If we get rid of Digital Touch, we could avoid using the caret at all and, instead, show the Photo and iMessage app drawer icons 100% of the time. This makes discoverability better and saves a tap (Screen A).

Let’s replace the confusing App Store icon that currently launches the iMessage app drawer with the 4 dots icon instead (Screen A). This is the most emblematic icon from the iMessage App Store and, if instead of going straight to Recents or the most recently used sticker or app, we went to the app list every time (Screen B), the user would feel a lot more confident that they knew exactly what was going to happen every time they tapped that button.

The added benefit of using the 4 dots icon instead of the App Store icon is we can once again use the App Store icon for the actual, ya know, App Store (Screen B).

No promotion

The other reason people are still clueless about the iMessage App Store is, unlike the Happy Birthday balloons ad or the Portrait mode ad, Apple has done zero promotion to help explain the iMessage App store.

Back in Nov ’16 Apple & TBWA\MAL were working on an iMessage App Store TV spot that focused on stickers called “Soda Pop”. But it died.

My guess? They saw a lot less money from the first couple of months of the iMessage App Store than they’d forecasted, so they killed it.

But not promoting the iMessage App Store is a self fulfilling prophecy.

What in curation?

Same problem with curation. This is the Featured screen for iMessage App Store last week: