Home Screen Makeover

The 60-Second Version

If you remember only a handful of things about your Home Screen, make it these.

• Press and hold any empty spot until the apps wiggle. Now you can move things.
• Drag an app on top of another to make a folder.
• Put your five or six most-used apps on the first page, where your thumb lands.
• Removing an app from the Home Screen does not delete it. It waits in the App Library.
• Widgets are handy panels, weather, photos, a big clock, that sit right on your Home Screen.

How the Home Screen Works

Let's get our bearings before we move anything. Once you see how it is laid out, the rest is easy.

Your Home Screen is not one screen but several, side by side, like pages in a photo album. Swipe your finger left to see the next page, and right to come back. The small row of dots near the bottom shows how many pages you have and which one you are on.

• The bottom row is called the dock. It holds up to four apps.
• The dock stays put on every page, so those four are always within reach.
• Put your very most-used apps here, like Phone, Messages, and Camera.

Jiggle Mode: Where the Magic Happens

Before you can move anything, you put the Home Screen into a wiggly editing mode. It looks alarming the first time and is perfectly normal.

When you are finished, tap Done in the top corner, or press the round Home button, or simply swipe up from the bottom. The apps stop wiggling and settle into their new spots. Whatever you arranged is saved automatically.

• Press and hold your finger on any empty part of the Home Screen.
• After a moment, all the apps start to wiggle, and little minus signs appear on their corners.
• That wiggle means you are now free to move, group, and remove things.

Moving an App Around

This is the heart of the whole makeover. Once you can move one app, you can arrange your entire phone.

To carry an app to a different page, drag it to the right edge of the screen and hold it there for a second. The phone flips to the next page, and you can drop the app wherever you like. It takes a little practice, and there is no harm in trying.

• Press and hold an empty spot until the apps wiggle.
• Press your finger on the app you want to move and keep it down.
• Slide your finger, and the app follows it. The others shuffle to make room.
• Lift your finger where you want the app to land. Tap Done.

Making a Folder

A folder is a little pocket that holds several related apps together, so one square on your screen can open many apps. It is a wonderful way to cut down clutter.

While the folder is open in wiggle mode, tap its name to change it to something plain, like Games or Banking. To take an app back out, open the folder and drag the app out onto the Home Screen. Empty a folder completely and it simply disappears.

• Enter wiggle mode by pressing and holding an empty spot.
• Drag one app directly on top of another and lift your finger.
• The two tuck into a folder together. Tap it to open it.
• Drag more apps in the same way to add them to the folder.

Your Favorites on the First Page

The first page is prime real estate. It is what you see the instant you unlock your phone, so it should hold the apps you reach for every single day.

Think about what you actually open most: probably Phone, Messages, Camera, the weather, maybe FaceTime or your photos. Those belong on the first page and in the dock. Everything else can live on later pages or in folders, out of the way.

• Enter wiggle mode.
• Drag your everyday apps onto the first page and into the dock.
• Move apps you rarely use to a later page or into a folder.
• Tap Done and enjoy a first page that fits your life.

What Widgets Are

A widget is a little panel that shows information right on your Home Screen, so you can see it at a glance without opening an app.

Widgets are bigger than app icons and show real information, not just a button to tap. For many folks, a large weather panel and a large clock make the phone far friendlier at a glance, no squinting and no digging.

• Weather, so you see today's temperature and rain without opening anything.
• Photos, which quietly shows a favorite picture that changes through the day.
• Calendar, so your next appointment is right in front of you.
• Clock, a big, clear time and date you cannot miss.

Adding a Widget

Putting a widget on your Home Screen takes about a minute, and you can remove it just as easily if you change your mind.

Widgets come in small, medium, and large. Larger ones are easier to read and show more, but they take up more room. For weather or a clock, the medium or large size is usually the most comfortable to see.

• Press and hold an empty spot until the apps wiggle.
• Tap the plus sign (+) in the top corner.
• Scroll or search the list for what you want, such as Weather or Clock.
• Pick a size, then tap Add Widget, and drag it where you like. Tap Done.

A Photo Widget You Will Love

Of all the widgets, the Photos one is a quiet delight. It puts a favorite picture right on your Home Screen and refreshes it through the day.

The Photos widget picks pictures from your library on its own, often grandkids, trips, and old favorites you had forgotten. Tapping it opens that photo in the Photos app. It is a small, cheerful thing that makes the phone feel like yours.

• Enter wiggle mode and tap the plus sign (+).
• Search for Photos and choose it.
• Pick the large size so the picture is nice and clear.
• Tap Add Widget and place it. Tap Done.

Making Everything Bigger and Clearer

If you are squinting at your phone, you are working too hard. A few settings make the whole Home Screen larger and easier on the eyes.

In Settings, under Display & Brightness, nudge the brightness up if the screen looks dim. Under Settings, Accessibility, Display & Text Size, you can also turn on Increase Contrast, which sharpens things nicely for tired eyes.

• Open Settings, tap Display & Brightness, then Text Size, and slide it to the right.
• In Display & Brightness, turn on Bold Text to make letters thicker and clearer.
• In wiggle mode, some iPhones let you tap Edit to choose larger app icons.

A Simpler, Less Crowded Layout

A tidy Home Screen is a calm one. You do not need dozens of apps staring back at you. Fewer, larger, well-chosen icons are far easier to use.

