Samsung might be switching to a vertically scrolling app drawer

Ben Schoon | Apr 17 2024 - 6:59 am PT

Android’s app drawer is one of the platform’s key features, and it’s changed a bit over the years. For a while now, a vertically scrolling list has become the popular way to implement the Android app drawer, and it seems that Samsung might finally be making the switch.

One most Android skins available today, the app drawer scrolls up and down. That’s changed from years past, where the drawer would often use pages that swiped from right to left to house all of your apps. The latter is how Samsung’s One UI still handles the process, despite many enthusiasts wishing the company would change.

For a while now, a module in Samsung’s Good Lock called “Home Up” has allowed for advanced tweaks to the One UI homescreen, and one of those is the ability to change the app drawer to a vertically scrolling layout. In the most recent versions, though, Samsung removed that option from the module. Users haven’t been happy about it, leaving negative reviews on the module’s Galaxy Store listing.

In a comment on Samsung’s forums, though, a member of the Good Lock Support Team offers some context as to why the feature was removed.

Apparently, Samsung is preparing the “vertical list function is currently being prepared for support in the next OS version.” The comment says (translated):

Please note that the Home Up vertical list function is currently being prepared for support in the next OS version.

While this could be read in a couple of ways (including that the function will just return with the next update), the most likely case is that Samsung intends to natively support a vertical app drawer in One UI 7, its Android 15 update. The information is likely trustworthy, as SamMobile notes that it comes from an official “in charge” of Good Lock.

We won’t know for sure until Samsung’s Android 15 update, One UI 7, enters beta, though, which is at least a few months away. Samsung’s Android 14 beta launched in August 2023.

Another feature that Samsung was stubbornly avoiding for years, Android’s Seamless Updates, is also now being implemented on new Galaxy devices, so it seems that Samsung is finally just giving in to some of the Android “norms.”

What kind of Android app drawer do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below!