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A burst of colour

A burst of colour

A painting of the Great Dome at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, Dunedin, reproduced in full colour on the cover of the exhibition-themed Christmas annual. — Otago Witness 1925 Christmas Annual To-day the Otago Witness Annual makes a welcome reappearance, and is in all respects worthy of comparison with the best publications of its kind.

How to make workers happier with less pay

How to make workers happier with less pay

Workers want remote work so badly they’re willing to take a 25% pay cut to get it, according to a new study from economists at Harvard University, Brown University, and UCLA. The study published this week was conducted with Levels.fyi , a compensation benchmarking platform used primarily by technology professionals. The data included job offers, compensation packages, final job choices of survey participants, and whether roles were in-person, hybrid, or remote. Researchers also incorporated Glassdoor data on employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and local cost-of-living metrics. The key finding: workers were willing to forgo approximately a quarter of their pay for remote work, a figure three to five times larger than previous estimates. This is a shocking result, because earlier studies had typically estimated workers would only take a 5% to 10% pay cut. But that research was based on surveys, whereas the new report is based on real-world job decision-making. In other words, the older studies were based on claimed beliefs; the new data is based on actual, real-world decisions. This research suggests that, in theory, the price of four office worker salaries buys five remote workers. (In practice, there are also additional savings for remote employees because of reduced office-related expenses.) The research won’t make anyone happy. Pro-remote work advocates won’t like the implication that they can be given lower salaries; opponents won’t like stronger evidence that they should allow remote work . Why office mandates spawned a bevy of buzzwords and phrases It’s true that many jobs can’t be done remotely. When my kitchen catches fire, I don’t want the local firefighters working from home. For many employees forced by their employers to work in an office, it feels obvious that their physical presence is obsolete, thanks to remote work technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, project management, cloud storage, remote desktop access, team collaboration platforms, document sharing, and unified communications systems. Return-to-office mandates and workplace trends have strained the relationship between employees and employers. This strange new office world has also sparked dozens of phrases coined by disaffected employees to communicate their attitudes on social media. For example: Quiet Quitting: Doing the bare minimum at work without formally resigning . Quiet Firing: Passive-aggressive tactics to encourage employees to leave without formal termination . Quiet Hiring: Adding capacity without full-time hires, such as through contractors. Quiet Cutting: Subtle reduction of employee benefits or opportunities. Loud Quitting: Public and dramatic resignation announcements. Hushed Hybrid: Employees working from home without permission. Coffee Badging: Employees showing up briefly to “make an appearance” in the office, then leaving to work remotely. Great Resignation: A wave of employees quitting their jobs , often dramatically. Micro-Retiring: Gradually withdrawing from work responsibilities or retiring in stages. Acting Your Wage: Putting in effort proportional to one’s pay. Monk Mode: Intense focus periods with minimal distractions, often at home after hours. Performance Punishment: Being overloaded with others’ work due to one’s own high performance. Fake Happy: Pretending to be content while feeling exhausted. Woliday: Working during annual leave or vacation. Office Peacocking: Making offices attractive and flashy to entice employees back. Quitting Guilt: Feeling guilty after quitting an unhealthy job environment. Lazy Girl Job: Desire for low-effort, less demanding jobs. Snail Girl Era: Preference for a slower-paced work lifestyle. Hush Trips: Working remotely