Xiaomi tests Categories in the app drawer of MIUI Launcher

Xiaomi is making some much-needed changes to the stock launcher in MIUI 11. Earlier this month, we learned that the company was adding an app drawer and app shortcuts to the MIUI Launcher. The feature was carried forward from the POCO Launcher, which was released as the default launcher on last year’s POCO F1. Now, Xiaomi is bringing over the custom app categories feature from the POCO Launcher that was introduced earlier this year in July.

The upcoming app categories feature has already been spotted in an alpha release of the MIUI Launcher. With the feature, you’ll be able to organize all your apps into different categories within the app drawer, allowing you to quickly find any app just by tapping on the category. The feature can be found within the MIUI Launcher settings under the App drawer section and, once it’s turned on, it can automatically categorize all your apps. You’ll also get the option to remove or add new app categories from within the same menu so that you can easily get rid of any unnecessary categories that aren’t being utilized on your phone. Do note that in order to use the new feature you’ll first need to enable the app drawer.

We already have confirmation from Xiaomi that the app drawer will be making its way to MIUI 11 China Stable builds sometime in the near future. But there’s no word from the company regarding the release of the new Categories feature. However, since the Categories feature is a part of the app drawer, we expect it to be released alongside the app drawer in an upcoming version of MIUI 11. As of now, there’s no information on the release of either of these two features on the MIUI 11 Global Stable build.

Thanks to XDA Member kacskrz for the screenshots!