Users can now define a gesture to lock their home screen, with a double tap as the default. The addition is far faster than pressing a hardware button, and joins an option for pressing the home button from the home screen. Previous gestures include opening the dock and app drawer, searching, opening Cortana, recent apps, and more. Currently, the app’s gestures don’t gel too well with Android P’s options, but that’s to be expected when its still in beta. You can change options manually, but we expect to see default compatibility in the coming months. Microsoft is also improving other areas of its launcher, such as unspecified tweaks to Home screen importing. You can also sort your apps alphabetically in folders. Users can enter the flyout menu after entering one to quickly organize their apps by name. There’s also the ability to display apps names in your dock, which doesn’t look as terrible as you’d expect.
Microsoft Launcher for Enterprise
Now that Microsoft Launcher has a solid foundation for regular users, Microsoft is looking to make it more accessible to the enterprise. At Build 2018 last week, the company announced a version that will include secure folders, admin push notifications, and more. It seems the app will be available as an entirely different offering, but it’s likely the useful features will be in both. Microsoft has been adding a number of productivity-focused features to its app, from recurring reminders to enhanced calendar functionality. It’s not clear if this will slow development on the main launcher, but the team seems to be delivering regular feature updates in the meantime. You can grab the latest version of Microsoft Launcher from the Google Play Store.