in undisclosed locations to avoid office interruptions. QuitTok: The subset of TikTok posts by people griping about their jobs. Boreout: Workplace boredom causing disengagement or mental health issues. Bare Minimum Mondays: Doing the least amount of work on Mondays. Career Cushioning: Preparing for job changes while maintaining current employment. Rage Applying: Applying to jobs out of frustration with a current job. Anti-Perks: Employee benefits that are unappealing or detrimental. Conscious Quitting: Intentionally quitting for personal or ethical reasons. These phrases are a collective cry for help. But buzzwords used by and about remote workers tell a different story: Quiet Thriving: Employees succeeding quietly without seeking attention. Quiet overworking: The blending of work and home life by remote workers leading to employees working beyond normal hours and into the weekend. Proximity Bias: Favoring employees physically present in the office. Something’s wrong in the modern workplace, partly due to the coercion to make employees cope with an unpleasant commute, extra costs in clothes and gas, office interruptions, and rigid schedules incompatible with child-rearing and two-career households — all because management doesn’t feel comfortable with remote work. How remote work is changing our culture The remote work trend that gathered steam during the COVID-19 pandemic gave many people a taste of a lifestyle without commutes and office buildings. Reading the headlines, a casual reader feels there was a rush to remote work in 2020 and 2021, followed by a reversal in recent years. But that’s not what happened, exactly. In reality, on the whole, remote work rose steeply in the first two years of the pandemic and more or less stayed up. In 2019, some 9 million people worked remotely. In 2022, that number jumped to 50 million. And as of 2025, it was still around 36 million . Despite pushback against remote work, it’s still a big enough factor to change the culture in small and big ways . Remote work is reducing demand for office space, increasing suburban growth, shifting economic activity from urban cores to suburbs, driving migration to mid-sized and more affordable cities, expanding residential space needs, and reshaping workplace culture with greater flexibility (but less social interaction). The trend hasn’t been kind to some businesses, including downtown restaurants, coffee shops, dry cleaners, public transit systems, office supply retailers, urban gyms, corporate catering services, and commercial real estate firms focused on office leasing. Other business types, however, are booming: home office furniture companies, video conferencing and collaboration software providers, suburban real estate agencies, home improvement retailers, local delivery services, coworking space operators, and broadband internet providers. One of the biggest cultural changes is the rise in digital nomad living — working while traveling or temporarily living abroad. Before 2019, fewer than 10 million people lived as digital nomads globally. By the end of 2025, the number is expected to land somewhere between 50 million and 80 million people. And if the endless chatter on Reddit and other social sites is any indication, there is a huge number of people trying to figure out how to become digital nomads. On Reddit, people are constantly asking about how to get a “digital nomad job.” The truth is that there’s no such thing. A job is either remote, or it’s not. If it’s fully remote, then the employee is free to go wherever they want. Many companies have limited positions that are fully remote. And some companies are totally remote, with every employee in the company working remotely full-time. Companies friendly to remote work include: Affirm, Allstate, Amgen, Amplify, Atlassian, BELAY, CrowdStrike, Dropbox, HubSpot, Humana, Kraken, Pearson, Pinterest, Reddit, Ryder, Spotify, StackAdapt, Stride Inc., Twilio, and Vista. By late 2025, remote work is more popular than ever, office work less popular, and smart companies are saving money and attracting top employees by offering the flexibility and freedom of remote work as a perk. And now we know that workers will accept substantially less pay, just for the ability to work anywhere but in the office.

