HomeTiles

HomeTiles is a home screen made of large, plainly labelled tiles, with a phone dialler and a messaging app in the same package. It is meant for small screens, unsteady hands and eyes that would rather not squint.

Every tile can be anything you like: an app, a contact, a shortcut, a widget, a function such as the torch or Wi-Fi, or a jump to another screen. Grid size, tile size, colours and labels are all yours to set.

What you get:

• A home screen of big tiles, freely assigned, with an optional header showing time, date and battery.
• A dialler with a keypad, speed dial on 2 to 9, a grouped call log and its own in-call screen. Taking over the phone role is offered, never forced.
• Messages: thread list, conversation and composing.
• Contacts with search, sorting by first name or surname, and favourites.
• An SOS button with a countdown that calls several numbers in turn and can send an emergency message with your location.
• Reading help: hold a tile to have it read out or shown large, and page through long lists with buttons instead of swiping.
• Export your setup to a file and read it back on your next phone.
• If the launcher ever fails to start, a simple fallback screen appears with phone, contacts and settings, rather than a black device.

No account, no advertising, no tracking, and no internet permission at all.

HomeTiles is a free replacement for BIG Launcher, whose features are now spread across three paid apps.