Good UX Starts with Finding the Bloody App

I got annoyed again the other day when I wanted to open the “dm” app. My apps on the phone are sorted alphabetically. So naturally, I looked under “D”. Nothing there.

Because the app is called “Mein dm”. Which means it sits somewhere between “My Hyundai” and “My AXA Mobile”. And what exactly the word “Mobile” is supposed to tell me on a mobile phone… only God knows 😉

The same thing happens with banking apps. photoTAN is a great example. I’m apparently supposed to recognise whether it belongs to Volkswagen Bank or comdirect purely from the icon design.

That might work in a polished brand presentation. In real life, it mostly creates friction.

What fascinates me is how often branding decisions ignore actual usage contexts. People don’t search for “My AXA Mobile”. They search for “AXA”. They don’t think “I need the branded ecosystem touchpoint experience”. They think “Where’s the bloody app?”

And how exactly am I supposed to remember which company decided to put a ridiculous “My” in front of the app name and which one didn’t?

Ironically, there is exactly one app on my phone I never renamed manually: “Find My Device” (“Mein Gerät finden”). Because there the “My” actually describes a personal function instead of pretending to be branding.

What makes this even more interesting is that Android and iOS handle app discovery differently anyway. I still haven’t fully figured out what kind of magic iOS is doing in the App Library. But on Android, alphabetical sorting is at least one very common way people organise and find apps.

Which also means: product folks really need to understand both ecosystems. Usage patterns, navigation habits and mental models are simply different.

I’ve personally almost always had an Android phone privately and an iPhone as a work device. Right now my combination is a Pixel 9a and an iPad. And yes, this absolutely changes how you notice UX decisions and everyday friction.

Thankfully Android launchers let you rename apps manually. I do that regularly. But honestly, wouldn’t it be nice if apps were named clearly and distinguishably from the start?

Not everything needs to be “My”. Not every app icon needs to look minimalistic and identical. And sometimes usability should simply win over marketing.

Good UX often starts with very small, very boring details. Like finding an app exactly where people expect it to be.

Originally posted on LinkedIn.