Yesterday, we reported about a leaked Nexus Launcher, which Google is reportedly going to ship in its 2016 Nexus phones, the HTC Marlin and HTC Sailfish. Well, the Nexus Launcher APK, seems to have leaked online, and an XDA user uploaded it for the public to try out.

Head over to this page and download the zip file. If your device is rooted, and has a custom recovery like TWRP, you can flash the zip, to install it as a system app.

This is important if you need the swipe gesture for Google Now to work. But don’t worry, the app does work on unrooted devices too. Simply extract the NexusLauncherPrebuilt .apk from the Leaked_NexusLauncher.zip\system\priv-app\NexusLauncherPrebuilt folder. Install it using any file manager, after you have allowed installation of app from unknown sources.

We tested it on our Redmi Note 3, and the G button, which replaces the search widget does work. All you have to do is tap on it to bring up the search function. The app drawer icon is indeed gone, and has been replaced with the swipe up gesture (from the arrow and the dock). Performing the gesture displays the app drawer.