How to make workers happier with less pay

How to make workers happier with less pay

Workers want remote work so badly they’re willing to take a 25% pay cut to get it, according to a new study from economists at Harvard University, Brown University, and UCLA. The study published this week was conducted with Levels.fyi , a compensation benchmarking platform used primarily by technology professionals. The data included job offers, compensation packages, final job choices of survey participants, and whether roles were in-person, hybrid, or remote. Researchers also incorporated Glassdoor data on employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and local cost-of-living metrics. The key finding: workers were willing to forgo approximately a quarter of their pay for remote work, a figure three to five times larger than previous estimates. This is a shocking result, because earlier studies had typically estimated workers would only take a 5% to 10% pay cut. But that research was based on surveys, whereas the new report is based on real-world job decision-making. In other words, the older studies were based on claimed beliefs; the new data is based on actual, real-world decisions. This research suggests that, in theory, the price of four office worker salaries buys five remote workers. (In practice, there are also additional savings for remote employees because of reduced office-related expenses.) The research won’t make anyone happy. Pro-remote work advocates won’t like the implication that they can be given lower salaries; opponents won’t like stronger evidence that they should allow remote work . Why office mandates spawned a bevy of buzzwords and phrases It’s true that many jobs can’t be done remotely. When my kitchen catches fire, I don’t want the local firefighters working from home. For many employees forced by their employers to work in an office, it feels obvious that their physical presence is obsolete, thanks to remote work technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, project management, cloud storage, remote desktop access, team collaboration platforms, document sharing, and unified communications systems. Return-to-office mandates and workplace trends have strained the relationship between employees and employers. This strange new office world has also sparked dozens of phrases coined by disaffected employees to communicate their attitudes on social media. For example: Quiet Quitting: Doing the bare minimum at work without formally resigning . Quiet Firing: Passive-aggressive tactics to encourage employees to leave without formal termination . Quiet Hiring: Adding capacity without full-time hires, such as through contractors. Quiet Cutting: Subtle reduction of employee benefits or opportunities. Loud Quitting: Public and dramatic resignation announcements. Hushed Hybrid: Employees working from home without permission. Coffee Badging: Employees showing up briefly to “make an appearance” in the office, then leaving to work remotely. Great Resignation: A wave of employees quitting their jobs , often dramatically. Micro-Retiring: Gradually withdrawing from work responsibilities or retiring in stages. Acting Your Wage: Putting in effort proportional to one’s pay. Monk Mode: Intense focus periods with minimal distractions, often at home after hours. Performance Punishment: Being overloaded with others’ work due to one’s own high performance. Fake Happy: Pretending to be content while feeling exhausted. Woliday: Working during annual leave or vacation. Office Peacocking: Making offices attractive and flashy to entice employees back. Quitting Guilt: Feeling guilty after quitting an unhealthy job environment. Lazy Girl Job: Desire for low-effort, less demanding jobs. Snail Girl Era: Preference for a slower-paced work lifestyle. Hush Trips: Working remotely in undisclosed locations to avoid office interruptions. QuitTok: The subset of TikTok posts by people griping about their jobs. Boreout: Workplace boredom causing disengagement or mental health issues. Bare Minimum Mondays: Doing the least amount of work on Mondays. Career Cushioning: Preparing for job changes while maintaining current employment. Rage Applying: Applying to jobs out of frustration with a current job. Anti-Perks: Employee benefits that are unappealing or detrimental. Conscious Quitting: Intentionally quitting for personal or ethical reasons. These phrases are a collective cry for help. But buzzwords used by and about remote workers tell a different story: Quiet Thriving: Employees succeeding quietly without seeking attention. Quiet overworking: The blending of work and home life by remote workers leading to employees working beyond normal hours and into the weekend. Proximity Bias: Favoring employees physically present in the office. Something’s wrong in the modern workplace, partly due to the coercion to make employees cope with an unpleasant commute, extra costs in clothes and gas, office interruptions, and rigid schedules incompatible with child-rearing and two-career households — all because management doesn’t feel comfortable with remote work. How remote work is changing our culture The remote work trend that gathered steam during the COVID-19 pandemic gave many people a taste of a lifestyle without commutes and office buildings. Reading the headlines, a casual reader feels there was a rush to remote work in 2020 and 2021, followed by a reversal in recent years. But that’s not what happened, exactly. In reality, on the whole, remote work rose steeply in the first two years of the pandemic and more or less stayed up. In 2019, some 9 million people worked remotely. In 2022, that number jumped to 50 million. And as of 2025, it was still around 36 million . Despite pushback against remote work, it’s still a big enough factor to change the culture in small and big ways . Remote work is reducing demand for office space, increasing suburban growth, shifting economic activity from urban cores to suburbs, driving migration to mid-sized and more affordable cities, expanding residential space needs, and reshaping workplace culture with greater flexibility (but less social interaction). The trend hasn’t been kind to some businesses, including downtown restaurants, coffee shops, dry cleaners, public transit systems, office supply retailers, urban gyms, corporate catering services, and commercial real estate firms focused on office leasing. Other business types, however, are booming: home office furniture companies, video conferencing and collaboration software providers, suburban real estate agencies, home improvement retailers, local delivery services, coworking space operators, and broadband internet providers. One of the biggest cultural changes is the rise in digital nomad living — working while traveling or temporarily living abroad. Before 2019, fewer than 10 million people lived as digital nomads globally. By the end of 2025, the number is expected to land somewhere between 50 million and 80 million people. And if the endless chatter on Reddit and other social sites is any indication, there is a huge number of people trying to figure out how to become digital nomads. On Reddit, people are constantly asking about how to get a “digital nomad job.” The truth is that there’s no such thing. A job is either remote, or it’s not. If it’s fully remote, then the employee is free to go wherever they want. Many companies have limited positions that are fully remote. And some companies are totally remote, with every employee in the company working remotely full-time. Companies friendly to remote work include: Affirm, Allstate, Amgen, Amplify, Atlassian, BELAY, CrowdStrike, Dropbox, HubSpot, Humana, Kraken, Pearson, Pinterest, Reddit, Ryder, Spotify, StackAdapt, Stride Inc., Twilio, and Vista. By late 2025, remote work is more popular than ever, office work less popular, and smart companies are saving money and attracting top employees by offering the flexibility and freedom of remote work as a perk. And now we know that workers will accept substantially less pay, just for the ability to work anywhere but in the office.

