The lack of an app drawer on MIUI has been a long-standing problem for users who need to rely on third-party launchers to get the functionality. While the Poco F1 from Xiaomi launched with the Poco Launcher, which includes an app drawer, the same is not the case with phones running MIUI. Now, the folks over at XDA Developers have managed to get their hands on screenshots of the yet unreleased MIUI Launcher, showing that it will finally bring the much anticipated app drawer and app shortcuts to phones running MIUI.
The screenshots shared with XDA belong to the latest alpha build of the MIUI launcher (version 4.10.6.1025-06141703). As shown in the screenshots, the middle button on the app bar at the bottom can be tapped to access the app drawer. The app drawer on the MIUI Launcher will display recently used apps at the top. Currently, the swipe up to reveal app drawer functionality does not work on the launcher.
A down arrow at the top of the app drawer can be tapped to collapse the same. Moreover, the MIUI Launcher is also getting app shortcuts. App shortcuts were added with Android Nougat. They let users long press an app to reveal specific functions which can be performed without having to open the app completely.
As mentioned, the MIUI launcher is currently under Alpha testing. There is no word on when the same will be available for beta testing. So there’s still some time to go before Xiaomi releases a stable version of the launcher for MIUI users.
Image Credit: XDA Developers/ Telegram user @Pittrich1967