The Pixel Launcher

   Pixel Launcher will soon let you choose whether to truncate app names

The Pixel Launcher may finally stop truncating app names in the app list and search results. A new toggle has appeared in Android 15 Beta 1.2. Following are the some of the important points:-

Android 15 Beta 1.2 brings a new toggle to the Pixel Launcher to display the full names of apps in search results and the app drawer.

The launcher currently truncates too-long app names to ensure that they don’t overlap in the list.

Some users don’t like seeing truncated app names, so this new feature will be good news for them.

This feature has been in development since early 2022 but could finally go live with Android 15 this fall.

Users will find this new toggle inside the Apps list settings option, situated within the Pixel Launcher's Home settings page.

Android 15 Beta 1.2 arrived just days after Beta 1.1 earlier this week. While the latest beta contains a bevy of bug fixes left over from the previous release, it appears that Google is also keen on making some other long-overdue adjustments to the system, specifically the Pixel Launcher. Google Pixel phones ship with the company’s Pixel Launcher app as the default home screen provider. Because it’s both the default and the only option which integrates with Google’s universal search, it’s what most Pixel users end up using, even though there are a plethora of amazing, alternative Android home screen launchers to pick from. There’s nothing wrong with using the Pixel Launcher, though, especially because Google keeps adding new features to it in every Android update. The upcoming Android 15 update, is poised to add yet another long-awaited feature to the Pixel Launcher: the ability to stop app names from being truncated. The Pixel Launcher may finally allow users to display the full names of applications in the app drawer. In its current form, names in the app grid are shrunk down to save space. But in Android 15 Beta 1.2, it was observed that the Pixel Launcher can display the full name of the app by leveraging the space just below it.

There's even a new Apps list settings page within Home settings containing the toggle to Show long app names. In order to always show rows of four icons in the app drawer, the Pixel Launcher currently truncates app names that are too long. This leads to app names like “Adobe Acrobat”, “Amazon Shopping”, and “Galaxy Wearable” being shown as “Adobe Acrob…”, “Amazon Sho…”, and “Galaxy Wear…” respectively. This truncation happens in the app drawer, in search results, and on the home screen. While it makes sense always to truncate app names on the home screen to ensure consistent spacing, it doesn’t make as much sense to always do so in the app drawer or in search results, especially since you’re accessing these to find and launch a specific app. The corresponding text explains how apps with longer names will leverage two lines to display their full name, with the caveat that this change would apply to the apps list and search results. This means this two-line method won't apply to the apps on your home screen.

Pixel Launcher users can navigate to Home settings by long-pressing an empty area on their home screen and tapping Home settings from the onscreen popup. The new Apps list settings page is sandwiched between the Search settings option and the Allow home screen rotation toggle. Interestingly, the new Apps list settings page also contains the Swipe up to start search toggle, which in Android 14 resides within Home settings > Search settings. The results are quite impressive. Google has been working on changes to the Pixel Launcher which would allow for showing two-line app labels in the app drawer and in search results. A hidden flag for these changes was first spotted all the way back in early 2022 with the release of Android 12L’s second beta, but it was disabled by default until Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2 rolled out last December. Much to some users’ disappointment, though, the flag was once again disabled by default when the stable release of Android 14 QPR2 rolled out this March. Thankfully, Google is working on bringing back this feature as an optional toggle in the Pixel Launcher’s settings.

While digging through the latest Android 15 Beta 1.2 update, we discovered “show long app names” toggle under the “apps list settings” page in the Pixel Launcher’s settings. The description for the “show long app names” toggle reads as follows: “Display long app names on two lines in search results and apps list.” Enabling it does exactly what it says: App names are now shown in two lines in the app drawer and in search results, though not on the home screen. For people whose app drawers are filled with longer-named apps, even shrinking down the app grid to 5x5 doesn't help. With this in mind, a toggle to ensure the full app names are shown at all times within search results and the app drawer is a great addition. Of course, not everybody needs that extra line in their app drawer, as familiarity with icons is generally enough to identify an app, even if the names are shortened.

Adding a toggle to “show long app names” in the app drawer and in search results is a minor change, but it will be welcomed by some users. This, of course, isn’t the only change coming to the Pixel Launcher in Android 15, as there’ll also be new animations as well as updates to the widget picker and recent screen. It's currently unclear if Google plans to display app names in two lines within the home screen as well, but as it stands right now, this is only supported within the app drawer and search results.