How to make workers happier with less pay

How to make workers happier with less pay

Workers want remote work so badly they’re willing to take a 25% pay cut to get it, according to a new study from economists at Harvard University, Brown University, and UCLA. The study published this week was conducted with Levels.fyi , a compensation benchmarking platform used primarily by technology professionals. The data included job offers, compensation packages, final job choices of survey participants, and whether roles were in-person, hybrid, or remote. Researchers also incorporated Glassdoor data on employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and local cost-of-living metrics. The key finding: workers were willing to forgo approximately a quarter of their pay for remote work, a figure three to five times larger than previous estimates. This is a shocking result, because earlier studies had typically estimated workers would only take a 5% to 10% pay cut. But that research was based on surveys, whereas the new report is based on real-world job decision-making. In other words, the older studies were based on claimed beliefs; the new data is based on actual, real-world decisions. This research suggests that, in theory, the price of four office worker salaries buys five remote workers. (In practice, there are also additional savings for remote employees because of reduced office-related expenses.) The research won’t make anyone happy. Pro-remote work advocates won’t like the implication that they can be given lower salaries; opponents won’t like stronger evidence that they should allow remote work . Why office mandates spawned a bevy of buzzwords and phrases It’s true that many jobs can’t be done remotely. When my kitchen catches fire, I don’t want the local firefighters working from home. For many employees forced by their employers to work in an office, it feels obvious that their physical presence is obsolete, thanks to remote work technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, project management, cloud storage, remote desktop access, team collaboration platforms, document sharing, and unified communications systems. Return-to-office mandates and workplace trends have strained the relationship between employees and employers. This strange new office world has also sparked dozens of phrases coined by disaffected employees to communicate their attitudes on social media. For example: Quiet Quitting: Doing the bare minimum at work without formally resigning . Quiet Firing: Passive-aggressive tactics to encourage employees to leave without formal termination . Quiet Hiring: Adding capacity without full-time hires, such as through contractors. Quiet Cutting: Subtle reduction of employee benefits or opportunities. Loud Quitting: Public and dramatic resignation announcements. Hushed Hybrid: Employees working from home without permission. Coffee Badging: Employees showing up briefly to “make an appearance” in the office, then leaving to work remotely. Great Resignation: A wave of employees quitting their jobs , often dramatically. Micro-Retiring: Gradually withdrawing from work responsibilities or retiring in stages. Acting Your Wage: Putting in effort proportional to one’s pay. Monk Mode: Intense focus periods with minimal distractions, often at home after hours. Performance Punishment: Being overloaded with others’ work due to one’s own high performance. Fake Happy: Pretending to be content while feeling exhausted. Woliday: Working during annual leave or vacation. Office Peacocking: Making offices attractive and flashy to entice employees back. Quitting Guilt: Feeling guilty after quitting an unhealthy job environment. Lazy Girl Job: Desire for low-effort, less demanding jobs. Snail Girl Era: Preference for a slower-paced work lifestyle. Hush Trips: Working remotely in undisclosed locations to avoid office interruptions. QuitTok: The subset of TikTok posts by people griping about their jobs. Boreout: Workplace boredom causing disengagement or mental health issues. Bare Minimum Mondays: Doing the least amount of work on Mondays. Career Cushioning: Preparing for job changes while maintaining current employment. Rage Applying: Applying to jobs out of frustration with a current job. Anti-Perks: Employee benefits that are unappealing or detrimental. Conscious Quitting: Intentionally quitting for personal or ethical reasons. These phrases are a collective cry for help. But buzzwords used by and about remote workers tell a different story: Quiet Thriving: Employees succeeding quietly without seeking attention. Quiet overworking: The blending of work and home life by remote workers leading to employees working beyond normal hours and into the weekend. Proximity Bias: Favoring employees physically present in the office. Something’s wrong in the modern workplace, partly due to the coercion to make employees cope with an unpleasant commute, extra costs in clothes and gas, office interruptions, and rigid schedules incompatible with child-rearing and two-career households — all because management doesn’t feel comfortable with remote work. How remote work is changing our culture The remote work trend that gathered steam during the COVID-19 pandemic gave many people a taste of a lifestyle without commutes and office buildings. Reading the headlines, a casual reader feels there was a rush to remote work in 2020 and 2021, followed by a reversal in recent years. But that’s not what happened, exactly. In reality, on the whole, remote work rose steeply in the first two years of the pandemic and more or less stayed up. In 2019, some 9 million people worked remotely. In 2022, that number jumped to 50 million. And as of 2025, it was still around 36 million . Despite pushback against remote work, it’s still a big enough factor to change the culture in small and big ways . Remote work is reducing demand for office space, increasing suburban growth, shifting economic activity from urban cores to suburbs, driving migration to mid-sized and more affordable cities, expanding residential space needs, and reshaping workplace culture with greater flexibility (but less social interaction). The trend hasn’t been kind to some businesses, including downtown restaurants, coffee shops, dry cleaners, public transit systems, office supply retailers, urban gyms, corporate catering services, and commercial real estate firms focused on office leasing. Other business types, however, are booming: home office furniture companies, video conferencing and collaboration software providers, suburban real estate agencies, home improvement retailers, local delivery services, coworking space operators, and broadband internet providers. One of the biggest cultural changes is the rise in digital nomad living — working while traveling or temporarily living abroad. Before 2019, fewer than 10 million people lived as digital nomads globally. By the end of 2025, the number is expected to land somewhere between 50 million and 80 million people. And if the endless chatter on Reddit and other social sites is any indication, there is a huge number of people trying to figure out how to become digital nomads. On Reddit, people are constantly asking about how to get a “digital nomad job.” The truth is that there’s no such thing. A job is either remote, or it’s not. If it’s fully remote, then the employee is free to go wherever they want. Many companies have limited positions that are fully remote. And some companies are totally remote, with every employee in the company working remotely full-time. Companies friendly to remote work include: Affirm, Allstate, Amgen, Amplify, Atlassian, BELAY, CrowdStrike, Dropbox, HubSpot, Humana, Kraken, Pearson, Pinterest, Reddit, Ryder, Spotify, StackAdapt, Stride Inc., Twilio, and Vista. By late 2025, remote work is more popular than ever, office work less popular, and smart companies are saving money and attracting top employees by offering the flexibility and freedom of remote work as a perk. And now we know that workers will accept substantially less pay, just for the ability to work anywhere but in the office.

