I made Merit, a launcher for people who love Material You but find most launchers either a plain icon grid or a wall of settings

Free on Google Play, Android 12+.

The idea

Android’s design language got expressive: shapes, springy motion, colours pulled from your wallpaper. Launchers never really caught up. Merit is the launcher I wanted Google to ship: not a grid of icons, but a playground you build your home screen in.

What it does

Tiles in Material’s own shapes (cookie, clover, circle, gem…), from one cell to full width, drag and drop with neighbours making room. Colours come from your wallpaper.
Shelves: tap a tile and its shelf flows out of it, holding that app’s own widgets, joined by a little liquid bridge.
Now page: what needs you (missed calls, messages from the apps you pick), what’s next today, and a day timeline with sunrise and sunset.
Themed icons for every app, even those with no themed icon: a fill-in icon pack, an automatic cut-out of the app’s own logo, or a letter as the last resort. Choose per app if you like.
Live tiles: weather, clock, calendar, battery, steps, now playing, photos, contacts, timer.
Index sorted by how often you open apps, with search and a letter rail.

Price and privacy: free, with one small banner ad (Google AdMob); a one-time purchase removes it. No account, and your layout and settings stay on your phone.

Pictures: the first image is my actual home screen (Nothing Phone 3, Whicons icon pack). The other five are Play Store graphics: drawn illustrations of the app, not live captures.

Merit Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.merit.launcher Icon pack in my screenshot, Whicons: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack