iOS 14 opened up the world of home screen customization on iPhones. You can add widgets, remove apps and pages from the home screen, and do a variety of other things. Do you want a nice-looking home screen for your iPhone too? Let’s check the best tips to customize the iPhone home screen.
Tips to Customize iOS Home Screen
1. Change Wallpaper
The wallpaper you choose will determine how your final home screen will look like. It should be consistent with the aesthetics of other items such as app icons, widgets, and similar items.
Go to Settings > Wallpaper. Tap on Add new wallpaper to change your wallpaper. You can set a solid color, gradient, emoji, live wallpaper, or you can use an Apple-provided still image. You can even set your own image as wallpaper by selecting the Photos wallpaper.
If you don’t like Apple’s collection of live wallpapers, check out the best live wallpaper apps to get more variety. By the way, did you know you can set a video wallpaper on the lock screen too? Also, learn how to change your iPhone’s wallpaper automatically.
Tip: Learn how to customize StandBy mode on iPhone.
2. Hide or Reorder Pages
Without deleting apps, you can easily remove extra or unnecessary pages from your home screen. This is useful if you want to declutter your home screen and only keep the pages you need.
To remove home screen pages, touch and hold any empty space on the iPhone’s home screen until the icons start shaking. Tap on the dots at the bottom to enter the customization mode. Tap on the checkmark icon under a page to hide it. To exit the customization mode, tap anywhere else.
If, however, you want to delete the page altogether, tap on the remove (-) icon on the page. Doing so will remove the page from the list of pages. However, the apps on the page will not be uninstalled. You can still access them from the App Library.
If you want to change the order of pages, touch and hold a page and move it to the desired position.
3. Change Home Screen Pages Using Focus Mode
The next interesting tip to customize the iPhone home scree is to link Focus mode to the home screen. Focus modes are a set of profiles that allow you to silence calls and alerts on your iPhone. The interesting aspect of Focus modes is that you can display different home screen pages depending on which Focus mode is active. For example, in Reading Focus mode, you can keep only the book apps on the home screen, and in the Fitness profile, you can select a page that displays only the health-related apps and widgets. The rest of the pages will remain hidden.
To do so, go to Settings > Focus > [Desired profile]. Tap on Choose under the home screen preview and select the pages to display. The only thing you need to remember is to set up the respective pages ahead of time; otherwise, they will not appear in the list. Check out other cool tips related to Focus mode on iPhone.
4. Keep Home Screen Clean
Earlier, all the installed apps would show up on the iPhone’s home screen. Removing any app would uninstall it. Now, removing apps from the home screen will not uninstall them. You can still view them in the App Library which can be accessed by swiping left from the last home screen page. With this feature, you can keep only the important apps or remove all of them to get a clean home screen.
To remove an app from the home screen, touch and hold the app icon. Select Remove app followed by Remove from home screen. Or, choose Delete app to uninstall it completely.
Tip: To delete multiple apps, touch and hold any app icon. When the icons start to shake, go to the App Library and press the X icon on the apps that you want to uninstall.
5. Keep Apps in the App Library Only
The above tip will remove the existing apps from the home screen. To prevent new apps from being added to the home screen, go to Settings > Home screen. Select App Library Only under the Newly downloaded apps. By doing so, any newly installed app will only appear in the App Library. You will need to manually add it to the home screen.
If, however, you decide to keep apps on the home screen, the following tips to arrange them will come in handy.
6. Color Code Apps
Keeping apps according to their color is one of the coolest ways to customize the iPhone home screen. For example, all blue apps will be on one home screen, and all red apps will be on another, and so on. This concept can also be applied to folders. Touch and hold the app icon to move it to a different page or to the same page.
7. Define Folder Purpose
Rather than naming the folder after categories such as music, productivity, and so on, define the purpose of the apps contained within it or what they help you with. For example, instead of calling it a Music folder, call it a Listen folder. Similarly, use verbs like watch, play, write, listen, navigate, photograph, read, share, shop, talk, and so on to name folders.
To rename a folder, touch and hold the folder. Select Rename from the menu. Tap on the folder name and enter the new name.
8. Use Emoji Names
Similarly, if you like emojis, use them as folder names. Go with emojis that you can easily identify with.
9. Use Widgets
iOS 14 gave birth to the concept of widgets on the iPhone’s home screen. Now you can quickly access important information from various apps without opening the app.
To add widgets, press any empty space on the home screen and tap on the add (+) icon at the top. Tap on the widget to preview it. Swipe through the available list to select the right size of the widget. Finally, tap on Add widget.
Here are some more useful tips for widgets on iPhone.
- Touch and hold a widget and select Edit widget to customize the widget properties.
- Hold the widget and drag it around to a different position on the home screen.
- Use Smart stack widget available under the list of widgets. This widget learns your behavior over time to automatically show relevant information throughout the day.
- If you aren’t satisfied with the native widget list, check out our exhaustive list of third-party widget apps.
- Do you enjoy keeping track of the weather? Take a look at the best weather widgets.