How to make workers happier with less pay

How to make workers happier with less pay

Workers want remote work so badly they’re willing to take a 25% pay cut to get it, according to a new study from economists at Harvard University, Brown University, and UCLA. The study published this week was conducted with Levels.fyi , a compensation benchmarking platform used primarily by technology professionals. The data included job offers, compensation packages, final job choices of survey participants, and whether roles were in-person, hybrid, or remote. Researchers also incorporated Glassdoor data on employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and local cost-of-living metrics. The key finding: workers were willing to forgo approximately a quarter of their pay for remote work, a figure three to five times larger than previous estimates. This is a shocking result, because earlier studies had typically estimated workers would only take a 5% to 10% pay cut. But that research was based on surveys, whereas the new report is based on real-world job decision-making. In other words, the older studies were based on claimed beliefs; the new data is based on actual, real-world decisions. This research suggests that, in theory, the price of four office worker salaries buys five remote workers. (In practice, there are also additional savings for remote employees because of reduced office-related expenses.) The research won’t make anyone happy. Pro-remote work advocates won’t like the implication that they can be given lower salaries; opponents won’t like stronger evidence that they should allow remote work . Why office mandates spawned a bevy of buzzwords and phrases It’s true that many jobs can’t be done remotely. When my kitchen catches fire, I don’t want the local firefighters working from home. For many employees forced by their employers to work in an office, it feels obvious that their physical presence is obsolete, thanks to remote work technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, project management, cloud storage, remote desktop access, team collaboration platforms, document sharing, and unified communications systems. Return-to-office mandates and workplace trends have strained the relationship between employees and employers. This strange new office world has also sparked dozens of phrases coined by disaffected employees to communicate their attitudes on social media. For example: Quiet Quitting: Doing the bare minimum at work without formally resigning . Quiet Firing: Passive-aggressive tactics to encourage employees to leave without formal termination . Quiet Hiring: Adding capacity without full-time hires, such as through contractors. Quiet Cutting: Subtle reduction of employee benefits or opportunities. Loud Quitting: Public and dramatic resignation announcements. Hushed Hybrid: Employees working from home without permission. Coffee Badging: Employees showing up briefly to “make an appearance” in the office, then leaving to work remotely. Great Resignation: A wave of employees quitting their jobs , often dramatically. Micro-Retiring: Gradually withdrawing from work responsibilities or retiring in stages. Acting Your Wage: Putting in effort proportional to one’s pay. Monk Mode: Intense focus periods with minimal distractions, often at home after hours. Performance Punishment: Being overloaded with others’ work due to one’s own high performance. Fake Happy: Pretending to be content while feeling exhausted. Woliday: Working during annual leave or vacation. Office Peacocking: Making offices attractive and flashy to entice employees back. Quitting Guilt: Feeling guilty after quitting an unhealthy job environment. Lazy Girl Job: Desire for low-effort, less demanding jobs. Snail Girl Era: Preference for a slower-paced work lifestyle. Hush Trips: Working remotely in undisclosed locations to avoid office interruptions. QuitTok: The subset of TikTok posts by people griping about their jobs. Boreout: Workplace boredom causing disengagement or mental health issues. Bare Minimum Mondays: Doing the least amount of work on Mondays. Career Cushioning: Preparing for job changes while maintaining current employment. Rage Applying: Applying to jobs out of frustration with a current job. Anti-Perks: Employee benefits that are unappealing or detrimental. Conscious Quitting: Intentionally quitting for personal or ethical reasons. These phrases are a collective cry for help. But buzzwords used by and about remote workers tell a different story: Quiet Thriving: Employees succeeding quietly without seeking attention. Quiet overworking: The blending of work and home life by remote workers leading to employees working beyond normal hours and into the weekend. Proximity Bias: Favoring employees physically present in the office. Something’s wrong in the modern workplace, partly due to the coercion to make employees cope with an unpleasant commute, extra costs in clothes and gas, office interruptions, and rigid schedules incompatible with child-rearing and two-career households — all because management doesn’t feel comfortable with remote work. How remote work is changing our culture The remote work trend that gathered steam during the COVID-19 pandemic gave many people a taste of a lifestyle without commutes and office buildings. Reading the headlines, a casual reader feels there was a rush to remote work in 2020 and 2021, followed by a reversal in recent years. But that’s not what happened, exactly. In reality, on the whole, remote work rose steeply in the first two years of the pandemic and more or less stayed up. In 2019, some 9 million people worked remotely. In 2022, that number jumped to 50 million. And as of 2025, it was still around 36 million . Despite pushback against remote work, it’s still a big enough factor to change the culture in small and big ways . Remote work is reducing demand for office space, increasing suburban growth, shifting economic activity from urban cores to suburbs, driving migration to mid-sized and more affordable cities, expanding residential space needs, and reshaping workplace culture with greater flexibility (but less social interaction). The trend hasn’t been kind to some businesses, including downtown restaurants, coffee shops, dry cleaners, public transit systems, office supply retailers, urban gyms, corporate catering services, and commercial real estate firms focused on office leasing. Other business types, however, are booming: home office furniture companies, video conferencing and collaboration software providers, suburban real estate agencies, home improvement retailers, local delivery services, coworking space operators, and broadband internet providers. One of the biggest cultural changes is the rise in digital nomad living — working while traveling or temporarily living abroad. Before 2019, fewer than 10 million people lived as digital nomads globally. By the end of 2025, the number is expected to land somewhere between 50 million and 80 million people. And if the endless chatter on Reddit and other social sites is any indication, there is a huge number of people trying to figure out how to become digital nomads. On Reddit, people are constantly asking about how to get a “digital nomad job.” The truth is that there’s no such thing. A job is either remote, or it’s not. If it’s fully remote, then the employee is free to go wherever they want. Many companies have limited positions that are fully remote. And some companies are totally remote, with every employee in the company working remotely full-time. Companies friendly to remote work include: Affirm, Allstate, Amgen, Amplify, Atlassian, BELAY, CrowdStrike, Dropbox, HubSpot, Humana, Kraken, Pearson, Pinterest, Reddit, Ryder, Spotify, StackAdapt, Stride Inc., Twilio, and Vista. By late 2025, remote work is more popular than ever, office work less popular, and smart companies are saving money and attracting top employees by offering the flexibility and freedom of remote work as a perk. And now we know that workers will accept substantially less pay, just for the ability to work anywhere but in the office.

