Themes

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Themes is that it does not dress itself up as an original design studio. The developer, The Gosa Design, is upfront that this is an unofficial collection: themes pulled from the official Themes Store and gathered into one place so you can browse them. For a personalization app carrying more than 50 million installs and a 4.0 average across roughly 797,000 ratings, that positioning matters. You are not buying into a new theme engine; you are getting a catalog and a hand-off.

That shapes who it is for. If you own a Xiaomi Mi or Redmi, a Samsung Galaxy, an Oppo or a Realme and you enjoy changing how the phone looks, the appeal is having a wide pool of options in a single app rather than hunting through the store yourself. The app offers more than 3,000 themes and 9,000 wallpapers, which is a lot of ground to cover before you settle on something.

The app is free to download, carries ads and offers in-app purchases, and it has been in the store since October 2019. It suits anyone who wants an easy way to browse and preview themes, since the app concentrates on browsing and previewing.

Browsing themes when you want a new look

The core job here is discovery. You open the app, look through the theme collection, and pick something that fits the phone you carry. The developer draws the material from the official Themes Store, so what you are really getting is a curated pass over designs that already exist there, presented together with a focus on the more creative and higher-quality end of that pool.

What appeals to me about this arrangement is the breadth without the commitment. Somebody who changes their home screen every few weeks can flip through options quickly, see what is available for their handset, and only then decide whether to go ahead. The catalog is not limited to one brand either, which helps if you move between a Xiaomi phone and a Samsung one, or you are setting up a device for someone else.

The trade-off is that the app is a pointer, not the destination. Choosing a theme takes you out to the Themes Store, and the installation happens there, free of charge. So the experience depends on that second step working smoothly for you. I would go in expecting the app to do the finding and the store to do the finishing.

Wallpapers for quick changes

Wallpapers are the lighter-weight half of the app, and for many people they will be the reason to keep it installed. There are said to be more than 9,000 of them, which is a large enough library that you can refresh the background of a phone regularly without repeating yourself. Swapping a wallpaper is a lower-commitment change than reworking an entire theme, and it is the sort of thing you might do when a season turns or you simply want the screen to feel different.

Wallpaper loading is faster now, which suggests the developer has been paying attention to how quickly images appear as you scroll. That is the right thing to prioritize in a browsing app, since waiting on thumbnails is what makes people give up on a catalog. The same update mentions general fixes for stability.

Because this is a personalization app rather than a photo editor or a design tool, the value sits in the size of the collection and how easy it is to move through it. If you like having a deep bench of images to choose from, the numbers here are the selling point.

What installing a theme actually involves

The setup is unusual enough to be worth spelling out. Installing a theme takes you to the Themes Store, where you download your pick for free. The app is the front door and the store is where the work gets done.

It also means an extra hop every time you want to apply something, which is the price of the catalog approach. For anyone already comfortable with the official store, this is a familiar path with a friendlier browsing experience in front of it.

One practical warning comes straight from the developer: some themes may not open in your area because they are inaccessible in your region. That is a regional restriction on certain items, and it is worth knowing before you spend time browsing a theme you cannot get.

Ads, subscriptions and notifications

The app is free and ad-supported, and the recent changes describe a subscription that disables ads, framing the banners as unnecessary and distracting. That is the clearest statement of what the paid option does. If banner advertising bothers you while you browse, the subscription exists for exactly that reason.

The developer says new themes and wallpapers are added regularly, and promotions are announced through the app.

I would weigh those two things together. A free catalog with ads and promotional messages is a reasonable trade for the amount of material on offer, but it is a trade, and the subscription is the lever if the advertising is what stands between you and enjoying the browsing.

Phones and people this suits

This is built for owners of Xiaomi Mi, Redmi, Samsung Galaxy, Oppo and Realme handsets who want a broad selection of themes and wallpapers without paying for the browsing itself. It is rated for Everyone. If you enjoy customizing your home screen and you like having options in front of you, the format will feel natural.

The scale of the install base, past 50 million, tells you this approach resonates with a lot of people who want variety without a learning curve. The 4.0 average across that many ratings suggests a broadly satisfied audience rather than a niche one, though averages at this volume always hide a range of experiences.

Where it will not fit is anyone hoping for original designs made specifically for this app. The app collects and redirects; the store installs. Knowing that going in is the difference between finding it useful and finding it frustrating.

A catalog worth keeping for phone customizers

Themes does one job and does it at scale: it puts thousands of themes and wallpapers in front of you and sends you to the official store to install them free. The regional restrictions on some items and the extra step to install are real caveats, but they are the natural consequence of an unofficial catalog rather than flaws in the idea.

I would suggest it to anyone with a Xiaomi, Redmi, Samsung, Oppo or Realme phone who changes their look often and wants a single place to browse. The free download makes it easy to try, and the ad-disabling subscription is there if banners get in the way.

If you want a wide, regularly refreshed selection and you do not mind a redirect, it is a sensible thing to have installed.

What's new in version 8.2

✨ Subscription with ad disabling - enjoy the app without unnecessary, distracting banners ⚡ Faster wallpaper loading for instant results 🛠️ Additional improvements and fixes for stable operation