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Get the Galaxy S8 Launcher on your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge (Nougat)
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are set to be released later this month. The smartphones will deliver a bunch of new apps and features, many of which you might have already seen. But for those of you rocking a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge with Android Nougat, you can even get your hands on some of them right now.
Courtesy of a couple of folks over at the XDA Developers forums, you can now download and install the Galaxy S8’s launcher onto your S7/S7 Edge.
The seven-step procedure outlined in the forums doesn’t require root privileges, and it doesn’t appear to be especially complicated, but it means setting up a shortcut to the APK file to install it immediately after a device restart. Once installed, this will give you new look and feel of the Galaxy S8’s home screen and apps.
Samsung’s new AI Bixby is also included with the launcher if you swipe to the right of the home screen. However, it’s reportedly unstable.
Meanwhile, you can also install the Nav keys included in the Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge on some Samsung devices. These are made up of the new on-screen Home, Recent Apps, and Return keys which replace the capacitive and physical home buttons of previous Galaxy devices.
The uploader says that the nav bar was only tested on a Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Galaxy Note 5, and may not work with other devices. However, as they’re compatible with the S8 launcher, they may work with the S7 and S7 Edge too.
Though the new recent apps button looks pretty nifty, installing the new nav bar will, of course, mean you have two sets of buttons on your handset: the physical and the new touchscreen ones. Just thought I’d mention it.