2 weird but wonderful Android launchers

2 weird but wonderful Android launchers

I think at this point, it’s safe to say I’m an Android launcher aficionado. (I think it’s also safe to both pat myself on the back and bop myself uponst the nose for coming up with such a delightfully dorky description. But I’ll save that for later.) Android launchers, if you aren’t familiar, are special tools that essentially take over your device’s default home screen and app drawer environments — empowering you to replace those core areas with something more customizable, more minimal, or maybe just more well-suited to you and the way you like to get stuff done. They’re without a doubt one of the best parts of this friendly little platform of ours and one of the reasons power users like myself could never even think about giving it up for that other mobile operating system. Android’s long been home to a whole host of interesting launcher options that can lead to enhanced efficiency and a better, more personally optimized all-around user experience. And every now and then, a new contender comes into the mix that really makes me — ahem, remember: Android launcher aficionado — sit up, take a pretentious-looking puff on my pink plastic bubble pipe, and issue a satisfied-sounding “Hm!” of delight. Today, m’dearie, is one of those days — doubled. Oh, yes: My never-ending Android explorations have led me to not one but two incredibly interesting new Android launcher options. They’re especially interesting not just because they’re effective but because they’re different — not only mildly tweaked copycats of the same concepts we’ve already got, as so often happens, but refreshingly inventive ideas that open up all sorts of new windows for how you can get around your device. They also both happen to tie into a touch of tech nostalgia and bring beloved concepts from the past back to the forefront in some clever new ways. So grab your own pink plastic bubble pipe, if you’ve got one, and allow me to make your introductions. [Get fresh Android-scented insights and advice in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter . Three new things to know and try each Friday!] Android launcher #1: The Nokia-style scribble surface It’s been a while since the name Nokia represented much more than nostalgia for most of us — but Snake-bearing block-phones aside, Nokia actually had a brief while of being a promising up-and-coming player here in the Android arena. That phase didn’t last for long, unfortunately, but the company left a lasting impression with one interesting idea it brought into the universe — and that’s a home screen that’s simple by design and all about scribble-oriented gestures. Yep — you read that right: You get around your phone by scribbling on the screen. And it’s actually surprisingly fast, easy, and intuitive. Now, an independent developer has brought the concept back to life in a free Android launcher called ReZ Launcher . At its core, ReZ Launcher shows you a swipeable stacked widget at its top — with a clock, calendar info, and media controls, when relevant. Beneath that is the start of an app list, which you can continue to see by swiping upward from the bottom of the screen. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?quality=50&strip=all 800w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=285%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=768%2C809&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=661%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 661w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=159%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 159w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=456%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 456w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=342%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 342w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=237%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 237w" width="800" height="843" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> Rez Launcher brings a simple interface to your Android home screen — with a special secret beneath its surface. JR Raphael, Foundry There’s an optional dock at the bottom, too, which you can set by long-pressing on any icons within the main app list. But the star of the show is that aforementioned scribbling: You can just use your finger to draw any letter anywhere on the home screen, and ReZ will instantly show you all the apps and — if you want — contacts that match. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?quality=50&strip=all 800w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=285%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=768%2C807&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=663%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 663w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=160%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 160w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=457%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 457w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=342%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 342w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=238%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 238w" width="800" height="841" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> Scribble any letter on the Rez Launcher home screen, and the app’s true magic is revealed. JR Raphael, Foundry You can keep scribbling more letters to narrow down the search further. It’s a swift and strangely satisfying way to find whatever you need without having to think about where it might be or spend any time searching. ReZ Launcher has a fair amount of options for customizing its interface and fine-tuning its actions, but the real appeal of it is its simplicity and that unconventional scribble-search setup it enables. It certainly stands out from the rest of the Android launcher pack and is a fun new possibility to play around with and see if it seems right for you. And the same is very much true for our next item. Android launcher #2: The live tile love-fest We’ve seen efforts to bring the Windows Phone tile-style interface into Android — quite effectively, too! — but a clever creation called Mur Launcher marks the first time I’ve seen someone successfully blend the concept of that era of design with a contemporary Android-specific approach to create an entirely new kind of home screen vibe. The result is incredibly interesting, to say the least. Mur organizes your apps into thematic categories and presents your most commonly used shortcuts in groups for easy ongoing access — with a look that very much feels like a marriage of Microsoft’s short-lived style and Google’s current Android-wide look. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2160w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=287%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 287w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=768%2C803&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=980%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 980w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=1469%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1469w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=1959%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1959w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=667%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 667w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=161%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 161w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=459%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 459w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=344%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 344w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=239%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 239w" width="980" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px"> Mur Launcher brings a thoughtful blend of classic and new to any Android device’s home screen. JR Raphael, Foundry One swipe over reveals a handy screen that lets you see upcoming calendar events, favorite contacts, and commonly opened apps at a glance — while a swipe up takes you to a simple scrolling list of all installed apps, with recently opened apps at the bottom and a useful alphabetical slider to jump around to any specific spot. A color-coordinated app drawer is one of the many interesting touches Mur Launcher enables. JR Raphael, Foundry That in and of itself is pretty darn distinctive. But Mur’s next-level step-up is its ability to let you create those aforementioned Windows-Phone-reminiscent live tiles, which bring dynamic content into the tiles on your home screen and let you see everything from playback controls to notification info within those same in-your-face spaces. That capability requires an upgrade to the app’s premium version, which costs a whopping 99 cents a month — or eight bucks a year, if you’d rather go annual. (There’s also a one-time $26 lifetime purchase option.) But the rest of the launcher is free, without any ads or interruptions. And just like the one before it, it’s unlike anything else out there — and an excellent illustration of the powerful potential of Android’s launcher ecosystem, even beyond the most popular and prominent players . For even more eye-opening knowledge, check out my free Android Intelligence newsletter — a trio of tasty tips like these directly in your inbox every Friday.

