Categories: Apple iPhone

Rearranging the Home Screen Icons on iPhone, iPod and iPad

One thing about the iPhone and iPod touch home screens, is they always tend to look like a jumble of icons with no real order or organization. However, there is an easy solution!

In fact, rearranging the iPhone’s home screen app icons, including moving them to other screens, is one of the best ways you can customize your device! You can store your apps in folders all the way to putting your favorites on the first screen so you can access them easily.

Because both the iPod touch and iPad run the same operating system, you can use these tips to customize them: Tap on an app and hold down any icon without moving your finger. Wait for a couple of seconds until the icon starts to jiggle or shake. Now you can rearrange them in whatever order you want. Some of the icons will have a small “x” in the top left corner. This cross means that you are looking at an uninstaller. If you want to remove an app, now’s your chance. (Keep in mind that removing an app can mean you also lose some data).

With the icons wiggling, touching and holding your finger on it allows you to slide it around until it’s suitably repositioned. This includes the four icons on the bottom bar. Placing an icon in the bottom bar means it’ll be visible on all the home screen pages.

So just drag the icon to a new location. If you want to create an additional home screen, drag an icon to the left hand edge, and the page will flip over to the next one, thus you can keep creating as many additional pages as you’d like, depending on your requirements. For example, you can create one page for applications, one for games, one for apps you don’t use often, etc. When you’ve finished rearranging your icons, press the home button once, and they’ll cease the jiggling. You can now boast a better organized home screen on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Note: Icons have to swap places on the screen.

They can’t have empty space between them. You also can store iPhone apps or web clips in folders, which is a handy way to keep your home screen neat or store similar apps together. In iOS 6 and earlier, each folder can contain up to 12 apps on the iPhone and 20 apps on the iPad. In iOS 7 and later, that number is much higher.

You can move and arrange folders in the same way as apps. If you have more than one page of icons on your iPad or iPhone after rearranging them, you can scroll through the pages either by flicking them left or right, or by tapping the white dots just above the dock.

The white dots indicate how many pages you have.

Note: There must be numerous apps you’ve downloaded but never use. These are thing you definitely don’t need and should get rid of. Maybe it is cool to just keep some of them, just in case, but without them your screen will look better.