Mellowdrop is the indie studio behind Niagara Launcher. We’re a team of eight in the small city of Augsburg, Germany. We’re fully self-funded, and the whole company still fits around one big table.
It Started in a Basement
In 2016, our founder Peter started building a new home screen for his own Android phone. Being tired of the default and messy grid-based ones, he just couldn’t find a good alternative online, that was clean, simple and, importantly, free of ads.
That’s when his hobby project started in his parents’ basement. Together with his university friend Max, he built and shared early versions of their now joint experiment online and the response from the Android community was clear: Many people were looking for just the same thing.
Motivated by the overwhelmingly positive community feedback, the project grew quickly. That’s when Peter officially founded a small indie studio. For a while the two of them kept working from that same basement and turned Niagara Launcher more and more into what you can download today. Over time, Peter’s and Max’s friends (and friends of their friends) joined to help with design, business, research and marketing, and the project slowly grew into a company: Mellowdrop.
Today we’re a team of eight, working full time from our own small office in Augsburg. We’re still independent and still fully funded by the people who use Niagara Launcher. And what’s best about it: We still fit around one large lunch table. Meet the whole team on our about page.
Why a Home Screen?
The smartphone home screen is probably the most touched digital tool in people’s lives. Yet most of us just stick to the cluttered default, full of icons, widgets, and distractions. Things people never actively chose to use.
This is the initial problem Peter wanted to solve, and the one thing Niagara Launcher does best: Turning your phone’s most touched surface, the home screen, into a clean and intentional place to access what matters and to keep out distractions. Easy to reach with one hand, quick at finding apps, calm to look at.
Niagara Launcher Today: Millions of Downloads, Still Self-Funded
Niagara Launcher used to have only one user: Our founder Peter, using what he built for himself. Now the numbers look quite different (and to be honest, we’re sometimes still a bit baffled about the dimensions):
- More than 10 million downloads on Google Play with over 600,000 people using it every day
- A 4.7-star rating from more than 220,000 ratings (Google Play, September 2026)
Numbers aside, what we’re most happy about is that we remain fully self-funded and independent of investors. Why is this important? Without investors telling us to quickly make more money, we can focus on what users want without any ads, dark patterns or data selling.
And it works! Many of Niagara Launcher’s best features started as suggestions on our feedback board and enough people happily choose our Pro version, helping us to keep building a product that so many people (ourselves included) enjoy using every day.
Niagara Launcher is free, sets up in a minute, and switches back just as fast if it’s not for you.
What’s Next for Mellowdrop Studio
Right now, Mellowdrop Studio fully focuses on Niagara Launcher. The core idea behind Niagara Launcher though, intentional phone use, calm and clutter-free design, applies to much more than home screens. So who knows, maybe someday we’d like Mellowdrop to stand for more than one product.
Work With Us, or Write About Us
We’re a small team and we intend to stay one. But from time to time, we do grow carefully. Current openings are on our jobs page. If you’re covering Niagara Launcher or Mellowdrop, feel free to use our press kit for logos, screenshots, and wallpapers.