2 weird but wonderful Android launchers

2 weird but wonderful Android launchers

I think at this point, it’s safe to say I’m an Android launcher aficionado. (I think it’s also safe to both pat myself on the back and bop myself uponst the nose for coming up with such a delightfully dorky description. But I’ll save that for later.) Android launchers, if you aren’t familiar, are special tools that essentially take over your device’s default home screen and app drawer environments — empowering you to replace those core areas with something more customizable, more minimal, or maybe just more well-suited to you and the way you like to get stuff done. They’re without a doubt one of the best parts of this friendly little platform of ours and one of the reasons power users like myself could never even think about giving it up for that other mobile operating system. Android’s long been home to a whole host of interesting launcher options that can lead to enhanced efficiency and a better, more personally optimized all-around user experience. And every now and then, a new contender comes into the mix that really makes me — ahem, remember: Android launcher aficionado — sit up, take a pretentious-looking puff on my pink plastic bubble pipe, and issue a satisfied-sounding “Hm!” of delight. Today, m’dearie, is one of those days — doubled. Oh, yes: My never-ending Android explorations have led me to not one but two incredibly interesting new Android launcher options. They’re especially interesting not just because they’re effective but because they’re different — not only mildly tweaked copycats of the same concepts we’ve already got, as so often happens, but refreshingly inventive ideas that open up all sorts of new windows for how you can get around your device. They also both happen to tie into a touch of tech nostalgia and bring beloved concepts from the past back to the forefront in some clever new ways. So grab your own pink plastic bubble pipe, if you’ve got one, and allow me to make your introductions. [Get fresh Android-scented insights and advice in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter . Three new things to know and try each Friday!] Android launcher #1: The Nokia-style scribble surface It’s been a while since the name Nokia represented much more than nostalgia for most of us — but Snake-bearing block-phones aside, Nokia actually had a brief while of being a promising up-and-coming player here in the Android arena. That phase didn’t last for long, unfortunately, but the company left a lasting impression with one interesting idea it brought into the universe — and that’s a home screen that’s simple by design and all about scribble-oriented gestures. Yep — you read that right: You get around your phone by scribbling on the screen. And it’s actually surprisingly fast, easy, and intuitive. Now, an independent developer has brought the concept back to life in a free Android launcher called ReZ Launcher . At its core, ReZ Launcher shows you a swipeable stacked widget at its top — with a clock, calendar info, and media controls, when relevant. Beneath that is the start of an app list, which you can continue to see by swiping upward from the bottom of the screen. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?quality=50&strip=all 800w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=285%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=768%2C809&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=661%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 661w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=159%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 159w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=456%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 456w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=342%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 342w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=237%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 237w" width="800" height="843" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> Rez Launcher brings a simple interface to your Android home screen — with a special secret beneath its surface. JR Raphael, Foundry There’s an optional dock at the bottom, too, which you can set by long-pressing on any icons within the main app list. But the star of the show is that aforementioned scribbling: You can just use your finger to draw any letter anywhere on the home screen, and ReZ will instantly show you all the apps and — if you want — contacts that match. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?quality=50&strip=all 800w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=285%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=768%2C807&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=663%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 663w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=160%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 160w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=457%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 457w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=342%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 342w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=238%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 238w" width="800" height="841" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> Scribble any letter on the Rez Launcher home screen, and the app’s true magic is revealed. JR Raphael, Foundry You can keep scribbling more letters to narrow down the search further. It’s a swift and strangely satisfying way to find whatever you need without having to think about where it might be or spend any time searching. ReZ Launcher has a fair amount of options for customizing its interface and fine-tuning its actions, but the real appeal of it is its simplicity and that unconventional scribble-search setup it enables. It certainly stands out from the rest of the Android launcher pack and is a fun new possibility to play around with and see if it seems right for you. And the same is very much true for our next item. Android launcher #2: The live tile love-fest We’ve seen efforts to bring the Windows Phone tile-style interface into Android — quite effectively, too! — but a clever creation called Mur Launcher marks the first time I’ve seen someone successfully blend the concept of that era of design with a contemporary Android-specific approach to create an entirely new kind of home screen vibe. The result is incredibly interesting, to say the least. Mur organizes your apps into thematic categories and presents your most commonly used shortcuts in groups for easy ongoing access — with a look that very much feels like a marriage of Microsoft’s short-lived style and Google’s current Android-wide look. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2160w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=287%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 287w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=768%2C803&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=980%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 980w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=1469%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1469w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=1959%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1959w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=667%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 667w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=161%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 161w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=459%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 459w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=344%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 344w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=239%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 239w" width="980" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px"> Mur Launcher brings a thoughtful blend of classic and new to any Android device’s home screen. JR Raphael, Foundry One swipe over reveals a handy screen that lets you see upcoming calendar events, favorite contacts, and commonly opened apps at a glance — while a swipe up takes you to a simple scrolling list of all installed apps, with recently opened apps at the bottom and a useful alphabetical slider to jump around to any specific spot. A color-coordinated app drawer is one of the many interesting touches Mur Launcher enables. JR Raphael, Foundry That in and of itself is pretty darn distinctive. But Mur’s next-level step-up is its ability to let you create those aforementioned Windows-Phone-reminiscent live tiles, which bring dynamic content into the tiles on your home screen and let you see everything from playback controls to notification info within those same in-your-face spaces. That capability requires an upgrade to the app’s premium version, which costs a whopping 99 cents a month — or eight bucks a year, if you’d rather go annual. (There’s also a one-time $26 lifetime purchase option.) But the rest of the launcher is free, without any ads or interruptions. And just like the one before it, it’s unlike anything else out there — and an excellent illustration of the powerful potential of Android’s launcher ecosystem, even beyond the most popular and prominent players . For even more eye-opening knowledge, check out my free Android Intelligence newsletter — a trio of tasty tips like these directly in your inbox every Friday.

