Skip to main content

app launcher

See All Stories

Google App Launcher for Apps users getting updated w/ additional row, ability to move apps

App Launcher

The familiar Google App Launcher that you may or may not use on a daily basis — found on Google’s many web properties — has four rows of icons and the ability to move them around to organize them the way you’d like. You probably didn’t even notice when these features were added, but they’re nice to have. If you have a Google Apps account too, though, you may know that the App Launcher is stuck in the past for Apps users.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Google adds Docs, Sheets, & Slides shortcuts to App Launcher

App-Launcher-02

Google today announced that it’s adding new shortcuts for its Google Drive web apps— Docs, Sheets, and Slides— to the App Launcher feature accessible from the upper right corner of most its web services (pictured right). The new shortcuts join services like Search, Mail, Calendar, and Drive that were previously accessible from the App Launcher.

For regular users, Google is adding Docs to the main section of the App Launcher and making Sheets and Slides shortcuts available by opting in when visiting the apps:

And the next time you visit sheets.google.com or slides.google.com, you’ll see the option to add Sheets and Slides to the launcher as well. Remember that you can always rearrange the icons to your liking by just clicking and dragging them around… One note–if you’ve already customized the arrangement of your icons, you’ll need to visit docs.google.com and click “Add a shortcut” in the App Launcher to get the Docs icon to appear.

For Google Apps users, Google will put Docs, Slides, and Sheets shortcuts in the App Launcher by default and bump Groups and Contacts into the “More” section of the launcher.

Apps users can expect the change to kick in early next month.

Wear Mini Launcher brings an application drawer to your Android Wear device

Site default logo image

Wear Mini Launcher - Android Apps on Google Play 2014-07-11 18-37-08 2014-07-11 18-37-09

If you have your hands on an Android Wear device, you might know that getting access to the third-party apps you have installed can be quite cumbersome — it definitely requires digging through a few menus to reach them. And most likely, this wasn’t an oversight by the Android Wear team. It wouldn’t make sense to simply have a mini Android smartphone on your wrist, and the Mountain View company instead decided to put Google Now front and center for controlling the device’s functions.


Expand
Expanding
Close