One of the ways Microsoft made its mobile platform different from its rivals was to go in a completely opposite direction with the user interface. It employs live Tiles instead of conventional app icons, and up till now hasn’t allowed users to natively create app folders. On the other hand users on iOS and Android have been able to create folders for applications by simply dragging and dropping one app on another. Though it looks like Microsoft might finally warm up to the idea and release an update which brings Windows Phone 8.1 folder support.
A support article was spotted today on Microsoft’s Windows Phone website which revealed that Microsoft will bring native folder support to the Start Screen on Windows Phone devices. That article has now been removed, looks like someone pulled the trigger on it by mistake.
The implementation seems to be similar to that found on rival platforms. To create folders on the Start Screen users will have to drag one Tile over another to create a folder. They will have the option to rename a folder and then drag and drag as many apps in it as they like.
Though it looks like this feature might not be present in Windows Phone 8.1 when it first rolls out. The article mentioned that users must have “Windows Phone 8.1 Update” installed on their devices to get this feature. Windows Phone 8.1 Update will be the first major update for WP8.1, so no surprises there if it brings a couple of new features.
We don’t even know for sure when exactly Windows Phone 8.1 is going to be rolled out to supported devices, let alone WP8.1 Update. If I were to guess, it may take more than a couple of months for this feature to land on WP8.1 devices.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft and Windows Phone 8.1.