If a later page is full of clutter you never touch, enter wiggle mode and tap the row of dots near the bottom. You can uncheck a page to hide it, without deleting a thing. Uncheck it back on whenever you wish.

• Keep only your everyday apps on the first page.
• Tuck the rest into a few clearly named folders.
• Remove apps you never use from the Home Screen (they stay in the App Library).
• Leave a little breathing room instead of filling every square.

The App Library: Where Every App Lives

Past your last Home Screen page sits the App Library, a room that holds every app on your phone, sorted into groups for you. Nothing ever truly goes missing.

Because the App Library holds everything, you can safely remove apps from your Home Screen to reduce clutter, knowing they are always here if you want them. To find one fast, swipe to the App Library and type its name in the search box.

• From the Home Screen, keep swiping left, page after page.
• After your last page, you land on the App Library.
• Apps are grouped into tidy categories automatically.
• There is a search box at the very top to find any app by name.

Remove From Home vs. Delete Entirely

This is worth getting straight, because the two sound alike but do very different things. One tidies, the other truly removes.

This takes the app off your Home Screen but leaves it on your phone, waiting in the App Library. Your account and information inside it are untouched. This is the gentle choice for clutter, and it is the one to reach for most of the time.

• This removes the app from your phone completely.
• It also erases the information stored inside that app.
• You can download it again later from the App Store for free if it was free.
• Use this only for apps you are truly done with.

How to Remove or Delete Step by Step

Now that you know the difference, here is exactly how to do each one, calmly and correctly.

If you only removed it from the Home Screen, it is safe in the App Library, swipe left past your pages and search for it. If you deleted it and want it back, the next page shows how to download it again.

• Enter wiggle mode by pressing and holding an empty spot.
• Tap the minus sign (-) on the corner of the app.
• Choose Remove from Home Screen to just tidy it away.
• Or choose Delete App only if you truly want it gone. Confirm if asked.

Re-Downloading Something You Removed

Changed your mind, or deleted an app you now miss? Getting it back is quick, and if you had it before, it usually costs nothing again.

The App Store may ask you to confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, or your Apple Account password. That is normal, it is just making sure it is you. Re-downloading an app you already owned does not charge you again.

• Open the App Store (the blue icon with a white A made of shapes).
• Tap Search at the bottom and type the app's name.
• Find it in the list. If you owned it before, you will see a cloud with a down arrow.
• Tap the cloud to download it back. It returns to your phone.

The Today View: A Glance at Your Day

Just to the left of your first Home Screen page is a handy panel called the Today View. It gathers widgets into one quick, scrollable spot.

Scroll to the bottom of the Today View and tap Edit (you may need to unlock with Face ID). From there you can add the widgets you care about and remove the ones you do not. It becomes a tidy morning summary of your day.

• From your first Home Screen page, swipe from left to right.
• The Today View slides in, full of widgets.
• Scroll up and down to see weather, calendar, news, reminders, and more.
• Swipe back the other way to return to your Home Screen.

A Favorite Photo as Your Wallpaper

Nothing makes the phone feel like yours faster than a picture you love behind your apps. Grandkids, a garden, the lake, whatever brings a smile.

You can also open Settings, tap Wallpaper, and tap Add New Wallpaper, then choose Photos and pick your picture. Either way, you can set the same photo on both your Lock Screen and Home Screen, or a different one for each.

• Open the Photos app and find a picture you love.
• Tap the share button (a square with an up arrow).
• Scroll the list and tap Use as Wallpaper.
• Slide the picture to position it, then tap Add, and choose to set it for your Home Screen.

Setting Up the Dock

The dock is the row of apps along the bottom that stays put on every page. Because it is always in reach, it deserves your very best four.

Because these four never leave your sight, save the dock for the apps you open the most. If Camera matters more to you than something already there, drag Camera in and move the other one up onto a page.

• The dock holds up to four apps, and they show on every Home Screen page.
• Good choices are Phone, Messages, Camera, and one more you use constantly.
• Enter wiggle mode, then drag an app down into the dock.
• To swap one out, drag the app you no longer want up out of the dock first.

Putting Your Makeover Together

You now know every piece. Here is a gentle plan to bring it all together into a Home Screen that truly fits you.

Your Home Screen should match how you live, not a rulebook. Arrange it, live with it a few days, and adjust anything that does not feel natural. Because nothing here is permanent, you are free to keep tinkering until it feels just right.

• Decide your daily few and put them on the first page and in the dock.
• Group the rest into a handful of clearly named folders.
• Add a large weather widget and a large clock or photo widget.
• Remove apps you never use from the Home Screen, they wait safely in the App Library.
• Finish with a favorite photo as your wallpaper.

What's in the 27-page PDF

• How the Home Screen and its pages work (pages 3-4)
• Moving apps, making folders, and putting favorites up front (pages 5-9)
• Adding widgets and bigger, clearer layouts (pages 10-14)
• The App Library, the Today View, and removing apps (pages 15-19)
• A favorite photo as your wallpaper (page 20)
• A cheat sheet and a plain-English word list at the back (pages 21-22)

Why I wrote this

I write these as printable handouts because a guide you can keep in a drawer beats a web page you have to find again. No jargon, no judgment, no rushing. If you'd rather have someone sit beside you and go through it together, that's a flat $99 first visit with the 30-day follow-up included — serving Portage County from Atwater, Ohio. — Bill