Auto-Populate iPhone Home Screen With Your Most Used Apps

[jimimac71]

I suppose this does not apply to iPad. I have apps along the bottom only. I like finding and using nice wallpaper images. The menu boxes are annoying. Would be nice to name them as I wish, not what Apple thinks I should use.
I have favorite apps, up to 8, along the bottom of the screen on my Android tablet. Then I sort the apps alphabetically in the pull down menu.

 

[Octavius8]

Even the Siri suggestions are rubbish!. It wss MUCH more efficient the Siri of way of “my frecuent used apps manually populated”. Automated, smart suggestions are not smart, unpredictable and unproductive as they force me to pay attention vs just using muscle memory.
Is kind of “smart keyboard that shows the letters and keys that you most use in a convenient position”. Just a difficult solution to a non-problem.

 

[Atog]

No, bc I already tried to use Siri watch face and it always failed when I need it.

 

[cnnyy20p]

iOS should have an option to turn off app library or home screen. Samsung phones already let you do this. Why would you ever need two places to list apps? Smartphones are not desktop. They do not need a desktop metaphor.

 

[Mr Fide]

Destroy muscle memory with these 8 simple steps!

Great point! Thanks for this. I want to keep the muscle memory so I have moved the stack of “most used” widgets to page 2. I think that will be best of both worlds. Thanks again

 

[boss.king]

This sounds like a genuine nightmare. It's like if your kitchen rearranged itself so that you never knew where your knives or utensils or spices were going to be when you need them.

This is the kind of thing I'd recommend to an enemy.

 

[Abazigal]

Using the article's method, I don't get the app's shortcuts when i long press.

Any ideas ?

You won’t be able to access them this way, since it’s a widget that you are pressing down on, not the app itself.

Another cool thing - this gives you 8 apps for the space of 2 app icons on your iPad. I just can’t stand how far apart the apps are spaced, so it’s all widgets now on my iOS devices.

 

[allenvanhellen]

I don’t even use the Home Screen primarily. I made a bunch of widgets in whatever you call the space to the left of the lock/Home Screen: calendar, weather, contacts, to-do and shopping lists, new mail, etc. That gives me quick info and access and makes the phone more of a tool and less of a distraction.

 

[Jay Tee]

When I do a short pull down from the middle of the screen to get spotlight, I get Siri suggestions already.

You won’t be able to access them this way, since it’s a widget that you are pressing down on, not the app itself.

You won't, you get the widget's long press options.

Ah ! Siri Suggestions isn't a widget, but this article widgetizes it. OK that clears things up.

 

[robfoll]

Just provide an option for a simple alphabetically list of installed apps - similar to Contacts. Get rid of the current useless App Library Icon overview.

Edit: Clarification. The App Library icon overview should be replaced with a simple list. No need to first swipe left, then swipe down.

Already exists. Just swipe down on the app library page to get an alphabetical list

 

[Apple_Robert]

Why would you scroll through several home screen pages, when you can use the App Library to quickly find the app you want?

 

[tonywalker23]

I did this today and I like the idea. But I also keep as few apps as possible on my devices. I usually leave the home screens in my phone and iPad default, and then I install four apps: logos, reeder, things, and overcast.

Any apps I have to use end up getting downloaded but not added to the home screen, banking restaurants Amazon Dunkin’ outlook etc.
with the iOS 18 beta, it is even better because I stick all those ‘ugly’ occasionally used apps in the hidden folder. I know that folder has its usual reputation, but I love that I can hide all non Apple apps with the exception of my four must haves and not see them anywhere (App Library, share sheets, spotlight etc) until I absolutely have to use them.

I remember several years ago wishing there was an option to have a smart home screen that sorted apps by list used. This is a cool tip that takes me back to that wish in the jailbreak days of the past.

 

[spac3duck]

Hacky - yes.
Something I've long yearned for - Absolutely.

Applying the Pareto Law, most of my usage is with a small amount of apps. As new apps get installed, I prefer to select 'Reset Home Screen Layout' which wipes everything rather than fiddle for ages trying to get things just right. So this approach helps my (aka limited use case) scenario.

Acknowledgement - muscle memory will certainly degrade this over time. A fix for this would be to enable us to show apps on the Home Screen by varying methods e.g. time in app, size, install date, alphabetical etc,

 

[BipedalOS]

No thx I arrange my apps thats convenient for me, having it auto change would be confusing when you don’t know where your apps are

This. I wouldn’t mind swiping to a screen that has most used apps, but my static screens I want organized my way.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

The things people will put up with to work around Apple's poor implementations.

 

[spac3duck]

This. I wouldn’t mind swiping to a screen that has most used apps, but my static screens I want organized my way.

My take is that I will have one or two screens static and then the third one modify. Theoretically, the third screen wouldn’t change that much if taking a long term average.

 

[younso]

How about when you place an app in a folder it is placed in the folder alphabetically automatically?

 

[Lakris]

I tried this, but not as my Home Screen but second page. The Home Screen must be tidier with only a few, important apps and widgets. I like the idea and I will give it a few days to see how I like it.

 

[svish]

Good to know about this. But I prefer to arrange it myself!

 

[prokanda]

Nah. I'm good. Never more than one page.

 

[Abazigal]

Here’s my homescreen as well.

I particularly like Siri suggestions on my iPad because it lets you cram 8 apps into the space of 2 normal apps.

I have basically stopped adding apps and am now relying primarily on widgets and shortcuts.

 

[diskrisk]

I'd like this widget in the today view, not the homescreen. Funny enough, it's the only widget ever that DOES NOT work in the today view. Bleh.

 

[Tha Professor]

I have this setup and I love it. I only have one page on the homescreen. There I have two siri suggested apps widgets and few often used apps. Everything else is in the app drawer.
At least in 80% of time, the app I need is there on the home screen. It even reacts to websites being browsed, so it understands for example when you need authenticator app because you are logging into a website that needs it. It works flawlessly and phone is finally clutter free.

Some “most-used” apps I intentionally keep off my home screen so I use them less (social media).

You can set apps not to be suggested. So my social media apps never show up and I always have to search for them in the app drawer

 

[tipoo]

Bit hacky with three different widget rows, but this makes me think Apple should do this officially with a fully ML based home page option that auto populates the apps you're most likely to use at a certain time and place, like Siri suggestions but make it a whole homescreen page

 

[wilef]

doesn't work, not even close to the most used apps when I do this. Barely used Target, Dropbox, Delta, but they are there. Use SlickDeals and Instagram a ton but they aren't showing up.