Just one swipe up or down the side of your screen, aaaaand poof: There’s your entire Android app drawer — available in a neatly organized, efficiency-optimized list. You can swipe or tap to reach the letter you want or lean on the favorites to find apps you open often. And, most significantly, again: You can get to all of that from anywhere, without having to first fumble your way back to your home screen and waste countless seconds throughout the day. It essentially extends that part of your home screen throughout your entire device, which is a pretty awesome power to have.
JR Raphael, IDG
Setting it up is surprisingly simple — and something you’ll only have to do one time:
- First, download and install Panels from the Play Store.
- Open the app and follow the prompts to allow it to send notifications and to display over other apps (two innocuous permissions that are legitimately required for the app to do what it needs to do).
- Now, on the app’s main setup screen, tap “View.”
- Tap the circular blue pencil icon in the lower-right corner of the screen that comes up next and tap “Delete / Reposition / Rename.”
- Tap the trash can icon next to both “Apps and shortcuts” and “Widgets” — two sample panels that are present in the app by default but that you won’t need for these purposes.
- That should leave you with only one remaining panel, called “App list.”
JR Raphael, IDG
At this point, all that’s left is to think about if you want to have your on-demand app drawer available via a swipe on the left or the right side of your screen. I tend to hold my phone in my left hand, personally, so for me, swiping on the left side of the screen with my thumb is the easiest and most ergonomic gesture. If you hold your phone in your right hand, you might prefer using the right side.
