Managing and Organizing Home Screen Pages
You’ll probably add lots of apps to your iPhone as you use it. You can organize your Home Screen pages to make it easy to find the apps you use the most, get updates from the widgets you use the most, and group apps, like gaming apps, together. You may also decide to remove apps that you no longer use or offload apps that you use rarely. iOS gives you many options, including moving apps, grouping apps in folders, adding widgets to pages, and using the App Library.
The number of apps, Home Screen pages, and folders you can have depends on the model device you have. Most newer iPhones can, for instance, have up to 15 pages and many thousands of apps if arranged in folders!
Arranging apps on the Home Screen
You can organize apps and widgets by rearranging them or dragging them to different Home Screen pages.
- Start edit mode in one of the following ways:
- Touch and hold an empty spot on a Home Screen background until all the app buttons begin to jiggle and a small black – (minus sign) appears at the top left of the app buttons.
- Touch and hold an app button until a Quick Action menu appears. Tap Edit Home Screen to enter edit mode. You can also just keep holding the button until the edit mode starts.
- Touch the app or widget you want to move and pause briefly, then drag the app or widget to the desired location. Dragging the app to the edge of the screen will flip to the next page of the Home Screen.
- Tap Done (upper right corner) or swipe up to exit edit mode and save changes
Creating folders on Home Screens
You can drag and drop an app on top of another app to create a folder with both apps. You can then add additional apps to the folder.
- Start edit mode.
- Drag a button on top of another button, and a folder will appear. Drop the button to create the folder. Drag a button to rearrange the order of buttons within the folder. You can rename the folder while still in edit mode by tapping on the title.
- Drag additional apps into the folder if you wish.
- Exit edit mode.
Folders may have multiple pages depending on the number of apps inside. Touch the folder to expand it, and swipe left or right to reveal more apps.
You can remove the apps in your dock (Phone, iMessage, Safari, etc.) and add the apps or folders you prefer, up to a maximum of four. Drag apps and folders in and out of the dock during edit mode.
Removing apps
Unused apps take up space on your Home screen and take up some of your device’s memory as well. You should remove any unused apps to free up memory and remove any potential security risks. Note that removing apps also removes any data or stored information associated with the app. (If you want to remove an app from your Home Screen but keep it on your device, see the Offload apps section below.)
- Start edit mode.
- Touch – Remove App.
- Touch Delete App to completely remove it. You will have to accept the warning that deleting the app will delete associated files. (Some Apple apps cannot be deleted.)
- Tap Remove from Home Screen to remove the button from the Home Screen but leave the app installed. You can still find the app in the App Library.
- Exit edit mode.
Removing an app does not affect any subscription agreement associated with the app (for instance, a subscription to Netflix). You’ll need to cancel subscriptions, usually by signing into your account before deleting the app.
Offloading apps to free up memory
Offloading an app uninstalls the app but saves all the personal data associated with the app. Offloaded apps can easily be reinstalled, and your device will place your data back.
Manual offload
You can offload apps you know you won’t use for an extended time, for example, a rewards app for a distant store that you only visit during a holiday.
- Open Settings
> General > iPhone Storage. - Tap an app to see options.
- Tap Offload App twice.
Offloaded app buttons will still appear on your Home Screen page, your folder, and/or the App Library but with a small cloud icon next to the name. Tap the icon to automatically download and install the app.
Auto offload
You can let your device automatically offload apps you don’t use.
- Open Settings > App Store.
- Toggle Offload Unused Apps on.
Hiding Home Screen pages
You can hide Home Screen pages.
- Start edit mode.
- Tap the dots representing your Home pages near the bottom of your screen.
- In the page edit view, tap (uncheck) the circle under each page you want to hide.
- Tap Done.
Reverse the steps to unhide Home Screen pages.