One of the reasons I prefer Android over iOS is because it offers endless options for customizing the interface. That’s important to me as I like my apps and widgets set up just so, and I enjoy switching up wallpapers every once in a while.
Google Play is filled with apps hawking wallpapers, some great and some terrible. In the endless quest to create the ultimate home screen (for myself, anyway), I went through a boatload of them, and found a bunch of apps that help you create and apply backgrounds you’d be hard-pressed to spot on others’ devices. Here are nine of my favorites.
- FreshCoat Wallpaper Creator
- FreshCoat lets you quickly generate simple backgrounds for custom home screen setups
- FreshCoat lets you quickly generate simple backgrounds for custom home screen setups
- If you’re interested in creating a home screen setup from scratch, FreshCoat is a handy tool to customize and generate simple wallpapers on the fly.
Begin with a flat color, then add a texture or even a Material Design-inspired pattern. You can adjust the opacity and color of your chosen effect.
If you already have a collection of wallpapers, you can tweak it by adding a blur effect or pixelating it for a retro 8-bit look. There’s also the option to add text, but it’s so basic that you’re probably better off avoiding it. Here are a couple I whipped up in seconds.
➤ FreshCoat Wallpaper Creator [Free – $1]
- KLWP Live Wallpaper Maker
- Kustom is endlessly customizable and supports themes that you can download
- Kustom is endlessly customizable and supports themes that you can download. Click for pictured theme
- This isn’t so much a wallpaper as it is an extensible customization system for your home screen. Kustom lets you add widgets, information and more to change the way you interact with your home screen.
For example, you could have a three-panel main screen that lets you view news, commonly used apps and a music player. Or you could just turn the whole display into a large clock.
The possibilities with Kustom are truly endless — but there’s a rather steep learning curve if you want to create your own configurations. Of course, you don’t have to start from scratch all by yourself; there are several themes you can download from Google Play, and find more in the app’s Google+ and Reddit communities.
There are lots of resources and tutorials available to help you build your own themes. Kustom has also released a widget engine that’s worth a look if you care to tinker with it.
To get started quickly, I’d recommend downloading the app, then looking for themes in Google Play with the search term ‘for Kustom‘. Here are a few free themes to try out. Kustom’s free version works well enough, but purchasing the Pro key removes ads and lets you import skins from your SD card — a bargain at the price of just over a dollar.
➤ KLWP Live Wallpaper Maker [Free – $1.20]
Tapet – Infinite Wallpapers
Tapet lets you generate fresh backgrounds with just a swipe; you can also choose patterns and colors
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