Adroid Phones: The Apps Drawer and Adding Apps to the Home Screen

1. Visit the home screen page on which you want to stick the app icon, or launcher.

   The screen must have room for the app icon.

2. Touch the Apps icon to display the apps drawer.

3. Long-press (press and hold) the app icon you want to add to the home screen.

4. Drag the app to the home screen page, lifting your finger to place the app.

   A copy of the app’s icon is now placed on the Home screen.

• Not every app needs a launcher icon on the home screen. I recommend placing only those apps you use most frequently.

• The best icons to place on the home screen are those that show updates, such as new messages, similar to the icon shown. These icons are also ideal to place in the favorites tray.

  

• You can add apps to the home screen also by choosing the Apps command from the home screen menu. Often this command merely skips over Steps 1 and 2 in this section; you still have to long-press the icon and drag it to a Home screen page.

  

Finding apps in the apps drawer

To view the Apps drawer, tap the Apps icon on the home screen. This icon has a different look to it, depending on your Android phone. Here are some variations on the Apps icon, though more varieties may exist.

Apps icon varieties

To run an app, tap its icon. The app starts, taking over the screen and doing whatever magical thing the app does.

• As you add new apps to your phone, they appear in the Apps drawer.

• Some phones allow you to create folders in the Apps drawer. These folders contain multiple apps, which helps keep things organized. To access apps in the folder, tap the Folder icon.

• The Apps drawer displays apps alphabetically. On some phones, you can switch to a non-alphabetical viewing grid. With that feature active, it’s possible to rearrange the apps in any order you like.

• For apps that you use all the time, consider creating launcher icons on the Home screen.