2 weird but wonderful Android launchers

2 weird but wonderful Android launchers

I think at this point, it’s safe to say I’m an Android launcher aficionado. (I think it’s also safe to both pat myself on the back and bop myself uponst the nose for coming up with such a delightfully dorky description. But I’ll save that for later.) Android launchers, if you aren’t familiar, are special tools that essentially take over your device’s default home screen and app drawer environments — empowering you to replace those core areas with something more customizable, more minimal, or maybe just more well-suited to you and the way you like to get stuff done. They’re without a doubt one of the best parts of this friendly little platform of ours and one of the reasons power users like myself could never even think about giving it up for that other mobile operating system. Android’s long been home to a whole host of interesting launcher options that can lead to enhanced efficiency and a better, more personally optimized all-around user experience. And every now and then, a new contender comes into the mix that really makes me — ahem, remember: Android launcher aficionado — sit up, take a pretentious-looking puff on my pink plastic bubble pipe, and issue a satisfied-sounding “Hm!” of delight. Today, m’dearie, is one of those days — doubled. Oh, yes: My never-ending Android explorations have led me to not one but two incredibly interesting new Android launcher options. They’re especially interesting not just because they’re effective but because they’re different — not only mildly tweaked copycats of the same concepts we’ve already got, as so often happens, but refreshingly inventive ideas that open up all sorts of new windows for how you can get around your device. They also both happen to tie into a touch of tech nostalgia and bring beloved concepts from the past back to the forefront in some clever new ways. So grab your own pink plastic bubble pipe, if you’ve got one, and allow me to make your introductions. [Get fresh Android-scented insights and advice in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter . Three new things to know and try each Friday!] Android launcher #1: The Nokia-style scribble surface It’s been a while since the name Nokia represented much more than nostalgia for most of us — but Snake-bearing block-phones aside, Nokia actually had a brief while of being a promising up-and-coming player here in the Android arena. That phase didn’t last for long, unfortunately, but the company left a lasting impression with one interesting idea it brought into the universe — and that’s a home screen that’s simple by design and all about scribble-oriented gestures. Yep — you read that right: You get around your phone by scribbling on the screen. And it’s actually surprisingly fast, easy, and intuitive. Now, an independent developer has brought the concept back to life in a free Android launcher called ReZ Launcher . At its core, ReZ Launcher shows you a swipeable stacked widget at its top — with a clock, calendar info, and media controls, when relevant. Beneath that is the start of an app list, which you can continue to see by swiping upward from the bottom of the screen. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?quality=50&strip=all 800w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=285%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=768%2C809&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=661%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 661w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=159%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 159w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=456%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 456w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=342%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 342w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-app-drawer.webp?resize=237%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 237w" width="800" height="843" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> Rez Launcher brings a simple interface to your Android home screen — with a special secret beneath its surface. JR Raphael, Foundry There’s an optional dock at the bottom, too, which you can set by long-pressing on any icons within the main app list. But the star of the show is that aforementioned scribbling: You can just use your finger to draw any letter anywhere on the home screen, and ReZ will instantly show you all the apps and — if you want — contacts that match. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?quality=50&strip=all 800w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=285%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=768%2C807&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=663%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 663w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=160%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 160w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=457%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 457w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=342%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 342w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-rez-launcher-scribble.webp?resize=238%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 238w" width="800" height="841" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> Scribble any letter on the Rez Launcher home screen, and the app’s true magic is revealed. JR Raphael, Foundry You can keep scribbling more letters to narrow down the search further. It’s a swift and strangely satisfying way to find whatever you need without having to think about where it might be or spend any time searching. ReZ Launcher has a fair amount of options for customizing its interface and fine-tuning its actions, but the real appeal of it is its simplicity and that unconventional scribble-search setup it enables. It certainly stands out from the rest of the Android launcher pack and is a fun new possibility to play around with and see if it seems right for you. And the same is very much true for our next item. Android launcher #2: The live tile love-fest We’ve seen efforts to bring the Windows Phone tile-style interface into Android — quite effectively, too! — but a clever creation called Mur Launcher marks the first time I’ve seen someone successfully blend the concept of that era of design with a contemporary Android-specific approach to create an entirely new kind of home screen vibe. The result is incredibly interesting, to say the least. Mur organizes your apps into thematic categories and presents your most commonly used shortcuts in groups for easy ongoing access — with a look that very much feels like a marriage of Microsoft’s short-lived style and Google’s current Android-wide look. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2160w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=287%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 287w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=768%2C803&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=980%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 980w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=1469%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1469w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=1959%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1959w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=667%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 667w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=161%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 161w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=80%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 80w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=459%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 459w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=344%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 344w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/android-launchers-mur-launcher-home-screen.jpg?resize=239%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 239w" width="980" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px"> Mur Launcher brings a thoughtful blend of classic and new to any Android device’s home screen. JR Raphael, Foundry One swipe over reveals a handy screen that lets you see upcoming calendar events, favorite contacts, and commonly opened apps at a glance — while a swipe up takes you to a simple scrolling list of all installed apps, with recently opened apps at the bottom and a useful alphabetical slider to jump around to any specific spot. A color-coordinated app drawer is one of the many interesting touches Mur Launcher enables. JR Raphael, Foundry That in and of itself is pretty darn distinctive. But Mur’s next-level step-up is its ability to let you create those aforementioned Windows-Phone-reminiscent live tiles, which bring dynamic content into the tiles on your home screen and let you see everything from playback controls to notification info within those same in-your-face spaces. That capability requires an upgrade to the app’s premium version, which costs a whopping 99 cents a month — or eight bucks a year, if you’d rather go annual. (There’s also a one-time $26 lifetime purchase option.) But the rest of the launcher is free, without any ads or interruptions. And just like the one before it, it’s unlike anything else out there — and an excellent illustration of the powerful potential of Android’s launcher ecosystem, even beyond the most popular and prominent players . For even more eye-opening knowledge, check out my free Android Intelligence newsletter — a trio of tasty tips like these directly in your inbox every Friday.