How to customize your homescreen on iOS: A Beginner’s Guide

Learn how to personalize your iPhone homescreen with custom widgets and app icons

Tired of seeing the same old app icons on your iPhone’s homescreen? Do you want to make your gadget stand out from the crowd by adding a personal touch? If that’s the case, you’ve come to the correct place. In this tutorial, I’ll show you How to customize your homescreen on iOS step by step.

Expressing creativity 

Customizing your iOS homescreen can be a great way to express your creativity and add a personal touch to your device. By default, iOS homescreens can feel a bit static and bland with the same standard app icons and limited widget options. But with a little bit of customization, you can transform your homescreen into a visually appealing and functional space that is tailored to your personality or display something modern or interesting.  

In this guide, I’ll take you through the steps to customize your iOS homescreen in a beginner-friendly way. You don’t need to be a tech-savvy person to follow along; all you need is an iPhone running iOS 16 or later to iOS 14 and the willingness to explore some new customization options. 

By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to create a homescreen that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also practical and efficient. So let’s get started!

Choose Your Homescreen Layout

Now let’s get into business with iOS 16, Apple unveiled a brand-new function called App Library that neatly and conveniently organizes all of your installed apps. You can now conceal some of your app icons to make room on your homescreen for other icons. 

Key in mind this my chance with further updates plus how they make you change icons one by one can be annoying unlike how to customize your homescreen on samsung Keep in mind this may take a while. 

  1. Press and hold any app icon on your homescreen until the icons start to jiggle. 
  2. Tap on the small dots at the bottom of the screen to access the “Edit Home Screen” page. 
  3. From here, you can drag and drop your app icons to rearrange them, or you can press and hold an app icon to enter the “Jiggle Mode” and move it around. 
  4. To hide an app icon, simply enter “Jiggle Mode,” then tap on the app icon you want to hide and select “Remove App.” This will not delete the app from your device; it will only remove it from your homescreen.
How to customize your homescreen on iOS | Beginner Friendly

You can select your homescreen layout after rearranging your program icons and hiding any that you don’t use frequently. You can choose between a simple layout with simply a few widgets and app icons or a more intricate layout with numerous pages and folders. You can also use this time to figure out what apps you may want to consider uninstalling. 

Customize Your App Icons

After you’ve decided on your homescreen layout, it’s time to personalize your app icons. By default, iOS app icons have a consistent shape and appearance, which might make your homescreen appear monotonous. Fortunately, there are various ways to make your app icons stand out.

Using the Shortcuts app to change your app icons is one option. You can use this software to make unique app icons that can be put to your homescreen. Follow these steps to make a custom app icon:

  1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. 
  2. Tap on the “+” icon in the top-right corner of the screen to create a new shortcut. 
  3. Tap on the “Add Action” button and search for the app you want to create a shortcut for.
  4. Tap on the app to add it to your shortcut. 
  5. Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner of the screen to access the shortcut settings.
  6. Tap on the “Add to Home Screen” option. 
  7. Choose a name for your shortcut and tap on the icon to customize it. 
  8. Select a photo or icon from your camera roll or choose one of the premade icons provided by the app. 
  9. Tap on “Add” to add the custom app icon to your homescreen.

To design custom app icons, you can also utilize third-party programs like Esty or icons8. These apps offer a variety of themes and styles for your app icons, such as neon, pastel, and gradient styles.

Follow these procedures to modify an app icon using these third-party apps:

  1. Download and open the app that you want to use for customizing your app icons.
  2. Choose the app icon design you want to use. 
  3. Follow the instructions provided by the app to create a custom app icon. 
  4. Once you’ve created your custom app icon, return to your homescreen and enter “Jiggle Mode.” 
  5. Tap on the app icon you want to customize and select “Edit Home Screen.” 
  6. Tap on the app icon again and select “Choose Photo” or “Choose File” depending on the app you’re using. 
  7. Select the custom app icon you created and tap on “Add.”
How to customize your homescreen on iOS: A Beginner's Guide

With these methods, you can customize your app icons to match your style and make your homescreen look more visually appealing.

Organizing Your Homescreen

With all of these new widgets and app icons, your homescreen may become cluttered. In this section, I’ll discuss how to arrange and make your homescreen easier to navigate.

It’s critical to maintain your homescreen organized once you’ve modified it with new widgets and app icons for simple navigation. Here are some ideas for organizing your homescreen:

  1. Use App Folders: App folders are a great way to group similar apps together. To create a folder, simply hold down an app icon until it starts to jiggle, then drag it on top of another app icon. This will create a folder containing both apps. You can add more apps to the folder by dragging them onto it. 
  2. Arrange Apps by Category: Another way to keep your homescreen organized is to arrange apps by category. For example, you could have a folder for social media apps, a folder for productivity apps, and a folder for entertainment apps. This way, you can quickly find the app you need without having to scroll through pages of icons. 
  3. Use App Library: App Library is a new feature in iOS 14 that automatically organizes your apps into categories. You can access the App Library by swiping to the rightmost page on your homescreen. Here, you’ll see your apps grouped into categories like Recently Added, Social, and Productivity. You can also search for apps using the search bar at the top of the page. 
  4. Keep Only Essential Apps on Homescreen: Finally, to avoid cluttering your homescreen, consider keeping only the most essential apps on it. Move other apps to a folder or the App Library. This will make it easier to find what you need and make your homescreen look cleaner.

Final Thoughts

You have now successfully learned How to customize your homescreen on iOS, We explored a variety of customization choices in this guide, from adding widgets and changing app icons to organizing your homescreen.

By following these steps, you can completely personalize your iOS device to fit your personality and needs. Customizing your homescreen is a creative and enjoyable way to add a personal touch to your device.

Remember that keeping it basic and only including what you need is the key to a well-organized and personalized homescreen. Avoid clogging up your homescreen with superfluous apps or widgets.

So, what are you holding out for? Begin customizing your iOS homescreen today to get a more personalized device experience! Thanks for reading averguytechHome be sure to check out more articles.

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