You can easily get to the last Home Screen quickly by swiping right on the search bar (or the dots) right above the dock.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
App Library is useless
- Thread starter -BigMac-
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Best OS is not one that's highly configurable but one that's well optimized and minimally bloated.
Choice overload is a real thing. Too many choices are not good for the brain, which tends to shut down when faced with an excessive number of decisions to make. It's what made iOS successful in the first place. It was designed to be simple with the minimum number of options that work for most.
It's the same principle behind Steve Jobs wearing a black turtleneck/blue jeans every day, and Costco/TJ's carrying 2-3 products max in any category. They're both wildly favored.
Don't get me wrong. Having options is important, but excessive customization can be detrimental.
That said, the App Library (AL) is useless in its current state. I only keep two pages for a minimalistic look and use Spotlight for everything else. It’s really annoying that apps keep jumping around in the AL wasting time figuring out where they are. It’s not just the individual apps either but the entire folders. Would've liked it better if their prediction algorithms actually worked as intended.
Last edited:
Pro tip: Stop swiping beyond your last home page and you’ll never see the library ever again.
That’s how I wanted to use it originally. But I didn’t want to see all apps in the App Library. I just wanted to see the apps I removed from Home Screens. Alas, I must be the weird one because I don’t ever hear that talked about.
A toggle to have the current App Library with the categorised folders or simply the alphabetical app list would be good. Maybe some more customisation options too.
I do find the current state useful, mainly for quickly accessing recently downloaded apps that I haven’t placed on a Home Screen. I’ll often download an app to try out for a bit so I’ll forget it’s there or not recall the name, so that recently added folder is quite handy from time to time.
I do find the current state useful, mainly for quickly accessing recently downloaded apps that I haven’t placed on a Home Screen. I’ll often download an app to try out for a bit so I’ll forget it’s there or not recall the name, so that recently added folder is quite handy from time to time.
I will say, this has been one of the more interesting threads I’ve read in a while. Lots of interesting ideas without the squabbles. 🤓
No, I don't think it's just you. That would be useful. As would a toggle to set the alphabetical list as default, rather than first showing icons in categories. One thing coming out from this thread is that the majority of commenters don't think the App Library is Useless, but what they would like is it to be more customisable, which is fair enough. Don't remove functionality, just give options to the individual user to be able to use or not use the functionality in the way they want.
Last edited:
That’s good to hear. I completely agree about it needing customization. I gave some ideas in post #33. I think they need to treat it like any other list and provide filters and sorting options.
I love it.
Removed every screen of apps, stopped being a slave to constantly re-arranging, re-organising....
Took the most useful apps with widgets and created screens of widgets...
and all the apps reside in the App Library.
My only criticism of the app library layout is that the sections seem to move around which is annoying when you get used to one being in a particular location - and that the categories are set arbitrarily by the developer and sometimes those categories seem wrong.
Removed every screen of apps, stopped being a slave to constantly re-arranging, re-organising....
Took the most useful apps with widgets and created screens of widgets...
and all the apps reside in the App Library.
My only criticism of the app library layout is that the sections seem to move around which is annoying when you get used to one being in a particular location - and that the categories are set arbitrarily by the developer and sometimes those categories seem wrong.
I don't use App Library day to day so it just sits there almost entirely unused, just like the Launchpad in macOS. But also it's not exactly destroying my life that it's there. Honestly, I think sometimes people are just looking for stuff to get up in arms about.
Well, well, well, I learned something today! Shows you how much I've been ignoring the App Library 😉. Thanks!
Like you, it doesn’t bother me that it’s there. I wish they would improve it though.
But when it first released I was pretty upset that I couldn’t turn it off. For me it was this feeling that my iPhone was no longer mine. Plus I had disappointment because I really wanted to like and use the feature. I took some deep breaths and reminded myself it wasn’t that big of a deal.
That looks great, clean and simple. I’m assuming you made the Control Panel shortcut with the Shortcuts app, how did you set the icon? I couldn’t find one that matched :/
just found an icon and ran it through ChatGPT to make it. little colorful
Attachments
I don't mind the App Library, but my main gripe with it is the "Recently Added" category. This just shows the last apps that were downloaded, which could have been months or even years ago. I rarely download new apps, and I hate that my last downloaded apps are essentially stuck there forever...especially if it's one that I don't really care to be shown front and center on that screen. Even an old app can get stuck in "Recently Added" if you had to delete and reinstall it. I wish it only showed apps that were downloaded within the last week or month.
Also, in my case, the last three apps I downloaded are shown prominently in other categories. I don't need the app icon to show up in multiple places on the same screen; it's wasting screen space. This can be seen in the OP's screenshot. Most of the app icons in "Recently Added" are shown somewhere else.
Also, in my case, the last three apps I downloaded are shown prominently in other categories. I don't need the app icon to show up in multiple places on the same screen; it's wasting screen space. This can be seen in the OP's screenshot. Most of the app icons in "Recently Added" are shown somewhere else.
Very confident, but very wrong. The App Library operates differently to a regular springboard page of apps in ways that make it easier to scan through your whole library (either by admittedly bad categorisation or alphabetical list) or to set up different homescreens for different focus modes that have some common apps replicated across them.
You may not like these features, but that doesn’t make them pointless.
I Was thrilled when Apple added the App Library. It has saved me hours of fiddling around with my home screens. This is by far my preferred method of accessing my apps. My only wishlist item is that Apple would let us customize the categories on the category page, and that is a small wish for me. I love the simplicity and convenience of the App Library.
Last edited:
I was thinking a setting on a per app basis with a dropdown of the categories.
I think you summarized well the reasons many like and use the App Library.
For some of us we like curating the apps on the Home Screens.
I do like that Apple offers different options for people.
Nah.. this is a YOU problem. Also this is sooo far down the totem pole of priorities. What really is the point of a toggle? If you dont want to see it, why even go to the very last page of the Home Screen?
So many solutions.
Do you put every app on the desktop? I have 0 apps on the home screen. Only Widgets and a blank screen so I can actually see my wallpaper.
So many solutions.
Do you put every app on the desktop? I have 0 apps on the home screen. Only Widgets and a blank screen so I can actually see my wallpaper.
The only thing I dislike about App Library are the categories. They’re better than nothing, but I’d prefer to make my own like launch pad.
