diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServer.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServer.scala
index c178917d8da3b..248fc0c302e45 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServer.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServer.scala
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import java.util.NoSuchElementException
 import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream
 import javax.servlet.http.{HttpServlet, HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse}
 
+import scala.collection.IterableView
 import scala.util.control.NonFatal
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.{ServletContextHandler, ServletHolder}
@@ -29,7 +30,8 @@ import org.apache.spark.{SecurityManager, SparkConf}
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil
 import org.apache.spark.internal.Logging
 import org.apache.spark.internal.config._
-import org.apache.spark.status.api.v1.{ApiRootResource, ApplicationInfo, ApplicationsListResource, UIRoot}
+import org.apache.spark.status.api.v1.{ApiRootResource, ApplicationInfo, ApplicationsListResource,
+  UIRoot}
 import org.apache.spark.ui.{SparkUI, UIUtils, WebUI}
 import org.apache.spark.ui.JettyUtils._
 import org.apache.spark.util.{ShutdownHookManager, SystemClock, Utils}
@@ -182,6 +184,10 @@ class HistoryServer(
     getApplicationList().iterator.map(ApplicationsListResource.appHistoryInfoToPublicAppInfo)
   }
 
+  def getApplicationInfoListView: IterableView[ApplicationInfo, Iterable[_]] = {
+    getApplicationList().view.map(ApplicationsListResource.appHistoryInfoToPublicAppInfo)
+  }
+
   override def writeEventLogs(
       appId: String,
       attemptId: Option[String],
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApiRootResource.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApiRootResource.scala
index de927117e1f63..023acd9b64d52 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApiRootResource.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApiRootResource.scala
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import javax.servlet.ServletContext
 import javax.ws.rs._
 import javax.ws.rs.core.{Context, Response}
 
+import scala.collection.IterableView
+
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler
 import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.{ServletContextHandler, ServletHolder}
 import org.glassfish.jersey.server.ServerProperties
@@ -222,6 +224,7 @@ private[spark] object ApiRootResource {
 private[spark] trait UIRoot {
   def getSparkUI(appKey: String): Option[SparkUI]
   def getApplicationInfoList: Iterator[ApplicationInfo]
+  def getApplicationInfoListView: IterableView[ApplicationInfo, Iterable[_]]
 
   /**
    * Write the event logs for the given app to the [[ZipOutputStream]] instance. If attemptId is
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApplicationListResource.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApplicationListResource.scala
index 075b9ba37dc84..89920b7fa322e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApplicationListResource.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/status/api/v1/ApplicationListResource.scala
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ private[v1] class ApplicationListResource(uiRoot: UIRoot) {
       @DefaultValue("3000-01-01") @QueryParam("maxDate") maxDate: SimpleDateParam,
       @QueryParam("limit") limit: Integer)
   : Iterator[ApplicationInfo] = {
-    val allApps = uiRoot.getApplicationInfoList
+    val numApps = Option(limit).getOrElse(Integer.MAX_VALUE).asInstanceOf[Int]
+    val allApps = uiRoot.getApplicationInfoListView
+
     val adjStatus = {
       if (status.isEmpty) {
         Arrays.asList(ApplicationStatus.values(): _*)
@@ -40,9 +42,10 @@ private[v1] class ApplicationListResource(uiRoot: UIRoot) {
         status
       }
     }
+
     val includeCompleted = adjStatus.contains(ApplicationStatus.COMPLETED)
     val includeRunning = adjStatus.contains(ApplicationStatus.RUNNING)
-    val appList = allApps.filter { app =>
+    allApps.filter { app =>
       val anyRunning = app.attempts.exists(!_.completed)
       // if any attempt is still running, we consider the app to also still be running
       val statusOk = (!anyRunning && includeCompleted) ||
@@ -53,12 +56,7 @@ private[v1] class ApplicationListResource(uiRoot: UIRoot) {
           attempt.startTime.getTime <= maxDate.timestamp
       }
       statusOk && dateOk
-    }
-    if (limit != null) {
-      appList.take(limit)
-    } else {
-      appList
-    }
+    }.take(numApps).force.iterator
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala
index 39155ff2649ec..62ec98b885f36 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.apache.spark.ui
 
 import java.util.{Date, ServiceLoader}
 
+import scala.collection.IterableView
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 
 import org.apache.spark.{SecurityManager, SparkConf, SparkContext}
@@ -126,6 +127,10 @@ private[spark] class SparkUI private (
       ))
     ))
   }
+
+  def getApplicationInfoListView: IterableView[ApplicationInfo, Iterable[_]] = {
+    getApplicationInfoList.toList.view
+  }
 }
 
 private[spark] abstract class SparkUITab(parent: SparkUI, prefix: String)