How many apps practice you take on your phone? Enquiry suggests that the typical user installs 2-3 apps each month, which amounts to quite a lot over fourth dimension. At concluding count I had 97 of them.

Only keeping rail of what you lot take and where they are tin can be difficult. Fortunately, Android has many clever means to find and launch apps. Here's five of the best for you to attempt.

one. Utilize Your Home Screens Properly

The easiest way to launch apps on Android is to brand full use of your domicile screens. Android is designed with both an app drawer, which contains everything installed on your phone, and multiple home screen panels, onto which you lot can place only the apps you use often.

android-home-screens

By default, the Play Shop is set to add together app shortcuts to the dwelling house screen automatically. Yous might desire to turn this off if you install a lot of apps, or if yous accept a lot of habitation screen panels with gaps — equally the apps will be placed into the first available spot. Go to Settings  in the Play Store app and deselect Add icon to Dwelling screen to disable the feature.

Yous probably already have a programme for organizing your abode screens. If you but utilise app icons, then you should make good use of folders to group them together. If you apply widgets equally well then information technology can be useful to dedicate an entire domicile screen panel to each category of app. So, you'd have your most used apps on the principal screen, with divide panels for media apps and widgets, work apps, games, and and so on.

There'southward no real performance hit from having multiple habitation screen panels, so brand utilize of them.

2. Launch Apps with Your Vocalisation

The Google App installed on every Android phone enables you to launch whatsoever app without even needing to touch the screen.

open-apps-with-voice

Either tap the microphone in the Search bar or use the "Ok Google" command — you may need to turn it on in the Google appSettings > Voice > "Ok Google Detection" — then simply enquire to "open up" or "launch" the app of your choice.

Information technology works with 3rd-political party apps as well as built-in ones, then long as you lot can remember the proper noun and pronounce it clearly. Of the apps I use, Google refuses to recognize unusual names similar FotMob (the soccer scores app) or Twidere (one of the best Twitter clients). More commonly named apps like Spotify and Pocket Casts work just fine.

3. Search for Apps by Name

Information technology can hard to observe apps when y'all've got lots of them installed. You tin't always remember what an app is chosen, or what its icon looks similar.

search-for-apps

In the Google Now and Pixel launchers, there's a fixed search bar at the height of the app drawer and then y'all tin search for them manually. If you can't remember an app's name, it doesn't matter — the search results update with every graphic symbol yous enter, so y'all normally only demand to type one or two messages to find what you're looking for. (Pro tip: long press the app drawer icon to open the app drawer, highlight the search box, and open the keyboard all in a single move.)

A similar option is present in other launchers. In Nova, for instance, you lot can search apps by swiping down in the app drawer. Here, y'all can filter the results to highlight your nearly used apps, recently used apps, and apps that have been updated.

4. Use Gestures

A few manufacturers have experimented with motion gestures as a way to launch apps, and a few bones ones have been congenital into stock Android since Marshmallow.

The thought is that you lot flick your wrist in a particular way and the photographic camera app volition open up. Information technology works even when the screen is turned off.

gestures

Twisty Launcher is one of a few apps on the Play Store that enables y'all to build on this. Information technology gives you three gestures — a flip, a twist, and a chop. You can assign whichever apps you want to them. Although it takes a scrap of practice, information technology's a handy way to access a favorite app when you're loaded upwards with grocery numberless and can't really prod the screen.

5. Launch Apps from Anywhere

As nosotros use our phones for more and more things, it isn't uncommon to constantly use multiple apps at the same fourth dimension. Still, having to go via the home screen or app drawer to launch them will but slow yous downwardly. A better solution is to be able to launch apps from anywhere.

This is the promise of Activity Launcher iii. Upgrade to the Plus version through an in-app purchase and you get access to 2 "quick drawers" that piece of work in any app.

action-launcher

Swipe your finger in from the left edge of the screen to run across a listing of every app installed on your phone. Swipe from the right and yous get a fully performance home screen panel, complete with widgets. It means you never have to exit your current app to launch, or merely peek into, a new one.

Bonus Ways to Launch Apps

These five ways of launching apps complement one another. You've got the basic habitation screen, hands-complimentary options, and methods for power users and multi-taskers.

Want even more? Okay, here you go:

  • The Tiles app lets you add an app launcher to the Quick Settings console in Nougat.
  • Smart Launcher 3 automatically sorts your apps into categories.
  • Use AppDialer Pro [No Longer Bachelor] to launch apps by typing their names on a popular-up T9 keypad.
  • Glovebox enables you to access your favorite apps and shortcuts through a slide out bill of fare.
  • If you aren't keen on Google Now, endeavour Microsoft'due south Cortana for vocalization controlled app-launching.

The beauty of Android is that if yous don't like how it does something, there are countless alternatives to use instead.

How exercise you launch apps? How do yous organize your home screens? Do have a favorite launcher? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Originally written by Erez Zukerman on November 15th, 2011.

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About The Author

Andy Betts (216 Articles Published)

Andy is a freelance writer and junior editor for Android at MUO. He's been writing about consumer tech since the early 2000s for a wide range of publications, and has a passion for all things mobile.

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