Rant: vanilla local app search is ridiculously bad

andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun to Android@lemmy.world – 45 points –

For a search company I can't believe how terrible the Android app search is. I can't even search "bank" for my banking apps, and there doesn't really seem to be any metadata except for the title that goes into the search. Which is absolutely ridiculous given how many companies name their apps something cReAtIvE like "home" or "Resideo" or "Smart Hq." I just want to search GE for the damn GE app. Or "thermostat" for Resideo. Surely there's something beyond surface level here because obviously this is an extensively solved problem. How is there not metadata or description searching at minimum? My only guess is fear of abuse but Google has definitely dealt with that for their entire existence and up until recently, managed to handle it fine.

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The search is not designed to help you. It is designed to show sponsored apps and other results, so there is a better chance for Google's profit.

When have you seen ads in the launcher?

In colorOS smartphones. The default launcher shows ads when you use their search function. Fortunately, this special search can be disabled.