Help & Documentation

After installing nEvie, press Home and choose nEvie if Android shows a launcher picker. If Android keeps returning to another launcher, open Android Settings, search for "default apps" or "home app", and select nEvie as the Home app. nEvie does not require an account for core launcher use. To leave nEvie later, use Settings > Switch to another launcher to open Android's default-launcher settings.

On a new installation, nEvie asks how to set up Home. Simple adds a small selection of everyday apps. Category folders creates folders from the categories of apps in your main profile. Minimal starts with one empty page. Customize also starts with an empty page and opens the app drawer so you can choose apps yourself. This choice creates the starting layout only once; you can change the resulting pages, folders, grid, and dock later.

Open nEvie Settings to adjust the Home grid, dock, folder grid, icon sizes, icon labels, search bar, navigation bar visibility, wallpaper scrolling, and orientation behavior. Home, dock, folders, and app drawer each have their own layout settings where that makes sense. Settings previews have a portrait/landscape switch so you can inspect a layout before leaving Settings. Home uses the same pages in every device rotation and adapts their placement to the available portrait or landscape space. Settings > General > Orientation controls whether nEvie follows Android rotation or stays in a chosen posture.

Edit mode protects your layout from accidental changes. Open Page Management and use its Edit button to turn the mode on or off. Moving items between Home, the dock, folders, the app drawer, Search, and the widget picker requires edit mode. Page reordering, page deletion, choosing a default page, adding widgets, folder rename or removal, and widget resize are also edit-only. You can still open an item menu for actions such as App info or Change icon while edit mode is off; layout-changing actions are hidden or disabled. Keep Settings > General > Undo enabled if you want a short Undo option after supported page, folder, and layout-resize changes.

Home gestures are configurable in Settings > Gestures. You can assign actions to the Home button, double tap, long tap on the Home background, swipe up, swipe down, pinch, expand, and two-finger swipes. By default, swipe up opens the app drawer, swipe down opens nEvie search, and both pinch and a long tap on the Home background open Page Management. Available actions are None, Launch app, App drawer, nEvie search, Expand notifications, Google Now, Page management, and Voice search. Android-dependent actions are disabled when the device cannot provide them. A configured Home-button action runs only when you are already on the default Home page with no launcher surface open; otherwise Home first closes the active surface or returns to the default page.

Swipe up on Home to open the app drawer. Settings > App drawer controls grid or list display, columns, icon size, icon labels, and whether recently installed apps appear in a New section. Settings > General > Scroller style chooses vertical letters or a classic scrollbar for both the app drawer and widget picker. Long-press an app to open its item menu. With edit mode on, continue dragging toward Home to place it on a page.

When Android exposes additional profiles, nEvie keeps their apps separate and shows profile tabs such as Apps, Clone, Work, or Private where relevant. Availability depends on the Android version and the profiles configured by your device, organization, or device manufacturer.

Available: the Private tab is visible and enabled. Open it to launch Private Space apps.
Locked: the Private tab stays visible but looks disabled. Tap it to start Android's unlock process, then authenticate with your Private Space lock. If you did not create a separate lock, Android uses your device screen lock.
Hidden: the Private tab is hidden. Open nEvie Search and enter the full phrase for “Private profile” in your current app language, or enter the English phrase private profile. Tap the dedicated Unlock private profile result to start Android's unlock process. Partial searches do not show this result.
No record: Android has not exposed a Private Space profile to nEvie, so the Private tab is absent and the specific Private profile search does not show the dedicated result.

Private Space requires Android 15 or newer, and exact behavior can vary by device manufacturer; see Android Private Space help (opens in new tab). The same app installed in more than one profile is treated as a separate copy. Private apps are not exposed while the profile is locked or hidden. They can be launched from their tab while the profile is available, but nEvie does not allow Private apps to be dragged onto Home, the dock, or folders. If any profile is paused, locked, removed, or unavailable, its apps and widgets may remain unavailable until Android exposes that profile again.

Enable the Home search bar in Settings > Homescreen > Search bar, or assign nEvie search to a gesture. Search providers can include apps, app shortcuts, internet search, and Contacts. Apps, Shortcuts, and Internet search are enabled by default; Contacts needs the Contacts permission. Settings > Search also controls frequently used apps, the web engine, Done key behavior, whether web results open in a browser, whether web searches are saved in recent results, and clearing recent results. Search history stays on the device and is not included in normal backups.

Long-press a placed app, shortcut, folder, or widget to open item actions. From there you can open app information, change an app or shortcut icon, or configure a widget when its provider offers configuration. With edit mode on, the menu also offers the relevant remove, folder, and widget-resize actions, and long-press dragging can reorder items. Removing an item from Home does not uninstall its app. Use the separate Uninstall action, when offered, to open Android's uninstall flow. Dragging one app or shortcut onto another creates a folder; dragging onto an existing folder adds the item.

With edit mode on, drag one app or shortcut onto another to create a folder, or hover over an existing folder to add to it. Inside an open folder, drag items to reorder them or drag outside the folder area to move an item back to Home. A folder collapses automatically when only one item remains. If Settings > Folders > Sort items in folders alphabetically is enabled, manual folder reordering is disabled until alphabetical sorting is turned off.

