Ask HN: I want a minimalist phone experience

I like my Pixel 5a but I don't want to see all the colored icons of the apps I have. I only want to see their names.

I'm now using the minimalist phone app [0]. It lets me favorite 3 apps (have 3 apps on my home screen), but there is a lot of wasted space. After the 3 apps are chosen, all others have to be searched for in the alphabetical list. But I want fast access to around 7 apps.

Is there a better solution than this? For someone looking for an optimized and minimalist smartphone experience

[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qqlabs.minimalistlauncher