- Finally, create your own widgets to match the aesthetics of app icons and wallpaper using apps like Widgetsmith,Widget Wizard, and Color Widgets.
Tip: Find out how to use widgets in iPadOS.
10. Change App Icons
Apple does not provide a simple method for changing app icons. However, this does not rule out the possibility entirely. To change the icon of any app on your iPhone, you must use the Apple Shortcuts app. Check out our detailed tutorial on how to change app icons on iPhone. It also includes more than ten icon packs. You can also use websites like iskin.tooliphone.net, Flaticon, and icons8 to get free custom app icons. Similarly, apps like App Icon Changer will also come in handy.
Tips: Badges do not show up on the app icons created using this tip. If you want to see the badges, you should add the original app icons on a separate screen.
11. Reset Home Screen
If you mess up with the layout of your home screen and want to return to the default view, you can easily do so by resetting your home screen. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset home screen layout to do so. You will have to start setting up the home screen from scratch.
Be Patient
It’s going to take a lot of time to personalize the iPhone if you want to go all aesthetic. Take inspiration from home screen ideas on Pinterest or other websites to get the look that you want. Have the patience to get the desired result. Check out more tips to customize iPhone home screen.
ApplecustomizationiPhonetips and tricks
Mehvish
Mehvish Mushtaq is a tech lover from Kashmir. With a degree in computer engineering, she's always been happy to help anyone who finds technology challenging. She's been writing about technology for over six years, and her favorite topics include how-to guides, explainers, tips and tricks for Android, iOS/iPadOS, Windows, social media, and web apps. You can also find her work on Make Tech Easier, Guiding Tech, and Nerds Chalk
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
As an expert and enthusiast, I can provide you with information on how to customize the home screen on iOS 14. Here are some tips to help you personalize your iPhone's home screen:
Change Wallpaper
To change the wallpaper on your iPhone, go to Settings > Wallpaper. From there, you can choose from various options such as solid colors, gradients, emojis, live wallpapers, or even use your own image as wallpaper. You can also explore third-party apps for more wallpaper options [[1]].
Hide or Reorder Pages
If you want to remove unnecessary pages from your home screen without deleting apps, you can do so by touching and holding any empty space on the home screen until the icons start shaking. Tap on the dots at the bottom to enter customization mode. From there, you can hide pages by tapping on the checkmark icon under a page. To delete a page altogether, tap on the remove (-) icon on the page. Remember that removing a page does not uninstall the apps on it; you can still access them from the App Library [[2]].
Change Home Screen Pages Using Focus Mode
You can link Focus mode to the home screen to display different pages depending on the active Focus mode. For example, in Reading Focus mode, you can keep only book apps on the home screen, and in the Fitness profile, you can select a page that displays only health-related apps and widgets. To do this, go to Settings > Focus > [Desired profile]. Tap on Choose under the home screen preview and select the pages to display [[3]].
Keep Home Screen Clean
With the introduction of the App Library, removing apps from the home screen will not uninstall them. To remove an app from the home screen, touch and hold the app icon, select "Remove app," and then choose "Remove from home screen." You can still access the removed apps from the App Library by swiping left from the last home screen page. To delete multiple apps, touch and hold any app icon, go to the App Library, and press the X icon on the apps you want to uninstall [[4]].
Keep Apps in the App Library Only
If you want to prevent new apps from being added to the home screen, you can go to Settings > Home screen and select "App Library Only" under "Newly downloaded apps." This way, newly installed apps will only appear in the App Library, and you will need to manually add them to the home screen [[5]].
Color Code Apps
To customize the home screen further, you can organize apps according to their color. For example, you can have all blue apps on one home screen and all red apps on another. Touch and hold an app icon to move it to a different page or the same page [[6]].
Define Folder Purpose
Instead of naming folders after categories like music or productivity, you can define the purpose of the apps within them. For example, you can name a folder "Listen" instead of "Music." To rename a folder, touch and hold the folder, select "Rename" from the menu, and enter the new name [[7]].
Use Emoji Names
If you enjoy using emojis, you can use them as folder names. Choose emojis that you can easily identify with and assign them as folder names [[8]].
Use Widgets
iOS 14 introduced widgets that allow you to access important information from various apps without opening them. To add widgets, press any empty space on the home screen, tap on the add (+) icon at the top, select the widget size, and tap on "Add widget." You can customize widgets by pressing and holding them, selecting "Edit widget," and adjusting the properties. You can also use third-party widget apps to expand your widget options [[9]].
Change App Icons
While Apple does not provide a simple method for changing app icons, you can use the Apple Shortcuts app to achieve this. There are also websites and apps available that offer custom app icons. However, it's important to note that badges do not show up on app icons created using this method [[10]].
Reset Home Screen
If you want to return to the default view of your home screen, you can reset it by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset home screen layout. Keep in mind that this will require you to set up the home screen from scratch [[11]].
Please note that the information provided above is based on search results and my knowledge as an expert and enthusiast.
