps you need. More in the guides.

Yes, it's safe, and no, it won't delete anything. A launcher only changes your home screen. Your apps, photos, messages and settings stay where they are, and every app is still in the app drawer. If you switch back to your old launcher or uninstall Yin Yang, your phone goes back to its previous home screen. Your screen time stays on your phone, and there's no sign-in or account. Details are in our privacy policy.

No. Yin Yang is for Android, version 12 and later. iPhones don't let apps replace the home screen, so a launcher like Yin Yang can't run there.

Yin Yang Launcher is a minimalist home screen for Android, with tools to help you use your phone with more intention. It replaces your home screen with a calm clock and a few apps, keeps widgets, notes and to-dos one swipe away in My Space, and puts screen time and focus tools one swipe the other way in Mind Space.

No. Yin Yang doesn't cut you off from your smartphone. It keeps every app within reach, but makes the home screen quieter and gives you tools to decide when and how long you use the apps that pull you in, like a pause before opening them or a daily time limit.

Yin Yang aims for a middle ground: a calm, minimal home screen that still feels personal, plus built-in wellbeing tools. You can choose a text-only layout or one with icons, change wallpapers, clocks, fonts and icons, add Android widgets on a separate page, and use Mindful Pause, Mindful Timer, Mindful Break and Focus Mode without installing anything else.

Colour grabs attention, so Yin Yang starts in grayscale to make your phone calmer to look at. You can change that: pick a colour icon style like Classic, Pastel or Vintage in Appearance → Icons, and switch any widget from Monochrome to Color.

Yin and yang are opposites that belong together. Your phone is like that too: it holds the things that make your day easier, and the things built to keep you scrolling. Yin Yang helps you keep that balance, so you notice how you use your phone and use it as a tool, on your terms. Yin Yang is designed and developed in India.

When you first open Yin Yang, it walks you through choosing a theme, a layout and a wallpaper, then asks to be your home screen. If you skipped that step, open your phone's Settings → Apps → Default apps → Home app and choose Yin Yang Launcher.

Long press the home screen, tap Launcher Settings, then tap Change Launcher and pick your previous home screen. You can switch back to Yin Yang the same way anytime.

Swipe up from the home screen. Swipe down opens Spotlight search. You can change what each gesture does in Launcher Settings → Home Settings → Gestures.

Go to Launcher Settings → Home Settings → Gestures → Double Tap and choose Lock Screen (Accessibility). Android will ask you to turn on Yin Yang's accessibility service, which is what lets a launcher lock the screen.

Android only lets an app lock your screen through the Accessibility service or Device Administrator. Yin Yang recommends Accessibility because your fingerprint and face unlock keep working. Yin Yang's accessibility service only notices when you switch apps. It doesn't read what's on your screen, your text or your notifications, and it's optional. The older Lock Screen (Device Admin) option is still there, but it can turn off fingerprint unlock until you next enter your PIN.

Yes, Yin Yang works with both gesture and three-button navigation. On some Xiaomi phones running HyperOS, the system switches to three-button navigation whenever a launcher other than Xiaomi's own is the default. That's a restriction of the phone, not a Yin Yang setting.

Yin Yang doesn't run a constant background service. On older or slower phones, turning off background blur in Appearance → Background makes things smoother. If your phone still feels slow, contact us with your phone model.

Only if you choose to. When you save a wallpaper, Yin Yang asks whether to set it on your Home screen only, or on your Home and lock screen.

Yin Yang is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. It follows your phone's language. On Android 13 and later you can pick a different one in Launcher Settings → General → App Language.

Yes, but only in portrait for now. Yin Yang doesn't rotate yet, so on a tablet or an unfolded foldable it stays upright. Landscape support is planned.

Long press the home screen, tap Appearance, open the Home tool, then tap Edit on your layout.

• Classic layout: tap a dock slot to choose its app. A quicker way: long press any dock app on your home screen to change it.
• Minimal layout: tap Add app to build your list, and drag to reorder.

Tap Save when you're done. More in Customize your home screen.

Yes. Choose the Minimal layout for a clock and a list of app names on your home screen. For the app drawer, go to Launcher Settings → App Drawer → Drawer look and choose No icons.

Yes, in the Classic layout. Long press the home screen → Appearance → Home → Edit. Turn off Show Spotlight search to hide the search bar, and in Position, choose the hidden option under Clock position to remove the clock. The Minimal layout always shows a clock, which you can move.

Yes. In Appearance → Wallpaper, choose Custom and pick a photo. You can soften it with blur, tint and contrast so your clock and app names stay easy to read.

Yes. Any icon pack you've installed from Google Play appears in Appearance → Icons automatically. Yin Yang also has its own Line and Ink icons, and tints that recolour your apps' own icons.

Long press the home screen, tap Theme, and choose Light, Dark or Auto. Auto switches between them on a schedule you set. Light and dark each keep their own wallpaper, while your layout, clock, fonts and icons are shared. More in Customize your home screen.

Long press the app in the app drawer and tap Hide. To see or unhide your hidden apps, go to Launcher Settings → App Visibility → Hidden Apps. You can also turn on Hide unused apps in Launcher Settings → App Drawer to hide apps you haven't opened in 30 days. They stay searchable.

