Lightning Apps in App Manager

Why Lightning Apps in App Manager Matter

In Lightning Experience, the app is the container that shapes everyone's daily experience in Salesforce. It controls which tabs appear in the navigation bar, what branding users see, whether they work in a standard or console layout, which utilities sit at the bottom of the screen, and which profiles can even open it. For an Advanced Administrator, understanding Lightning Apps is essential because almost every user-experience requirement in a business scenario (a sales team needs a focused workspace, service agents need multiple records open at once, managers need a branded executive dashboard area) is ultimately solved by configuring a Lightning app. The exam's Advanced Objects and Applications domain tests whether you can translate those business needs into the correct app configuration, and whether you know the limits of what App Manager can and cannot do.

What Is App Manager?

App Manager is the central setup page (Setup > Apps > App Manager) that lists every app in the org: Classic apps, Lightning apps, and Connected apps. From here you can create a new Lightning app, edit an existing one, upgrade a Classic app to a Lightning app, control whether a Classic app is visible in Lightning Experience, and delete custom apps. The list view shows the app name, developer (API) name, description, last modified date, app type, and whether it is visible in Lightning Experience.

A Lightning app is a collection of items (standard and custom objects, Lightning pages, Visualforce tabs, web tabs, Lightning component tabs, dashboards, reports, and more) that work together to serve a specific function. Unlike Classic apps, Lightning apps support custom branding (logo and color), a utility bar, a choice of navigation style, and settings that control how much end users may personalize their navigation.

How It Works: The New Lightning App Wizard

When you click New Lightning App, a multi-step wizard walks you through the following configuration areas. Each one is fair game on the exam.

1. App Details and Branding
You provide an App Name, a Developer Name (API name, which cannot start with a number or contain spaces), a Description, an optional image (the logo shown in the top-left corner and in the App Launcher), and a Primary Color (the hex value applied to the navigation bar). You can also set the Org Theme override to use the org's custom theme instead of app branding.

2. App Options
Here you choose the Navigation Style: Standard navigation (items open in the full window, one record at a time) or Console navigation (records open as workspace tabs and subtabs so agents can juggle multiple records). Critical exam fact: the navigation style cannot be changed after the app is saved. If a scenario says an existing standard app now needs console features, the answer is to create a new console app, not edit the old one. You also choose the Supported Form Factors (desktop and/or phone) so the app can appear in the Salesforce mobile app, and the Setup Experience (Setup or Service Setup). There is also a checkbox to disable end user personalization of nav items, and in console apps an option to let users customize the navigation items.

3. Utility Items (Utility Bar)
The utility bar is the footer bar that gives one-click access to productivity tools from any page in the app. Common utilities include Notes, Recent Items, History, Macros, Omni-Channel, Open CTI Softphone, Chatter, Rich Text, Report Chart, Flow, List View, To Do List, and custom Lightning components. For each utility you set a label, icon, panel width and height, and whether to Start automatically (load in background) so it begins running when the app opens, which is important for Omni-Channel and softphones so agents receive work without clicking first. Utility items can also be popped out into separate windows. The utility bar is available for both standard and console apps and only exists in Lightning apps, never in Classic apps.

4. Navigation Items
You select and order the items that appear in the navigation bar. Items can be standard objects, custom objects, Lightning app pages, Visualforce tabs, web tabs, Lightning component tabs, Reports, Dashboards, Chatter, Groups, Home, and others. Items must have a tab defined to be available. The order you set is the default order users see. In console apps, you also configure Navigation Rules, which determine whether a record opens as a workspace tab or as a subtab of a related record (for example, a Case opens as a subtab of its Account).

5. User Profiles
Finally you assign the app to profiles. Only users with an assigned profile (or a permission set that includes the app under Assigned Apps) can see the app in the App Launcher. Note the distinction: a permission set can make an app visible, but only a profile can mark an app as a user's default app. If a scenario asks how to make an app the landing app for a group of users, the answer involves the profile.

Editing an App After Creation
Clicking the dropdown next to a Lightning app and choosing Edit opens the app settings page with tabs for App Details and Branding, App Options, Utility Items, Navigation Items, Navigation Rules (console only), and User Profiles. Everything can be changed except the navigation style and the developer name once in use by managed packages.

Upgrading Classic Apps
Classic apps appear in App Manager too. A Classic app can be shown in Lightning Experience by enabling Show in Lightning Experience, but it will lack branding and utility bar features. To get full Lightning functionality, choose Upgrade from the dropdown; Salesforce creates a Lightning version of the app (a separate app) while the Classic version remains intact for Classic users. Lightning apps themselves are never visible in Salesforce Classic.

