THINKERBIT DARK MODE

"Add To" in Android's Share Menu

October 14, 2013

Here's a frustrating Android quirk: the system-wide share menu is way too easy for self-righteous apps to game.

Dropbox, Plex, Pocket and Wunderlist all include "Add to" before their app name to artificially place themselves at the very top of the alphabetically-organized share screen. Windows 8's Share charm instead places your most recently-used apps at the very top, which is a whole lot more convenient.

windows-8-vs-android-4.2-sharing

As always, there are apps that let you change this annoying behavior, but I'm tired of customizing stuff in Android - good design should come right out of the box. A built-in way of switching the share page between recently-used (by default) and alphabetical could be a good fix. Preventing app developers from adding the phrase "Add to" in their Share Intent might also be a good idea to ensure the alphabetical list is, indeed, alphabetical as it should be.

The relative importance of an app is for me to decide, not the app's own developer.

Wunderlist, go back to the bottom.