If you haven’t noticed, our 2025-era Android phones are extremely powerful compared to full desktop PCs from 24 years ago. That means, in theory, you should be able to run something that at least looks like Windows XP without a hitch.
Now, a developer has done just that and released it free to the world, and it’s ridiculously good.
- Working home screen, with desktop icons that can be renamed and changed (included are a bunch of icons from the era)
- Working Start Menu as an app launcher
- Gestures (swipe down, up, and right for notifications, Start menu/search, and favorite app, respectively)
- Included wallpapers from the era, 3D pipes screen saver, and customization options
- Calendar & Weather Integration
- Windows Update (just checks my server for a new APK version and lets you download it)
As if that wasn’t enough, the developer even coded “retro apps, all coded from scratch to be as close as possible to the original but work on modern phones,” including:
- Internet Explorer 6 – works as a browser (hold the homepage button to set the current page as the homepage)
- Winamp – plays local files
- Notepad – for storing notes, but included tabs as well
- Phone Dialer – working phone with basic features and speed dial
- Registry Editor – to check locally stored settings, modify, export/sync to your Google Drive to later restore easily
- 2 games: Minesweeper & Solitaire
Perhaps the biggest surprise in running this launcher was just how complete it all feels. There are just tons of little moments that delight.
How well does it run?
I’ve been using the Windows Android Launcher for the last few hours on my recently reviewed Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and I was even surprised by how well it handles that form factor, with really no issues jumping between folded and unfolded. Obviously, being unfolded, I get a “fuller” desktop experience, so in some ways this is even more ideal than your standard non-folding Android phone.
Obviously, you need to sideload the free 72MB launcher, which is a security risk for some, and you may need to disable some firewalls on your phone to do that (like Auto-blocker on Samsung). You also need to give it some permissions manually, e.g., location for weather, etc., to get the full experience, so this isn’t quite as polished as a Google Play Store app (due to copyright issues, such a launcher can’t go into the Play store, hence the forum release).
But here’s the bottom line: Overall, I’m blown away by how many little things are coded into this launcher to recreate the Windows XP experience. Whether it’s changing the wallpaper, enabling the 3D Pipes screensaver (which actually works), bringing up the retro phone dialer (which works), and the way the dev has made it all functional on our modern phones is extremely impressive.
User beware: Is it worth the risk?
One concern is that this project is not on GitHub (so, we can’t view the code), and with updates from the author’s server, even if the app is safe today, a future update could change all of that, putting your phone at risk.
As noted in comments, the developer, Gorjan Jovanovski, has his own Wikipedia page and is a “Macedonian eco-activist, entrepreneur and software engineer, working on raising awareness about air pollution through technology.”
That means he’s not some anon, and this is very likely just a passion project, but if you are concerned about privacy and security, your best bet is probably to not install this or wait to see if it goes open-source/GitHub so more scrutiny can be offered to the code.
Will I stick with it once the novelty wears off? Maybe. I’m a pretty big fan of Samsung’s OneUI (especially paired with GoodLock), but I may keep fiddling with this Windows XP style for a while.
Either way, if you love Windows XP and are looking for some fun on your Android phone, you should definitely install this launcher over lunch today and relish how good it is.
Grab the APK and read more about the app on Reddit, and let me know in the comments what you think of it once you try it!
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