App Drawer (App Library)

This entry has no runnable specimen; the illustration is an editorial sketch of how the categorised list relates to the search field, and the app names and icons in it are invented and represent no real products. Before shipping, confirm that a stable browsing mode exists and that removing is clearly distinguished from uninstalling.

{
  "states": [
    "browsing",
    "searching"
  ],
  "a11y": [
    "The gesture that opens the drawer has an equivalent focusable control or shortcut",
    "Category headings are announced as structure and app names are readable in full"
  ],
  "motion": "Opening may be instant, with the transition skipped under a reduced-motion preference"
}

{
  "id": "app-drawer",
  "type": "layout",
  "name": {
    "zh": "应用抽屉",
    "en": "App Drawer (App Library)"
  },
  "aliases": [
    "App Library",
    "All Apps",
    "应用库",
    "全部应用"
  ],
  "granularity": "page",
  "intents": [
    "find-item",
    "organize-content"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "system shell",
    "app list",
    "categories",
    "search",
    "home screen"
  ],
  "definition": "A separate surface in the device shell holding every installed app: it sits beyond the home screen, is organised by category or alphabetically, and offers search — so the home screen can keep only the few entry points the user placed there deliberately.",
  "boundary": "This entry means the \"all apps\" surface of the device shell, not the navigation drawer an app slides in from its edge — both are called drawers, but one belongs to the shell and the other to a single app’s layout. It is not the home screen either: the home screen is arranged by the user and may be left sparse, while the app drawer is the complete inventory and must not be read as \"hidden means uninstalled\". The evidence cited here is from the iOS App Library; Android launchers have long used the name \"app drawer\", and treating the two as the same surface is editorial judgement.",
  "signature": [
    "Reached from beyond the home screen by one fixed gesture or button",
    "Lists every installed app, regardless of how the home screen is arranged",
    "Offers category or alphabetical browsing plus one search entry point"
  ],
  "when": [
    "The device holds more apps than the user is willing to arrange on the home screen",
    "The home screen should be a curated list rather than a complete one",
    "Users search by name more often than they remember by position"
  ],
  "when_not": [
    "There are few apps, where an extra layer only adds one gesture",
    "The category rules are unpredictable and users re-hunt for the same app every time",
    "Moving an app off the home screen into the drawer makes users think it was uninstalled"
  ],
  "tradeoff": "Moving the complete list off the home screen lets that screen stay sparse, at the cost of one extra layer for every less-used app — and the smarter the automatic categorisation, the less stable the positions, pushing users who remember by place toward search.",
  "comparison": {
    "focus": "Keeping the complete inventory of apps outside the home screen",
    "mechanism": "A categorised or alphabetical list reached by a fixed gesture, with search",
    "cost": "Everything but the frequent apps costs one more layer and positions may shift"
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "appdrawer-apple-support",
      "title": "Apple Support · Organize the Home Screen and App Library on your iPhone",
      "url": "https://support.apple.com/en-us/108324",
      "claim": "The support document explains that swiping left from the Home Screen reaches the App Library, that apps are sorted automatically into categories such as Social, that the most frequently used apps reorder themselves based on usage, that newly installed apps are added to the App Library, that users can search it for an app, and that an app can be removed from the Home Screen while staying in the App Library. This entry paraphrases the structure and behaviour from it.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-16",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916*/https://support.apple.com/en-us/108324",
        "status": "pending",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-16T13:28:50.469Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-ac1eba370cb2aff1c0e3e5f7e7089e1d11ca8363"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "appdrawer-ios14",
      "title": "Wikipedia · iOS 14",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_14",
      "claim": "The article records that the App Library sits to the right of the last Home Screen page, lists and categorises the apps installed on the device with each category ordered by frequency of use, includes suggested and recently added categories, and lets users search or browse alphabetically. This entry takes the surface’s position and browsing modes from it.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-16",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916*/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_14",
        "status": "unconfirmed",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-16T13:29:04.385Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-4b522e34baa41ebce0774770b2e2bd88612d2afd"
      }
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "hub-and-spoke",
      "kind": "related",
      "condition": "The shell dispatches users from one central entry point to many separate apps",
      "reason": "The app drawer is the device-level hub; entering an app hands over to that app’s own structure, which is the hub-and-spoke round trip.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "search-and-filter",
      "kind": "composes_with",
      "condition": "The list is too long to find a target by browsing",
      "reason": "Automatic categorisation makes positions unstable, so search is not optional here but a necessary complement.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "recognition",
      "kind": "composes_with",
      "condition": "Users do not recall the app’s name and remember only its icon or rough category",
      "reason": "Categories and icons let users recognise rather than recall, which is why the surface stays usable when the list is long.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "when": "Apps are categorised automatically",
      "instruction": "Keep one browsing mode that does not shift with usage — a full alphabetical list, for instance — so users who remember by position still have a stable reference.",
      "strength": "recommend",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "A user removes an app from the home screen",
      "instruction": "Distinguish clearly between removing it from the home screen and uninstalling it, and say that it can still be found in the app drawer.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "behavior": {
    "states": [
      "browsing",
      "searching"
    ],
    "a11y": [
      "The gesture that opens the drawer has an equivalent focusable control or shortcut",
      "Category headings are announced as structure and app names are readable in full"
    ],
    "motion": "Opening may be instant, with the transition skipped under a reduced-motion preference"
  },
  "demo": null,
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "editorialStatus": "drafted",
  "requirements": [],
  "demoCapabilities": [],
  "implementationNote": "This entry has no runnable specimen; the illustration is an editorial sketch of how the categorised list relates to the search field, and the app names and icons in it are invented and represent no real products. Before shipping, confirm that a stable browsing mode exists and that removing is clearly distinguished from uninstalling.",
  "image": {
    "src": "/images/app-drawer.webp",
    "alt": "A fictional phone sketch: a search field at the top of the screen and four rounded category tiles below it, each holding four invented app icons over grey placeholder label bars, with a sliver of another screen at the left edge showing that this page sits beside it."
  },
  "searchTerms": [
    "系统外壳",
    "应用列表",
    "分类",
    "搜索",
    "主屏幕"
  ]
}