Rethinking the App Model
blog.gaborcselle.com
blog.gaborcselle.com
I already use iOS's app search as my default method of finding most apps, but going to the left to find the search is irritating. Maybe it would be better if apple just allowed you one page of apps, and an integrated search box on that page.
Android may already have solved this problem.
I agree that visual search of apps on an iPhone is a "pain point" especially when you have a ton of apps and are looking to open one you use less often that's buried in some folder on screen 7. Could Apple do better restructuring this? Sure. But I think they've solved the problem of opening the app you want to use splendidly with Siri.
Like you, I used to use Spotlight for this frequently, but was also slightly annoyed by the effort — however slight — needed to get a solution. With Siri, though, I find it hard to fault visual or text search on iPhone because I don't think there's any way either can compete with just asking Siri to open what you want.
I don't like talking on the phone — to say nothing of talking to it — but it doesn't get any more frictionless to open a buried app than asking Siri to do it for you.