What Is an App Drawer in Android and How to Use It Optimally

Add Apps to the Home Screen

You can easily add your favorite apps to your home screen. This lets you open the app quickly instead of searching it in the app drawer.

Simply tap and hold the app icon in the app drawer and drag it to your home screen.

Search Apps in the App Drawer

Want to find an app from a large collection in the app drawer? Don’t worry; search for the app by typing its name in the search bar, and you can open it quickly.

Browse Apps by Category

Some launchers, like the default on my Xiaomi device, let you browse apps by category. This helps you view a large library of apps in an organized fashion.

If you like to browse apps sorted by category and your device doesn’t have this feature, you can download a third-party app launcher like Smart Launcher from the Google Play Store.

Sort Apps in the App Drawer

Some devices also allow you to sort apps in the app drawer. On a Samsung device, you can view apps in alphabetical order or sort them to see the most used apps first.

Tap on the three-dot icon at the top right corner of the app drawer and choose your sort mode.

Use the Scroll Bar to Quickly Scroll Through

Here’s another trick for quickly finding an app in the app drawer: Slide the scroll bar in the downward or upward direction to find apps by their first letter. I always use this to find an app on my mind.

As mentioned earlier, your device may not have many features built into its app drawer. You can always download a third-party app launcher from the Google Play Store, like Nova Launcher, Microsoft Launcher, or Niagara Launcher, to explore a wide range of features.