The Start Menu and the Full App List
Start is the short list, All apps is the long one. This page covers sizing the Start panel, opening the full app list, searching and sorting it, an app's own shortcuts from a long press, and the four swipes that move through the list without a single tap.
Why You'll Love This
The taskbar's Start button is the short list - pinned apps, recent ones, a few quick rows. When that is not enough, All apps is the long one: everything installed on the device, searchable, sortable, and reachable by letter.
Both grow with you: the Start panel can be made taller as your pinned row fills up, and All apps stays fast to open and fast to search even with a hundred apps on the device.
- FastMediaSorter in the Standard edition or the noLegal edition, with the launcher turned on - see Your launcher desktop.
- The taskbar visible - see Using the desktop dock and taskbar.
Make the Start panel as tall as you need
Open the launcher settings and, in the Taskbar group, set Taskbar rows. A taller Start panel shows proportionally more recent apps, keeps the pinned icons in their own corner block, and stacks the tray indicators one above another instead of running them off the edge; the Start and All apps buttons themselves always stay one row tall, on the bottom row.
When the taskbar sits at the bottom, the Start panel opens as a sheet with a drag handle that respects the navigation bar and moves out of the way of the keyboard; with the taskbar at the top it opens as before. Its Start button and every row on it also keep enough contrast against the background to stay readable in both the light and the dark theme, under any color theme you pick.
Launcher settings, Taskbar group, Taskbar rows control, Start panel preview two rows tall.
Open every app on the device
Tap the All apps icon button next to Start, or swipe up on empty desktop space while the desktop sits at the top of its scroll. The list opens from a cache the launcher keeps current on its own - through every install, update and removal - so it is ready even right after a restart.
Launcher taskbar, Start button and the All apps icon button beside it, both highlighted.
Find one app fast
Type anywhere in the list to search - the Search apps field narrows the results as you type, matching the app's name or its package name. Tap Sort order to change how the list is arranged: By name, By install date, By update date, By how often you open it or By category, each with a Reverse order switch; the extra space under the letter tiles filled by a bigger preview instead of a fixed two rows.
Scroll without a search term and the apps are grouped alphabetically, each letter its own small heading with a short preview of what is under it - tap a letter and its group expands.
All apps screen, search field focused with a partial query, filtered results below, Sort order button visible.
Long-press an app for its own shortcuts
A long press on any app opens one menu with Open, Put on desktop, Pin to taskbar, App info and Uninstall, together with whatever quick actions that app itself publishes - a messenger's "New chat", say, or a browser's "New tab". An action that cannot work on this device is simply left out rather than shown greyed out. An app with no shortcuts of its own still opens normally on a plain tap.
All apps screen, one app long-pressed, context menu listing launcher actions above the app's published shortcuts.
Swipe the list instead of tapping
In the launcher settings, open All apps swipe action and set All apps: swipe up, swipe down, swipe left and swipe right from the same list each direction offers: Back to desktop, Expand all apps (shows the full list instead of the letter groups), Launch a chosen app, Lock screen, or leave the direction unused. What each direction does is described in the settings reference; Lock screen only appears in builds that can actually lock the device.
Launcher settings, All apps swipe action picker open, action list visible.
What You Get
The Start panel is exactly as tall as your pinned row needs, All apps opens instantly and finds anything by name, install date, use or category, a long press reaches an app's own shortcuts, and all four swipes do what you chose instead of nothing.
Tips and Troubleshooting
- Picking an app to pin to the desktop or the taskbar? The picker sheet used there is taller too, with more than one column in portrait, so you are not scrolling a single narrow list.
- All apps looks different from the old Start menu list? It replaced the expanding grid that used to live inside Start - the full list now has a screen of its own.
- Using a keyboard or a TV remote? See Keyboard, D-pad and Android TV control.