REQUEST: Applications that are open and actively used will appear as "active" within the group.

[DiMOSTov]

Applications that are open and actively used should appear as "active" within the group, and the group icon should also indicate that there are open applications within the group (same marking used for open applications in the taskbar).

Why it's needed: For users like me, app grouping arises from necessity, not aesthetic reasons. I discovered the AppGroup project when my taskbar was overflowing with apps but I still needed to see if each app was active. It's a fantastic project.

However, in its current state, it only allows grouping and command-to-open apps. If apps are already open, it doesn't indicate which app is open within the group or on the group icon. Because of this, the taskbar becomes cluttered with open apps outside of grouping. I don't know if it's technically feasible, but the feature I'm suggesting would solve all my problems with this application.

Thank you for the wonderful project. Keep up the awesome work!

[iandiv]

@DiMOSTov thanks for the suggestion and for the kind words about the project, I understand your use case of wanting to track which apps are currently active to reduce taskbar clutter.

Showing an active indicator inside the group popup is a great idea and something I may consider for a future release.
As for the taskbar indicator, this is an intentional design decision. AppGroup keeps the group popup running in the background and only shows it when needed, rather than behaving like individual taskbar apps.

In earlier versions of AppGroup, there was a taskbar indicator because each group ran as a separate process with its own window. However, this approach resulted in slower launch times. While this wasn’t as noticeable with older frameworks like WinForms or WPF, WinUI 3 introduces more overhead, which made the experience less responsive.

Because of this, the current design prioritizes performance and responsiveness over taskbar-level indicators. That said, improving visibility of active apps within the group itself is something I’ll continue to explore.

[DiMOSTov]

@iandiv, thank you for considering the suggested features. I'll soon share more feature suggestions and bugs I discover based on my user experience.