Open Page Management, turn on edit mode, and choose Widgets. Select the appropriate profile tab, then drag a widget preview to Home. Some widgets need Android binding approval or a provider configuration screen before placement is saved. If approval, configuration, or placement fails, nEvie removes the pending widget and leaves the layout unchanged. To resize a placed widget, long-press it while edit mode is on, choose Resize, and drag a visible edge handle. Available resize directions depend on the widget provider.

Open Page Management from its Settings entry or from a configured gesture. Use it to jump to a page at any time. Turn on its Edit mode to reorder pages, set the default page, remove pages, or open the widget picker. Page changes do not enable edit mode automatically. To create a page, drag a Home item beyond the first or last page and drop it into a valid cell; nEvie saves the new page only when the drop succeeds. The delete action is unavailable when only one page remains, and the same page set is used in portrait and landscape. When Undo is enabled, supported page changes show a brief Undo option.

Install an icon pack, then open Settings > Icon pack and choose System or an installed pack. nEvie refreshes icons when the selected pack changes and returns to System icons if the selected pack is no longer available. To override an app or shortcut, long-press it, choose Change icon, then choose its default icon, a suggested match from any installed pack, an icon from a pack's searchable grid, or an image from your device. The System row can also be browsed and searched when Android allows nEvie to list installed app icons. An override follows that app or shortcut identity, so every placed copy using the same identity changes together.

Open Settings > Hide apps and toggle the apps you want to hide. Hidden apps are removed from ordinary launcher lists. Turn off Show in search if you also want hidden apps excluded from nEvie search. Apps are tracked by profile-aware identity, so personal, clone, work, and private copies can be controlled separately when Android exposes those profiles.

Settings > Unread badges controls whether badges are shown, badge style, badge size, and badge sources. Gmail can provide a reliable inbox unread count after you enable it and add the Gmail accounts you want to include. Notification-count badges infer a count from notifications for the apps you select and require Android Notification Access. If badges stop updating, check the main badge switch, the individual source, Android access, selected Gmail accounts, and profile availability.

Settings > General > Theme can follow the device or force Light or Dark. Palette chooses Android dynamic colors based on your wallpaper or the nEvie palette. Hide navigation bar applies immersive navigation throughout nEvie, although Android may temporarily reveal system controls when you swipe from an edge. Dock background blur is shown as unsupported when the device cannot render it; your preference is kept and can take effect if support becomes available.

Before reducing Home rows or columns, choose Grid resize behaviour in Settings > General. Compact repacks items, Overflow preserves cells where possible and moves excess items to following or new pages, and Drop removes items that no longer fit. Dock resize behaviour offers Compact or Drop for dock items. These changes apply immediately, so keep Undo enabled and consider exporting a backup before a large layout change. Widgets are resized to approximately preserve their physical size on the new grid.

nEvie requests optional access only when you enable a feature that needs it: Contacts for contact search, Notification Access for notification-count badges, Gmail provider and account access for Gmail unread counts, and Android widget approval for some widgets. Denying access leaves the rest of the launcher usable; the related feature stays off or empty until access is granted. Some gesture actions, dock blur, profiles, widgets, and app actions depend on Android or the device manufacturer. Unsupported choices remain disabled or are omitted instead of silently using a different action.

Go to Settings > Backup & Restore to export or import a local backup file, review Android Platform Auto Backup status, or set up manual Google backup. Local backups do not require a Google account. Google backup is optional and uses your Google account for Drive app-folder backup. Backups include layout and settings, but not icon caches, frequent-app history, recent search history, or Google sign-in session state. Restore may skip missing apps or unavailable profiles, and may defer or skip widgets that cannot be rebound on the current device. Keep the backup file until you have checked the restored pages, dock, folders, and widgets.

Delete all hidden nEvie backup data from Google Drive:

1. Open Google Drive settings (opens in new tab) on the web using the Google account connected to nEvie.
2. Select Manage apps.
3. Find nEvie, then open Options.
4. Select Delete hidden app data and confirm.

This permanently deletes every nEvie backup stored in that Google account. Disconnect from Drive only removes nEvie's access; it does not delete the hidden backup data.

Settings includes Feedback, Help Center, and Privacy Policy entries. Help and Privacy open in your browser. Debug-only Development settings can appear in debug builds used for testing; they are not required for normal launcher setup.

Normal nEvie launcher functionality requires an active monthly or yearly Google Play subscription, or an eligible non-consumable lifetime unlock. Subscription prices, billing periods, introductory terms, automatic renewal, and payment are shown and handled by Google Play. Canceling stops future renewal but access continues only while Play still reports the subscription as current. A lifetime purchase does not cancel an existing subscription. Use Settings > Billing & access > Manage subscription to review or cancel it in Google Play. Use Restore purchases after reinstalling, changing devices or Play accounts, or completing a pending payment. Pending purchases do not grant access. While access is unavailable, the safe fallback can still launch installed apps and open Android's default-Home settings.

Redeem a lifetime promo code:

1. Open the Google Play Store app on your Android device. Make sure the profile picture at the top right belongs to the Google Account that should receive lifetime access.
2. Tap the profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions > Redeem code.
3. Enter the promo code, tap Redeem, review the selected account, and tap Confirm.
4. Return to nEvie and open Billing & access. Use Settings > Billing & access when launcher access is active, or Manage subscription on the fallback Apps screen when it is not. Tap Restore purchases so nEvie can sync the lifetime unlock from Google Play.

For redemption errors, see Google Play's code redemption help (opens in new tab).