If you’re still using the app list on the Pixel Watch 3, you’re doing it wrong

Before
the
first
Pixel
Watch
launched,
I
tried
an
Apple
Watch
6
and
a
Galaxy
Watch
4
for
a
while.
And
one
of
the
most
simple
features
I
appreciated
about
them
was
the
grid
view
in
the
app
drawer.

Smartwatch
displays
are
tiny,
so
fitting
more
icons
on
the
same
screen
just
makes
sense
from
a
usability
perspective.

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

Still,
this
grid
view
was
an
awesome
use
of
the
tiny
screen
real
estate,
no
matter
what
sorting
and
scrolling
approach
you
prefer.

Then,
the
first
Pixel
Watch
launched,
bringing
together
two
of
my
biggest
smartwatch
requirements
—
Android
compatibility
and
Fitbit
integration
—
and
I
just
had
to
make
the
jump.
There
were
dozens
of
features
I
didn’t
like
or
thought
were
missing
at
the
time
on
Google’s
first
watch
(which
were

later
brought
to
the
Pixel
Watch
2),
but
one
of
the
most
annoying
missteps
kept
nagging
at
me
each
time
I
opened
the
app
drawer:
icon
lists.

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

On
a
device
that
has
a
tiny
screen
to
begin
with,
and
with
which
I
personally
want
to
have
the
fewest
possible
interactions
to
get
to
what
I
need,
I
had
to
scroll
with
the
crown
or
swipe
with
my
fingers
a
few
times
to
get
to
WhatsApp
or
Todoist
or
the
Play
Store,
because
they
were
seated
toward
the
bottom
of
the
alphabetical
list.

In
the
back
of
my
mind,
I
often
calculated
that
it
would
take
me
more
taps
and
time
to
open
WhatsApp
on
my
watch
than
to
pull
up
my
phone,
unlock
it,
and
use
it
there,
so
I
ended
up
privileging
the
phone
over
the
watch.
And
I
used
my
watch
less
and
less
because
of
something
as
comically
trivial
as
an
app
list.

Then
the

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

Pixel
Watch
3
review.

No
more
time-consuming
scrolling
and
swiping
through
apps
three
by
three,
now
I
can
see
nine
app
icons
on
my
watch
at
the
same
time.
Even
with
my
own
apps
added,
it
only
takes
three
swipes
(four
screens
total)
to
see
all
icons
and
pick
whichever
one
I
want
to
use.
This
is
faster,
less
annoying,
and
more
efficient
than
the
super-long
app
list.
Plus,
the
icons
themselves
are
larger
than
the
ones
in
the
app
list
view.
So,
for
someone
visually
inclined
like
me,
they’re
easier
to
spot.

Grid
view
is
the
superior
view
for
apps
on
the
Pixel
Watch
3
and
I
can’t
wait
until
Google
rolls
it
out
to
the
older
Pixel
Watch
models
because
there’s
no
reason
this
should
be
an
exclusive
for
the
latest
model.
And
if
you’re
still
clinging
on
to
the
list
view,
I’d
love
to
know
why
(and
I
think
you’re
using
your
watch
wrong).