Emerald is a simple home screen for Android phones. It aims good performance while providing basic customization support.

F-Droid

Google Play

• Icon pack support;
• App and web search;
• App categories;
• History of last launched apps;
• Resizeable layout.

• Oreo+ shortcuts and package service;
• Some bug fixes and improvements.

• Swipe left or right to switch categories;
• Tap on category name to see the list of categories.

There are multiple options:

• Gradle;
• In Termux:

Some packages should be installed

$ pkg install aapt apksigner dx

If your Android version is 7.0 or higher

$ pkg install ecj

Otherwise

$ pkg install ecj4.6

Then navigate to the emerald project folder and run the script (it is recommended to edit paths in it first)

$ chmod u+x termux-build.sh
$ ./termux-build.sh

There are some methods to open settings without the main bar:

• Use Launcher Settings shortcut (pre-Oreo only).
• Press Recents/Menu button on the navigation bar(provided by system). Some devices may have different ways (For example, holding Back button on Galaxy phones).
• Use ActivityLauncher. Choose All activities > Emerald Launcher > .Options

Yes.

The launcher is most likely not to introduce widgets in future updates.

Partially. It isn't possible to do some actions (e.g. launch apps from menu), though some are available with keyboard shortcuts:

• Alt + number to launch n-th app/shortcut from dock.
• Alt + Up to open the categories list.
• Alt + Left/Right to switch categories.