7. Bubble Apps, the widget and shortcuts
Android hides the bubble's apps inside the Private section and the Meta space's apps inside the Work tab. Bubble gives you two faster ways to reach them.
Bubble Apps
Bubble Apps is a second icon of Bubble in your app drawer (the bubble logo with four lilac dots). It is not a separate app: it comes with Bubble, belongs to it and goes away with it. You can also open it from Bubble's home screen (Bubble Apps row).
It shows a grid with two sections:
- Meta space: its apps, with the work badge. They open at once.
- Bubble: the bubble's apps. They are the list Bubble last read, shown without waiting; pull down to read it again.
Tap an app to open it. If the bubble is locked, Android asks you to unlock it first; if you cancel, nothing opens.
Press and hold an app to add its icon to your home screen; Android asks you to confirm.
The icon is a one-cell widget, not a shortcut: the launcher puts the icon of the app that made a shortcut on its corner (Bubble's, in a circle) and only system apps can change that. The widget shows the app's real icon with its name; bubble apps carry Bubble's small mark, which follows the light or dark theme, and Meta apps carry the work badge. Icons are added one at a time.
Shortcuts made by older versions still work. Bubble redraws them with the app's real icon each time it starts, but the launcher keeps its own mark on them: remove them and add the icon again to get rid of it. On launchers that do not accept widgets from apps, Bubble adds a shortcut instead.
The button at the bottom, Add the widget to the home screen, places the widget (below).
The widget
Android does not let apps create folders on the home screen, so Bubble offers a widget that works like one: Bubble's logo and your apps, Meta first (with the work badge), then the bubble's.
- Add it: Bubble Apps → Add the widget to the home screen, and confirm. If your launcher does not allow it, press and hold an empty spot of the home screen → Widgets → Bubble.
- Size: 4×2 by default. Two rows of icons fill it exactly; the icons follow your launcher's icon size (a little smaller, as they have no names). Resize it by pressing and holding it.
- More apps than fit: swipe up and down inside the widget. The edge with more apps behind it fades out.
- Light and dark: the widget is almost transparent, and its logo follows the system theme.
- Updates: it redraws when apps are added or removed, when Bubble reads the bubble's apps and every 30 minutes. If it looks out of date, open Bubble Apps and pull down.
Opening a bubble app from the widget or a shortcut
A small screen appears while Bubble opens the app:
- The logo at the top and a loading bar in the middle, with what Bubble is doing.
- If the bubble is locked, a padlock at the bottom. Android asks for your fingerprint or PIN; when you give it, the padlock opens and the app appears. If you cancel, the screen closes.
- If the bubble is already open, the app opens directly.
This works without Wi-Fi: Bubble asks its copy inside the bubble to open the app.