I think there are perhaps two distinct concepts being talked about here, and I want to take a moment to differentiate between them and outline an approach that seems to make sense in my mind.
First, we have the current views, settings, etc. for an App. This is accessible from the front-end with the config button to the right of an App in the side menu. This is, as you say, for admins only.
Then, in relation to this you talk about adding “real data into app settings… since people don’t always get the idea of types”. If I understand you correctly you are still talking about views and info only for admins, which I think is not what the original feature request here was about. So here comes my suggestion, which relates back to that.
This brings us to the Second concept, which is what happens when you click on an App in the menu. Well, it just collapses. Personally I think this is not ideal. I like very much being able to collapse them, but I think the collapse function should be separate from a click on the App name itself. Perhaps as a “caret” to the left as with Promoted Entities and Folders, or perhaps on the Right.
Instead of current approach, I would suggest that, just as clicking on a Promoted Entity gives you a view of that entity’s page, clicking on an App could do something similar for front-end users. And that gets us then to some of the ideas that I think @B_Sp is talking about above of making the App “view” have useful content for front-end users, and maybe even act as a “home” for that App’s data and work.
This would harmonize with existing functionality easily, I think, provided you simply move the “collapse” function to its own small button (left or right), and then hide the “Configure” button on Apps for non-admin users.
So, in summary: make Apps clickable to access view of their data/work (maybe “dashboard” for that app?), move “collapse” option left or right into a button. That gets us the “App View” for front-end users. Then you “just” need to figure out what goes into it. 
Same goes for Add “Description” area to apps created from Scratch