Draw a circle to the star index

What it is. Drawing a loop on the sky — your home screen — opens the star index — the quick A–Z picker for all your apps. Apps fan out in alphabetical letter groups on a curve at the right edge of the screen.

How to do it. Draw a full loop anywhere on the sky. Zenith reads the shape and opens the star index. Slide onto a letter group, then onto an app, and lift to open it.

The first time the index opens — by any route — a note explains it: "this is the star index: all your apps sorted into letter groups. slide onto a group, then onto an app, and lift to open it."

What affects it.

• The quick circle is on by default. You can turn it off in Settings › regions & star index ("draw a quick circle to open").
• Other ways in. You can also drag in from the right edge — off by default, turned on with "drag in from the right edge" on the same page — or set one region — a zone of the sky — to open the index when you hold there. Any corner, edge, flick, double-tap or talisman set to "star index" opens it too.
• A talisman comes first. A talisman — a gesture shortcut you draw — always wins over the circle. If your loop matches one of your talismans, the talisman casts instead. See Talismans — draw, inscribe, cast.

See also. All apps — Deep Sky & the star index · Talismans — draw, inscribe, cast · Stars, nodes & regions