Work profile apps show in your app drawer with a work badge. If you don't see them, check that Show Work Apps is on in Launcher Settings → App Visibility.

Yes, on your My Space page. Add an App Folder tile to group apps like Work, Social or Games. The app drawer itself is sorted A to Z, with pinned and recent apps at the top, and doesn't have folders yet.

Not yet. Yin Yang doesn't show notification dots or counts on apps. Fewer badges also means fewer prompts to open apps, which suits the launcher, but we know some people want them for messages.

My Space is a page one swipe right of your home screen for your widgets: notes, to-dos, weather, calendar, music, steps, water, app folders and any Android widget. Tap Add Tile to add one, and Manage Tiles to drag them into order. More in Widgets on a minimalist home screen.

Yes. In My Space, tap Add Tile, then open the From Apps tab and pick any widget, like Google Calendar, Spotify or Gmail. Widgets show in grayscale to match the launcher, and you can switch any of them to colour.

The calendar tile shows the calendars synced to your phone, from Google, Outlook, Samsung and others. If events are missing:

1. Make sure the account that holds the calendar (Google, Outlook and so on) is added to your phone in your phone's Settings. Yin Yang can only show calendars that are on your phone.
2. Make sure Yin Yang has calendar permission.
3. Open the tile's Select Calendars and check the calendar you want is turned on.
4. Check that the calendar syncs in your phone's own Calendar app.

Mind Space is where your screen time and wellbeing tools live, one swipe left of your home screen. Awareness shows where your time goes today and yesterday. Action holds four tools: Mindful Pause, Mindful Timer, Mindful Break and Focus Mode. More in See your screen time.

Add those apps to Mindful Pause. When you open one, you get a short breathing pause first, so you can decide whether you really want to go in. Set it up in Mind Space → Action → Mindful Pause. More in Pause before opening apps.

Yes, with Mindful Timer. Put apps in a group, give the group a daily limit, and choose how long you want each time you open one. More in Set a daily app timer.

Yes, with Mindful Break. Choose an app and step away from it for a day, a few days or longer. More in Block an app for days.

Long press the home screen and tap Focus Mode, then tap Allowed apps and select the apps you want during a session. You can also get there from Mind Space → Action → Focus Mode. More in Focus Mode for work and study.

Yin Yang and Android's Digital Wellbeing count a little differently, so small gaps are normal. Yin Yang only counts time when your screen is on, so music or podcasts playing in the background don't add up. It also leaves out very short app switches, the launcher itself, and any apps you've marked as Productive apps.

• Mindful Pause: check the app is on the list in Mind Space → Action → Mindful Pause.
• Mindful Timer: it needs permission to display over other apps. Open Mindful Timer and allow it when asked. For the most reliable timing, also turn on Reliable Detection.

Still not working? See Something isn't working.

The launcher, My Space and the wellbeing tools all work without Pro. Pro is a paid upgrade for more of everything:

• unlimited tiles and widgets
• live and dynamic wallpapers, and every font, clock and icon style, including icon packs
• Mindful Pause and Mindful Timer for as many apps as you like
• Strict Focus Mode, schedules and breathing guides
• Mindful Break
• every Pro feature we add later

There are no ads either way.

Pro is priced for each country, so what you pay reflects local prices where you live rather than one flat global price. Google Play shows the price in your currency before you buy.

Both are available: a yearly subscription or a lifetime one-time purchase. They unlock exactly the same features. To move from yearly to lifetime, cancel your yearly subscription in Google Play (Play Store → your profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions). Pro stays on until the end of the year you've paid for. Once it ends, buy lifetime in Yin Yang.

Pro is linked to your Google Play account, not a Yin Yang login. Install Yin Yang with the same Google account, then go to Launcher Settings → Profile → Restore Purchases. If it says no purchase was found, email us your Support ID and your Google Play order number (it starts with GPA.).

Not at the moment. Pro is sold only through Google Play, so it needs a phone with Google Play installed.

Refunds follow Google Play's policy: within 48 hours of buying, you can request one yourself from your Google Play order history. After that, email us with your order number (it starts with GPA.).

Your screen time and the list of apps you use stay on your phone. Yin Yang doesn't upload them. There's no sign-in and no personal account. Yin Yang uses anonymous analytics and crash reports to fix bugs and improve the app. You can turn these off in Launcher Settings → Connect & Support → Share error & usage reports. Full details are in our privacy policy.

No. Yin Yang has no ads.

Some phones close apps in the background to save battery, and that can include your launcher. Open your phone's Settings → Apps → Yin Yang Launcher → Battery and choose Unrestricted (on some phones: "No restrictions" or turn off "Battery optimization"). Then check Yin Yang is still your default home app.

1. Update Yin Yang from Google Play. Many problems are already fixed in the latest version.
2. Restart your phone.
3. Still stuck? Go to Launcher Settings → Connect & Support → Contact Support. Your Support ID is added to the email automatically, which helps us find your issue faster.

Go to Launcher Settings → Profile and tap Support ID to copy it. Include it whenever you email support@yinyanglauncher.com.