Automatically Organize Android Apps in Easy to Find Folders

by Rod on January 27, 2011 · 1 comment

A feature I personally like in Apple’s iOS is how folders work. On the iPhone, when you drag an app on top of another app it creates a folder. The folder automatically has a miniature icon based on up to 9 apps in the folder. As you would expect, you can name the folder what you desire. Out of the box the folders on Android are rather boring. Back in April 2010 we wrote about using FolderOrganizer to Automatically organize your Android Apps based on Application categories.

For some people the need for app management will never happen as they will only have a handful of apps. On the other hand some people literally go app crazy. Brent for example loads 300+ Android Apps on his Droid X. My friend Jeff has 180 apps on his iPhone 4. Manual management is not even desired at that point. FolderOrganizer can automatically group your apps based on labels into virtual folders. Essentially all games or music apps can be automatically grouped. Imagine having Pandora, Last.FM. Spotify, Slacker Radio, Shazam, iHeart Radio, and AOL Radio. This is a perfect example of an application group. You can also just artificially assign apps to a folder based on how you want to view them. Unlike the default Android Folders, when you use FolderOrganizer, your folders can use pictures to represent what is inside.

Having icons or app icons represent folders are great for quick identification. In my case we wanted a way for our kids to know this folder has all your games. The default icons while fine for a 4 or 5 year old are not ok for a 2 year old. With FolderOrganizer we use the default game controller icon to represent all the kid games. Each game we download is automatically added to their folder. You can also assign apps to multiple folders and it does not take any additional space. It is just a link. And, unlike iOS, FolderOrganizer folders are scrollable. You can fit as many apps per folder as you want. The folder will just scroll to show you all the apps.

The automatic organization of apps is the best part of FolderOrganizer, but the option to use a wide variety of icons or app pictures to distinguish each folder is exactly what was needed on Android. Your only job is to choose what folder shortcuts you want on your home screens.