Ideas on home screen layout, various tips and tricks, etc?

I use folders to keep everything organized on one page, then braille screen input to quickly launch apps.

Basically the first thing I do is turn on the option that means that nothing gets downloaded to my home screens. Then I create different screens based on different activities. I've got one that has all my news and social apps plus the weather that I look at every morning, for example.I launch most things with spotlight, anyway, I've even created a gesture so I can do that without leaving the app I'm in.

Personally I don't have a particular way of organising apps. If I want to launch an app, BSI is my go-to resource.

Not including the app library, I only use two home screens on my iPhone. The first, or primary, home screen a.k.a. page 1, has a list of apps that I consider "commonly used apps". The second screen, or page 2, are a bunch of folders, arranged by category. These include a folder labeled "AI tools", a folder labeled "shopping and finance", a folder labeled "entertainment", etc. etc.

Regarding widgets, we have been able to add those to the home screen since 2020.

My home screen is comprised of widgets and folders with various apps. Page 1 has the facebook, triviacrack, local news, and what's app widgets. I also have apps that I use frequently; messages, outlook (wish outlook would create a widget that opens the inbox), local bank app. Page 2 has apps, widgets, and folders. The Alexa, iheart, audible widgets, the linked in app and I have a shortcut for paratransit page on page 2. There's also media, news, life style,, and weather folders on page 2. The media folder has different social media apps, face book, messenger, what's app etc. and the news and weather folders are self explanitory; various national news and weather apps depending on the folder. The life style folder has local grocery store app, chilis, star bucks, subway, maps, Uber/eats, my chart, planet fitness, etc. I also have a folder pertaining to my job which has apps for my job; ms teams, workday, and various apps for university where I work. Page 3 has folders; extras with settings, clock, app store etc. Entertainment with alexa, brave brain, trivia crack, etc. Resources with mail, notes, calculator, calendar, etc. Yeah I'm anal lol :) My husband's and mom's home screens are a hot mess literally with apps all over the place. Idk how they do that but they are both sighted so I guess it doesn't matter to them.

On page one, I have 2 widgets, 2 most used folders, and my most used apps . Page 2 has all folders and recently downloaded apps. I like the simplicity of only having 2 pages. I still have a ton of apps though. Too many. Every now and then I go through my folders and delete apps I haven't used in a long time. I like my folders to just have one page.

I have a mixture of mostly-used apps and folders. I have a weather folder, an accessibility folder and a couple of others on my first page, and mostly just apps on the second page, but I'll probably put some of those in folders if I get more. Not really one for wwidgets, and the new home screen layout is beyond me.

I use no folders--far too fiddly to me! Instead, I have apps alphabetized and mostly use braille screen input to launch them. To accomplish this easily, I will occasionally go to the reset portion of settings and do a reset home screen layout from there when I've downloaded several apps that need to find their places in my list. It will keep your home page default downloaded apps, mail, settings, etc, but every page after that will be a straight list. Very useful! On my main screen I also have one widget stack of 3 widgets I most often use--parcel tracking, weather gods and a water tracker app. Hope this helps!

I alphabetize all of my apps , including the default ones. It can be tedious to set up at first, but it makes it easier for me to find things. I also have apps on different pages depending on what letter of the alphabet they start with. For example, any apps that start with A, B, or C are on page 1. Any apps that start with D, E, F, or G, are on page 2 and so on. As a result, I have 7 pages of apps. This setup isn't ideal for everyone, but after experimenting with folders and other ways of organizing my apps, I've found this is the easiest way for me.

My first page contains the apps I use most and/or want to have easiest access to. For the apps I use most, I try to put them in strategic locations at the top or bottom of the page, or at the ends of rows. On my second page I have a 'Utilities' folder at Row 1 Column 1, and this contains all of the built-in Apple apps I don't regularly use. Besides that, the second page is made up of other apps I don't use enough to put on page 1.

I have the iPhone 16 pro and hope you love it as much as I do. I like the fact that size wise it is in between the old 15 and 15+. Given it size, the battery is superb, the best of any iPhone I have had yet. With regards to folders, I like serious organisation. Some people might find this a little much, but this is how I do it. I have my folders ordered an alphabetical order. So my first folder is called A, my second B, et cetera et cetera. Inside each folder I then have the apps organised in alphabetical order. So inside the A folder I have all my apps that begin with the letter A, organised in alphabetical order. Yes, it takes a while to get it all set up, but once you do it makes life a lot easier. You don’t need to think and what folder do I put this app in because it fits into several different categories, you just need to know what letter it begins with. It makes finding apps really easy. The only irritation is when a company changes the name of your app and then you have to move it into a different folder.

To the poster above, I feel your pain. I remember when Google first we branded their Google Duo application, to Google Meet. For the longest time, I could not find this app on my iPhone. For those of you who do not know, Google Meet is basically Google's version of FaceTime, except that it is cross platform, meaning you could do video conversation with people on both Androids and iPhone devices.

All widgets are on the left of the main home-screen, it's like a big vertical list of all widgets I care about. I do forget to use that one very often.
My main and only home-screen page is just 4 folders, Productivity where most of AI assistance apps go, tools, where some useful apps like notes, compass, maps etc reside at. Business folder hosts all of my work related applications. And finally, entertainment hosts things like Youtube, podcast, Youtube music etc.
In the dock, I've got phone, contacts, messages and whatsapp. I launch camera using swipe left on lock-screen, and I launch Be My AI using action button.
I rarely go to ap library. I rather use 3 finger swipe up gesture to launch spotlight and search for anything I can't find on home-screen. Yes, 3 finger swipe up is not the default gesture for this, but it allows me to launch spotlight from any screen, and feels intuitive, so I've set it that way.
3 finger swipe down is go to home-screen for me. Wallpaper is full black.
As you can imagine, My homescreen has lot of empty space right now, and I like it that way. Lock-screen has clock, calendar and whether widgets, along with shortcuts for Scan-code and Speekaboo app.

No judgment here, but I'm just curious, does the three finger swipe down on home screen icons not work for you for Spotlight search?

Hi there,

Glad you are enjoying your new iPhone. A tip for you regarding the action button. A new and very popular becoming shortcut is the new Quick Describe with Speakaboo, and OCR type of application similar to Be My AI.
The latest update to this application comes with a shortcut, that allows you to instantly open the app, snap a picture, and have it describe the details of said picture, all within a few seconds or so.
Just thought I would share that with you. Happy apping!