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App Library: I hate it

C DM said:
They end up with pages and pages of randomly placed apps based on when they just download them. This way they don't need to have pages and pages of them and just the App Library that keeps things in one place with some sort of organization (even if it could be improved) that's better than just apps randomly across pages.
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I have mates with phones like that and I say to them why don’t you use folders. They reply they don’t like folders so I’m sure they won’t like the random folders of the App Library.

On a side note I’ve just taken a good look of my library is it madness.

I have various store cards sitting in different categories. Some in shopping. Some in utilities.

I have apps for my car now scattered in Travel and Other.

UPS app is in Productivity. DPD (like UPS) in Other.

It’s pure guess work as to what is located where and it is for this very reason I turn off all iOS Siri suggestions because certainly for me 90% of any suggestion is always wrong.
 
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Pagemakers said:
I have mates with phones like that and I say to them why don’t you use folders. They reply they don’t like folders so I’m sure they won’t like the random folders of the App Library.

On a side note I’ve just taken a good look of my library is it madness.

I have various store cards sitting in different categories. Some in shopping. Some in utilities.

I have apps for my car now scattered in Travel and Other.

UPS app is in Productivity. DPD (like UPS) in Other.

It’s pure guess work as to what is located where and it is for this very reason I turn off all iOS Siri suggestions because certainly for me 90% of any suggestion is always wrong.
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Seems like the developers and Apple need to sort out the categories better.
 
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TiggrToo said:
Yeah...very confusing...

And I still don't get how @Jack Neill's icons were somehow scattered from the folder they were once in. And he's not saying - most suspicious...
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Not suspicious. On 13.7 on my Home Screen I had a folder with certain apps. On 14.0, yes I still have same folder. App Library predetermines where everything should go, they are now scattered everywhere. It makes no sense. Ditching folders on the Home Screen and using just App Library is jarring because it is a terrible app launcher.
 
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QCassidy352 said:
But they are automatically added to the Home Screen. They’re just added to the furthest right page, which is now called the App Library. It’s still the Home Screen. It still has app icons in a grid. It’s just a page of the home screen that you have no control over and that duplicates other pages.
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The App Library is not a home screen page. It’s treated very differently visually and does not appear as a page in the UIPageControl above the dock.
 
I'm not crazy about it for myself , I'm very organized and have my apps in labeled folders on screen 2 . For my husband on the other hand , the library will be wonderful as his phone is a mess ;-))))

UPDATE : I've decided to try it out for a couple of days and have hidden my page of folders . I'm thinking that if one day I have to reset my phone from scratch , I might not have the courage to redo all my folders once more and be VERY happy to have the App Library to save me the headache !

I don't want to be negative without giving it a chance . I'm sure  will sort things differently in the future .
 
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Jack Neill said:
Exactly, it makes no sense. I had all the Google apps in 1 folder, now they are scattered everywhere in a mess across the app library. It will take some time to get used to. I suppose a real app launcher with modest abilities is too much to ask...
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Jack Neill said:
Not suspicious. On 13.7 on my Home Screen I had a folder with certain apps. On 14.0, yes I still have same folder. App Library predetermines where everything should go, they are now scattered everywhere. It makes no sense. Ditching folders on the Home Screen and using just App Library is jarring because it is a terrible app launcher.
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It sounds like the original folder is still there and can still be used just as before (and App Library, like various other features that people don't make use of, doesn't need to be used).
 
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Hurricane season: we've gone from Wilfred to Alpha just now which means tropical storm Twenty-Two in the Gulf will most likely be Beta.

So, this thread is what I need right now. :cool:
 
C DM said:
They end up with pages and pages of randomly placed apps based on when they just download them. This way they don't need to have pages and pages of them and just the App Library that keeps things in one place with some sort of organization (even if it could be improved) that's better than just apps randomly across pages.
Click to expand...
This is pretty much exactly my use case for the App Library. I’ve never really cared to sit down and organize my apps, and when I’ve tried I’ve almost immediately grown to hate it, gotten tired of it halfway through, and/or hated maintaining it. I’d usually just periodically go to Settings > General > Reset and reset the home screen layout to keep my apps roughly alphabetized.

This lets me have my most important apps and widgets on one single home screen page and keep everything else in the App Library, and I don’t have to think about it anymore. The categories mostly make sense except for a few head-scratchers, and hopefully those will be resolved over time as developers discover their apps randomly landing in an “Other” category or something nonsensical.
 
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IMO the “folders” in App Library is what regular folders should have been. I like the look and function of them much better. I hate swiping through pages within a folder. Only showing 9 apps on a large screen is a waste of space. All it needs IMO is an option to manage App Library automatically or manually and an option to hide it for those who don’t like it.
 
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russell_314 said:
I don’t see Apple giving the ability to disable something core to the OS. Let’s face it if you want customizability iOS just is not the operating system for you. It may be highly secure and stable but customizable it is not. I will say when I updated to iOS 14 it removed all my widgets so I had to reset them. It took me a few minutes to figure out how they worked now but now they’re working great better than ever!
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They didn't give us the option to disable the Today page, so don't see them doing it for App Library.
 
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Sto1tenberg said:
They gave us the ability to keep the old layout in iPadOS. You could choose for yourself. They should do the same with the App Library.
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It's coming to iPad at some point, it was discussed in interviews during WWDC, they just didn't get the time to get it in there for iPad OS.

Annv said:
Sure, I don't swipe to it and use the screens I've arranged myself. However, there should be a way to switch it off completely for those who don't like it. For example, Google has a news feed that opens if you swipe left from your home screen. But you can switch it off entirely, so that you don't open it unintentionally.

If I could hide it, I wouldn't be annoyed and wouldn't even post about it. There are lots of features and everyone chooses what they like. Maybe that's the level of imposition that makes people hate it.
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Have you also campaigned to have the ability to disable the 'Today' screen too? As I don't see that from your post history.....


Dino F said:
...so is the idea that we hide our current screens with all the folders and then just use the home screen with widgets for our favourite apps and use the app library for everything else?

All my apps are already in folders so why would I now use the library instead - doesn't make sense...??!
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Then it's not for you, just ignore that screen and enjoy iOS 14 :)

Pagemakers said:
I have mates with phones like that and I say to them why don’t you use folders. They reply they don’t like folders so I’m sure they won’t like the random folders of the App Library.

On a side note I’ve just taken a good look of my library is it madness.

I have various store cards sitting in different categories. Some in shopping. Some in utilities.

I have apps for my car now scattered in Travel and Other.

UPS app is in Productivity. DPD (like UPS) in Other.

It’s pure guess work as to what is located where and it is for this very reason I turn off all iOS Siri suggestions because certainly for me 90% of any suggestion is always wrong.
Click to expand...

I have people I know that are loving it.

If you have issues with where some apps are, communicate with the developers of the Apps, as they've obviously picked the wrong App Store category.
 
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Ansath said:
It's coming to iPad at some point, it was discussed in interviews during WWDC, they just didn't get the time to get it in there for iPad OS.



Have you also campaigned to have the ability to disable the 'Today' screen too? As I don't see that from your post history.....




Then it's not for you, just ignore that screen and enjoy iOS 14 :)



I have people I know that are loving it.

If you have issues with where some apps are, communicate with the developers of the Apps, as they've obviously picked the wrong App Store category.
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I think that’s one part that will get sorted out soon. Up till now I’m not sure if categories made much of a difference but now developers will take more time selecting a category. I would like to see productivity and finance separated into two separate categories. To me the app to check my credit card balance isn’t related to some document app. Of course all these little bugs will get worked out hopefully. This is if Apple actually works on this. I have this fear that they just made it now it’s done so they’re just going to move on and leave it to die. I hope I’m wrong about that though
 
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throAU said:
They're organised by category and then alphabetical order.

I'd suggest hiding your existing home screens and giving it a shot. I've done that and things are far less cluttered, and now I can use the other home screens for only the apps I always use and/or a Siri smart stack for suggested apps which is pretty accurate.

e.g. here's my home screen

View attachment 954434


Everything else is in the app library.
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Indeed. I really like it, TBH. Now I can install apps and not even worry about needing to put them in a folder, App Library sorts it out and as you said, focus my home screen on what I want
75392e53639754b75ba3f645f748a1e0.png
 
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I'm not a fan of it. I hope they allow you to turn it off in future updates. I mean it isn't super annoying yet, as I typically just had my most used apps on the home page, and the 2nd page was just folders with the less used apps.
 
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Phil A. said:
I personally don't see the point in App Library, but I've been using iOS for years and have my home screens arranged just as I like them: I'm guessing this is for people who just want to have a few of their most used apps on home screens and let iOS take care of the rest

Also, because iOS never had a way to have an app installed but not on a home screen page before, there's obviously 100% duplication of apps between existing home screens and the app library for anyone upgrading

It may grow on me, but for now it's a pretty useless feature that I'll probably just ignore
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I had my Home Screen all organised into folders, think I had just one screen...
when I read about the App Library I reset my Home Screen in preparation.
Now I have only the apps I use on a daily basis to hand and everything else is stowed away in the App Library.
its sooooo much better (than just having an app in a folder for the sake of it). Why oh why didn’t they bring the App Library to iPadOS14?

I absolutely love the App Library as my Home Screen is so clean and minimal now.
 
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How about a "most used group" widget in the App Library which size can be adjusted?. Currently the "suggested" group shows semi-random apps. I use Whatsapp like 10000 times per day, and it has not appeared once in the "suggsted" group, instead it shows Instagram, which I use about 10 minutes per month.
 
What’s disappointing is I’ve been waiting for an app drawer like feature for quite some time and app library is a major let down. I’m not a big fan of the layout, having to click into a folder to see what’s in it, would definitely rather to have it default to list mode or hide the page completely.

Another option would be to use the App Library Folders as widgets instead of having a dedicated page. That way I could choose which folder groups I would want to see and where I want them to be.
 
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Pagemakers said:
Also the App Library.....You can’t rename the folders. You can’t rearrange the items in the folders. You can’t see what’s in the folder unless you click it.

Nope, not a fan at all. Wish I could turn it off.
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Wonder what Apple was thinking when they developed the App Library there must have been some function
 
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