Creating & Managing Folders

Folders group related apps on both the home screen Pinned Grid and the All Apps drawer.

Creating Folders

On the Pinned Grid — Hover-Merge

1. Long-press an app icon until it lifts.
2. Drag it directly over another icon and hold for a moment (hover-merge gesture).
3. A folder preview appears — release to confirm.

Both apps move into the new folder at that grid position.

In the App Drawer — Folder Strip

1. Swipe up to open the App Drawer and switch to the All tab (the Folder Strip is only visible in this tab).
2. A Folder Strip appears at the top of the app list.
3. Start dragging any app — the strip stays visible (or a Floating Folder Strip slides in from the top if the strip was scrolled out of view).
4. Drop the app onto an existing folder tile in the strip to add it to that folder, or drop it onto the "+ New folder" zone at the end of the strip to create a new folder containing just that app.

Reordering the Folder Strip

Long-press any folder tile in the strip and drag it left or right to change the order of folders in the strip.

Folder Interface

Tapping a folder opens a full-screen overlay with a Gaussian blur background. The folder's apps are shown in a scrollable grid.

Apps inside a folder that publish Quick Actions show the ▾ arrow next to their label, so you can run an app shortcut without leaving the folder — see Quick Actions.

• Rename: Long-press the folder icon (on the home screen or in the strip) and select Rename.
• Dissolve (delete folder): Long-press the folder icon and select Dissolve. Apps inside return to the grid or drawer — nothing is uninstalled. If the folder is on the Pinned Grid, items shift back into pinned positions.
• Remove an app from a folder: Open the folder overlay, long-press the app icon inside, and select Remove from folder.

Folder Badges

A folder tile carries the same badges as an app icon, in the top-right corner:

• Notification dot — the combined count of unread notifications across every app inside the folder, so you can tell a folder needs attention without opening it. It follows your Notification Dots setting (Always Hide / Red Dot / Blinking Dot) in Settings → Icons Grid → Details.
• NEW — shown for the first 24 hours after you create a folder. It takes priority over the notification dot.

Auto-Dissolve

If you remove items yourself and a folder drops to 1 or 0 items, it dissolves automatically and the remaining app returns to its original location.

Automatic cleanup is far more conservative: when an app inside a folder is uninstalled, Key Launcher removes only that entry and keeps the folder as long as at least one item is left — your folder name and position survive. A folder is only dissolved automatically when it ends up completely empty.

shield Folders survive app updates. Entries are only pruned when Android confirms the package is really gone; anything uncertain — an app in a locked Private Space, a paused work profile, an update in flight — keeps its place in the folder and reappears on its own.

Closing a Folder

While a folder is open, a chip above the keyboard shows the folder name. Where the Close control appears is configurable in Settings → Keyboard Config → Folder & Private Vault Close Button Position — either as a button on the keyboard (default) or as a ✕ icon on the chip itself. See Sound & Vibration.