This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Customizing Your Home Screens
The iPhone’s Home screens are the starting point for anything you do because these screens contain the icons and folders of icons that you tap to access the apps that you want to use. You see and use the Home screens constantly, so it’s a good idea to customize them to your preferences.
In the background of the Lock screen and every Home screen is the wallpaper image. In the section called “Setting the Wallpaper on the Home and Lock Screens,” you learn how to configure your iPhone’s wallpaper in both locations.
As you know, you can access apps on your Home screens by tapping them. The Home screens come configured with icons in default locations. You can change the location of these icons to be more convenient for you. As you install more apps on your iPhone, it’s a good idea to organize your Home screens so that you can quickly get to the apps you use most frequently. You can move icons around the same screen, move icons between the pages of the Home screen, and organize icons within folders. You can even change the icons that appear on the Home screen Dock. You can also delete icons you no longer need.
Moving Icons Around Your Home Screens
You can move icons around on a Home screen, and you can move icons among screens to change where they are located.
Move to a Home screen by pressing the Touch ID/Home button (except iPhone X) or swiping up from the bottom of the screen (iPhone X).
Swipe to the left or right across the Home screen until the page containing an icon you want to move appears.
Touch (don’t tap because if you do, the app opens instead) and hold on any icon. After a moment, the icons begin jiggling, which indicates that you can move icons on the Home screens. You also see the Delete symbol (x) in the upper-left corner of some icons, which indicates that you can delete both the icon and app (more on this later in this section).
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Touch and hold an icon you want to move; it becomes darker to show that you have selected it.
Drag the icon to a new location on the current screen; as you move the icon around the page, other icons separate and are reorganized to enable you to place the icon in its new location.
When the icon is in the location you want, lift your finger. The icon is set in that place. (You don’t have to be precise; the icon automatically snaps into the closest position when you lift your finger off the screen.)
Tap and hold on an icon you want to move to a different page.
Drag the icon to the left edge of the screen to move it to a previous page or to the right edge of the screen to move it to a later page. As you reach the edge of the screen, you move to the previous or next page.
Drag the icon to its new location on the Home screen and lift your finger off the icon. Lift your finger off the screen. The icon is set in its new place.
Continue moving icons until you’ve placed them in the locations you want; then press the Touch ID/Home button once. The icons are locked in their current positions, they stop jiggling, and the Delete symbols disappear.
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Creating Folders to Organize Apps on Your Home Screens
You can place icons into folders to keep them organized and to make more icons available on the same page. To create a folder, do the following:
Move to the Home screen containing icons you want to place in a folder.
Touch and hold an icon until the icons start jiggling; the Delete symbols appear.
Drag one icon on top of another one that you want to be in the new folder together.
When the first icon is on top of the second and a folder appears, lift your finger. The two icons are placed into the new folder, which is named based on the type of icons you place within it. The folder opens and you see its default name.
Edit the name by tapping in the name field.
Delete the current name by tapping the Delete icon.
Change the default name for the folder or type a completely new name if you deleted the previous one.
Tap Done.
Tap outside the folder to close it.
If you’re done organizing the Home screen, press the Touch ID/Home button. The icons stop jiggling.
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Placing Icons in Existing Folders
You can add icons to an existing folder like so:
Move to the Home screen containing an icon you want to place in a folder.
Touch and hold an icon until the icons start jiggling and the Delete symbols appear.
Drag the icon you want to place into a folder on top of the folder’s icon so that the folder opens. (The icon doesn’t have to be on the same Home screen page; you can drag an icon from one page and drop it on a folder on a different page.)
When the folder opens, lift your finger from the screen. The icon is placed within the folder.
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Drag the new icon to its location within the folder.
Tap outside the folder. The folder closes.
When you’re done adding icons to folders, press the Touch ID/Home button.
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Configuring the Home Screen Dock
The Dock on the bottom of the Home screen appears on every page. You can place any icons on the Dock that you want, including folder icons.
Move to the Home screen containing an icon you want to place on the Dock.
Touch and hold an icon until the icons start jiggling and the Delete symbols appear.
Drag an icon that is currently on the Dock from the Dock onto the Home screen to create an empty space on the Dock.
Drag an icon or folder from the Home screen onto the Dock.
Drag the icons on the Dock around so they are in the order you want them to be.
Press the Touch ID/Home button to set the icons in their current places.
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Deleting Icons
You can delete icons from a Home screen to remove them from your iPhone. When you delete an app’s icon, its data is also deleted and you won’t be able to use the app anymore (of course, you can download it again if you change your mind).
Move to the Home screen containing an icon you want to delete.
Touch and hold an icon until the icons start jiggling and the Delete symbols appear (you can delete icons that are inside folders, too).
Tap the icon’s Delete symbol.
Tap Delete. The app and any associated data on your iPhone are deleted.
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