If you’re still using the app record on your Pixel Watch 3, you’re doing it incorrectly?

Before donning my first Pixel Watch, I experimented with wearing an Apple Watch Series 6 and a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 simultaneously. One feature that stood out to me as a user-friendly touch was the ability to view apps in a clean and organized grid layout within the app drawer. Given that shows are relatively small, consolidating them into identical display icons makes sense from a usability standpoint.

For Samsung, the well-organized and customizable app drawer suited my preferences perfectly; I could easily sort apps alphabetically or arrange them myself, prioritizing the ones I used most frequently at the top. Despite Apple’s efforts to simplify their product lineup, I found myself perplexed by the absence of a consistent ordering system. As a creature driven by habits and muscle memory, I’m uncomfortable with unexpected changes – even when they’re presented in an organized manner like “most used” lists. Until I manually assign a designated location to them, that approach doesn’t work for me.

Despite its limitations, this grid view demonstrated a remarkable utilization of the available screen space, accommodating various sorting and scrolling preferences with ease.

When the primary Pixel Watch arrived, I finally had the chance to bring together two features that matter most to me in a smartwatch: seamless Android integration and intuitive Fitbit functionality. It was time to take the plunge. Despite numerous iterations I wasn’t fond of, or felt were underwhelming in terms of time management on Google’s initial watch effort, a few persistent annoyances continued to irk me each time I accessed the app drawer: the proliferation of icon lists.

Google has found that navigating the extensive list of over 20 pre-installed apps and those added by users is most efficiently achieved through a grid-style display, showcasing applications in sets of three rows for easy searching and discovery. This tedious, laborious process is a complete and utter waste of precious time.

I frequently found myself scrolling through an extensive list or swiping with my fingers multiple times just to access popular apps like WhatsApp, Todoist, or the Google Play Store on a tool with a compact display. My goal is to minimize interactions and quickly reach these frequently used applications, which, in this case, were inconveniently situated at the bottom of the alphabetical directory.

I rarely calculate the time it takes to access WhatsApp on my watch compared to using my phone; it’s often quicker to simply grab my phone and start typing, so that’s usually what I do instead of trying to open the app on my watch. As a result of a quirky app feature, I wore my watch far less frequently.

Finally, the option to display apps in a second app drawer view emerged – a grid layout. Ah, that candy sight. After receiving my watch, I adjusted the primary setting to suit my preferences, and my colleague Kaitlyn commended this enhancement as a transformative experience that greatly impacted her personally.

With no more tedious scrolling or swiping through apps in batches of three via watch-friendly interfaces, I can effortlessly view a full 3×3 grid of nine app icons simultaneously on my wrist. Despite customising my apps, it merely requires three swift gestures or four screens in total to access and select the icon of my preference. This innovative approach is significantly more efficient, less irritating, and remarkably eco-friendly compared to the lengthy mobile app registration process. The icons themselves are noticeably larger compared to those found within the app’s record view. For individuals with a visual bent, these are far easier to spot.

The grid view offers a more efficient and visually appealing experience for apps on the latest Pixel Watch, making it a much-needed update for older models. As you continue to hold onto the record view, despite acknowledging its limitations, I’m curious about your motivations – and suspect that it’s not just a matter of wearing the wrong watch.