Relationship to Lightning App Builder
App Manager controls the app shell; Lightning App Builder controls the pages inside it. When you activate a record page in Lightning App Builder, you can assign it as the App Default for specific Lightning apps, or by app, record type, and profile combination. This is how two apps can display the same object with different page layouts. Lightning app pages built in App Builder also become navigation items you can add to apps.

End User Personalization
Unless the admin disables it, users can personalize their navigation bar: reorder items, add items (including temporary tabs from recent records or list views), rename custom items, and remove items the admin did not lock. Admins can push a new default navigation to users but cannot override a user's personalization without that user resetting it; disabling personalization removes the option entirely for that app.

Mobile Considerations
If the phone form factor is selected, the Lightning app appears in the Salesforce mobile app's App Launcher, and its navigation items drive the mobile navigation. Items not supported on mobile are simply not shown. The utility bar does not display on phones.

Key Limits and Gotchas
- Navigation style (standard vs console) is permanent after save.
- The utility bar is Lightning-only and does not appear on the phone form factor.
- Standard Salesforce apps cannot be deleted, but custom Lightning apps can be, and deleting an app does not delete its tabs or objects.
- An item must have a tab to be a navigation item.
- Console navigation rules apply only to console apps.
- Default app assignment is profile-based; permission sets grant visibility only.
- Apps for Lightning are not visible in Classic, and Classic apps need the Show in Lightning Experience setting to appear in Lightning.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Lightning Apps in App Manager

Tip 1: Map the keyword to the feature. If the question mentions logo, color, or branding, think App Details and Branding in a Lightning app. If it mentions multiple records open at once, subtabs, split view, or agents, think Console navigation. If it mentions quick access from any page, Notes, Omni-Channel, softphone, or a footer tool, think Utility Bar. If it mentions who can see or open the app, think Profiles (and permission sets for visibility only).

Tip 2: Remember what is permanent. Any question about changing a standard app into a console app (or vice versa) has one correct answer: create a new app with the desired navigation style. Eliminate options that suggest editing the existing app's navigation style.

Tip 3: Separate App Manager from Lightning App Builder. App Manager = app shell (navigation items, branding, utility bar, profiles). Lightning App Builder = page content (record pages, home pages, app pages). When a question asks about different record layouts per app, the answer lives in App Builder page activation with the App Default or app/record type/profile assignment, not in App Manager.

Tip 4: Watch for Classic vs Lightning distinctions. If users still in Classic need an app, a Lightning app will not help them. If a Classic app lacks branding or utilities, the fix is to upgrade it to a Lightning app in App Manager. Know that upgrading creates a separate Lightning app rather than converting the original.

Tip 5: Know the default app rule. Visibility can come from a profile or permission set, but default app selection is a profile setting only. Questions that ask which app a user lands on after login are testing this.

Tip 6: Think about Start Automatically. Scenarios where agents miss incoming chats or calls because the utility only works after they click it are solved by enabling Start automatically (load in background) on the utility item.

Tip 7: Personalization questions. If the business wants a locked, consistent navigation bar for compliance or training reasons, the answer is to disable end user personalization in App Options. If users complain they cannot rearrange tabs, the admin has that setting enabled.

Tip 8: Mobile scenarios. If an app does not appear in the Salesforce mobile app, check that the phone form factor is selected in App Options and that the user's profile is assigned. Also remember utility bars do not render on phones.

Tip 9: Eliminate distractors. Wrong answers often suggest using page layouts, record types, or sharing rules to solve navigation or branding problems. Those tools control data and field visibility, not app navigation. Likewise, Classic app setup pages cannot add a utility bar.

Tip 10: Read for scale. If a scenario describes several teams with different needs (sales wants a simple standard layout, service wants console with Omni-Channel), the best answer is typically multiple Lightning apps, each assigned to the appropriate profiles, rather than one app with compromises.

Quick Review Summary
- App Manager: Setup > Apps > App Manager; lists Classic, Lightning, and Connected apps.
- New Lightning App wizard: Details and Branding, App Options, Utility Items, Navigation Items, (Navigation Rules for console), User Profiles.
- Navigation style is fixed after creation.
- Utility bar is Lightning-only, supports Start automatically, and is desktop-only.
- Profiles grant visibility and default; permission sets grant visibility only.
- Classic apps can be shown in Lightning or upgraded to a separate Lightning app.
- Record page variations per app are configured in Lightning App Builder, not App Manager.
- Personalization of navigation can be disabled per app.

Master these concepts and the scenario-based questions in this topic become straightforward: identify the user experience problem, match it to the correct wizard section or setting, and rule out options that rely on the wrong tool.