The Honeycomb Maze
By default, when you press the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch to view your installed applications, watchOS presents you with “Grid View.” This is a massive, floating honeycomb of tiny, circular, unlabeled icons that you must pan around with your finger. Unless you have perfect vision and have memorized the exact logo of every single app you own, finding a specific utility in this chaotic sea of circles is a miserable user experience. If you want a fast, logical, alphabetical directory of your software, you must forcefully kill the honeycomb grid.
How to Turn Off Grid View
You can permanently force the Apple Watch to display a standard alphabetical list via the App View settings.
- Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down the main list and tap on App View.
- Under the “App View” header, you will see two options: “Grid View” and “List View.”
- Tap on List View. A blue checkmark will appear next to it.
Alphabetical Order
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely destroy the floating honeycomb interface. Press the Digital Crown to return to your app screen. You will now be presented with a strictly ordered, vertical list. Every single application will feature a large, legible icon directly next to its actual, written text name, arranged in perfect alphabetical order. You can now rapidly scroll through your software using the Digital Crown with zero ambiguity.