iOS App Library: love it or hate it?

[decafjava]

Useless feature, but it doesn’t bother me since I never swipe to the App Library screen. ??❌

Quite agree, I like the way I organise my apps but it doesn't bother me and may be useful for other users.

 

[shenfrey]

Neither like nor dislike. I use it, but only because it’s there. Could live without it.

 

[AMTYVLE]

I wish we can shrink the App Library page so all the category blocks fit on the screen without having to scroll down...If we can do that I'd use the App Library 24/7.

Also, if we had the option get of the category blocks Suggestions and Recently Added.

 

[alstrike]

Coming back to iOS after almost 9 years it's a godsend for me, absolutely love it.

 

[mrochester]

I never use it so it’s as if it didn’t exist for me.

 

[Big Bad D]

Don’t use it - but doesn’t bother me that is there.

 

[webbga]

Now that the App Library is out there for quite a while, what is your take on the feature?

I like it. Good place to store apps that I use only occasionally and out of sight.

 

[ToadyBlegh]

I absolutely loathe it. I have all my Apps on a single page and then there's this other page, apparently ordered by an idiot. It's pointless and, while many would argue I could ignore it, it's there. I made the mistake of updating to 14.5, so I am now waiting for Cydian to catch up so I can jailbreak it and install the App Library Disabler. It's 196kb, that's how easy it is to give users the option to turn off this rubbish, which makes Apple's Mother Knows Best attitude all the more infuriating.

 

[Traverse]

I'm a bit of a hybrid between options 2 & 3. I love App Library as I've been hoping for an "app drawer" on iOS for a while. I have a handful of application that I use on a daily basis all saved to a sing Home Screen (with two folders to group similar apps). Everything outside of this muscle-memory group I only ever found by searching.

With App Library I was able to get rid of the "Apps" folder that had everything else in a random order and gained an additional slot on my home screen.

 

[Vangeli]

Let us uninstall apps in the App Library instead of defaulting to add an icon to the Home Screen where it can then be deleted. I have a single page Home Screen, having to create a second page to delete an app is annoying as it usually shifts an app or tile from the main Home Screen to the second page and everything has to be reorganized.

Can also delete apps through the iPhone storage in settings but that also feels unnecessary.

 

[no0nefamous]

I like it. I have always had my most used apps on my main screen. I keep the widgets to the widget screen. I used to use a second page with all my other apps in folders, but now the App Library does this for me automatically. I like having my phone set up so everything is basically one swipe up, down, left, or right.

 

[freakomac]

The app library would be more useful in iPadOS

 

[Apple_Robert]

Let us uninstall apps in the App Library instead of defaulting to add an icon to the Home Screen where it can then be deleted. I have a single page Home Screen, having to create a second page to delete an app is annoying as it usually shifts an app or tile from the main Home Screen to the second page and everything has to be reorganized.

Can also delete apps through the iPhone storage in settings but that also feels unnecessary.

You can delete apps in the App Library. No need to move an app to the Home Screen to delete. Long press on the app you want to delete in the App Library and then you should see the submenu come up with delete as one of the options. I just tried it before I posted and it works.

I really like the library more than I did to begin with. It is nice not having to make folders and everything is still easy to find.

 

[Regbial]

I kind of love it... lets me hide away apps I rarely use... keep things clean. Less pages...

 

[tomtattoo]

I still cannot believe that I like it. I was used to organize my apps - sometimes up to 400 - in a perfect system of folders after years of optimizing and spending dozends of hours to find that optimum.
Right now: widgtes in today view - one homescreen without widgets or folders - app library.
Perhaps I´m only getting old and lazy. And: for the first time since 2012 I´m using swipe down, typing two letters to start an app. Before app library swiping down was under my dignity.

 

[fatTribble]

I want to like it. I’ve given it several chances, but I still don’t like it. It surfaces the same apps that are on my Home Screen. Apps that I frequently use together are often in different categories. The search in App Library is the same as the swipe down on the main screen so I just use that. What would help me is if App Library only had the apps that I’ve hidden from my Home Screen. Then I wouldn’t have to search through everything when looking for a rarely used app.

 

[ToadyBlegh]

I want to like it. I’ve given it several chances, but I still don’t like it. It surfaces the same apps that are on my Home Screen. Apps that I frequently use together are often in different categories. The search in App Library is the same as the swipe down on the main screen so I just use that. What would help me is if App Library only had the apps that I’ve hidden from my Home Screen. Then I wouldn’t have to search through everything when looking for a rarely used app.

Frustratingly, if you needed an App Library you have always had the ability to create your own simply by creating a folder and using it to (for example) store Apps that you don't frequently use in a format that suits you. The App Library doesn't solve any problem, it just adds an extra, completely pointless pagee with Apps sorted in an entirely arbitrary and illogical way. It's a strange corporate artifact, in many ways, as it is clearly produced by monitoring "industry best practice" to generate a proposal that was then workshopped in a committee of marketers before being sent to some poor programmer with no proper briefing to make it a reality and then sold as "the next best thing". The result is exactly what you would expect.

 

[couldbeanything]

Now that the App Library is out there for quite a while, what is your take on the feature?

I don’t like it at all, wish I could turn it off.

I don’t like it, already have my apps sorted my way. it now takes me more swipes to get to some apps than before.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I don’t like it at all, wish I could turn it off.

I don’t like it, already have my apps sorted my way. it now takes me more swipes to get to some apps than before.

Why does it? Just leave all your apps the same as they were before. The App Library is at the end and doesn’t increase any swipe for you or anyone else. Frankly, it’s useful to get rid of apps that you need but never access, like extensions or blockers or such like. Makes little difference to anything else.

 

[iGeneo]

I like it.. what I would change?

TL;DR keep the pre-defined Folders. Have them static or let me rearrange. Allow apps to have option for Folder

1 Allow the folders to be static, and possibly rearranged.
2 Allow me to change the category of apps

I really only care about #1, but adding in option #2 that should appease 95% of the users. Though, many apps are mis-categorized. TestFlight in Utilities, but TestFlight apps are in the TestFlight folder? if you have the TestFlight app, chances you have TestFlight app(s) Does xSearch (Safari Extension) belong in productivity? I suppose you could make that argument, but I think it belongs in utilities with 1Blocker and Amplosion.

Why is Slack & teams in "Business" on iPad and in "Productivity" on iPhone? Doesn't PhotoBooth belong in "Photo & Video" instead of "Entertainment"

I have one home screen and the App library. I have a hidden screen that I activate when I travel and it has the apps I use for that trip. Oftentimes, I move make it the homescreen

 

[jon9091]

I‘ve glanced at it, but I already have my apps in folders organized the way I want. So…it’s useless to me.