If You’re Still Using the App List on Your Pixel Watch 3, You’re Doing It Wrong

Before the original Pixel Watch came out, I spent some time testing out the Apple Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 4. One of the simplest features I appreciated about them was the grid view in the app drawer. Smartwatch displays are tiny, so putting more icons on the same screen makes sense from a usability perspective.

Samsung’s organized and customizable app drawer was ideal for me; I could trust it to sort my apps alphabetically or manually move apps around to put the ones I needed most at the top. Apple’s approach, on the other hand, really confused me with its lack of a consistent order. I’m a creature of habit and muscle memory, so I don’t like things moving around — even if they’re sorted by most-used. That doesn’t work for me unless I manually assign them a specific, immovable spot.

Regardless, the grid view made great use of the small amount of screen space, no matter what sorting and scrolling method you prefer.

Then the original Pixel Watch came along, combining two of my biggest needs in a smartwatch — Android compatibility and Fitbit integration — and I just had to make the leap. There were dozens of features I didn’t like or felt were missing from the original Google Watch (which were later ported to the Pixel Watch 2), but one of the most annoying bugs kept nagging me whenever I opened the app drawer: the icon lists.

See, Google has decided that the best way to browse the 20+ apps installed by default and all the apps you, the user, add is to scroll through the list of apps, three by three, to find the one you need. It’s inefficient, slow, pointless, and an absolute waste of time.

On a device that has a tiny screen and with which I personally want to have as little interaction as possible, to get to what I need, I had to scroll with the dial or swipe a few times to get to WhatsApp, Todoist, or the Play Store because they were at the bottom of the alphabetical list.

I often calculated deep down that opening WhatsApp on my watch would take me more taps and time than pulling out my phone, unlocking it, and using it there, so I ended up privileging my phone over my watch. And I used my watch less and less for something as comically trivial as my app list.

Then the Pixel Watch 3 came along, and with it, finally came a second app drawer view option: grid. Oh, that sweet view. It was the first setting I changed on the watch when I got it, and my friend Kaitlyn also praised it as a monumental change to the user experience in her Pixel Watch 3 review .

No more time-consuming scrolling and swiping of apps three by three, now I can see nine app icons on my watch at the same time. Even after adding my own apps, it only takes three swipes (four screens total) to see all the icons and select the one I want to use. It’s faster, less annoying and more efficient than a super long list of apps. Plus, the icons themselves are larger than the ones in the app list. So for someone who has visual preferences like me, they’re easier to spot.

Grid view is the better app view on the Pixel Watch 3, and I can’t wait for Google to make it available on older Pixel Watch models, because there’s no reason it should be exclusive to the newest model. And if you’re still stuck with list view, I’d love to know why (and I think you’re using your watch wrong).