I was messing around with the now bar and just realised multiple options actually appear there.
My issue with the current setup is its poor visibility and the potential for its navigation. I wish it was easier to see there are multiple apps selected in the nowbar instead of only one, to see the others you fully have to swipe down, which is not an action most people would commonly perform. It makes it especially hard to see because the icon to show more is on the bottom, faint, blends into the background and just appears abrubtly instead of fading in for a cleaner animation. It's very easy to miss.
My suggestion is to have them open up like a flipbook instead of a faint outline, as it looks more so like a backdrop to the current widgit instead of an entirely new option. This way, precise tapping could navigate to a specific apps now bar update instead of manually swiping through. This design would reiterate there are multiple apps in the now bar.
While yes, it is a small part in the top of your screen, with the amount of unnecessary space it already takes up it just makes it that much easier to maximise your space. Or even a design to feature a cut-out would be nice. Anything to make it more obvious that its current state.
This was my current idea, the icons in the back could be potentially offset to show what specific apps they are displaying (similar to the "show recent app" menu)
