Homescreen Organization

[nanogirl21]

I am not sure if this is the right place for this question, but is there a way to organize your home screen using the computer (windows or mac)? I have so many apps that need to be organized. Dragging and dropping using the wiggle (?) method on the device is very frustrating and time consuming. I’m trying to clean up my phone and get things organized before switching devices.

 

[Jared G.K.]

no, as per today, there still is no other way.
I agree its frustrating, irritating, dissatisfying, maddening, not user friendly etc.
Android users can put any icon and any widget on any position on the screen.
But hey - Apple knows what's best for us.

 

[Joseph C]

Did you know that in wiggle mode you can select multiple items at once? This makes it much faster if you want to move lots at the same time.

 

[teeshot44]

Years ago that capability was available in iTunes on a PC. But alas, no more

 

[tomtad]

no, as per today, there still is no other way.
I agree its frustrating, irritating, dissatisfying, maddening, not user friendly etc.
Android users can put any icon and any widget on any position on the screen.
But hey - Apple knows what's best for us.

Completely agree. When you edit the Home Screen it wouldn’t be hard to put a few options like the ability to place icons and widgets anywhere and the ability to sort and clean up your Home Screen. I wait for this year after year but for some reason it never comes.

Maybe next year.

 

[dcp10]

Did you know that in wiggle mode you can select multiple items at once? This makes it much faster if you want to move lots at the same time.

I had read about a long time ago but never got around to trying it until today. It’s pretty slick

 

[JSBRGX]

If you have a Mac, it should still be possible to organize your iPhone screen in Apple Configurator 2. The app can be downloaded and used for free in the Mac Store.

 

[contacos]

The worst is when you try to move an app to the very right of a page, it throws the previous app in that position on another page and don’t get me started if you dare to add a widget after setting up your app layout. It throws everything around. Oh and they somehow managed to make it even worse on iOS 17. like I try to place an app next to another app and instead of moving the other app next to it, it’s trying to put both in a new folder! Infuriating

 

[Jared G.K.]

If you have a Mac, it should still be possible to organize your iPhone screen in Apple Configurator 2. The app can be downloaded and used for free in the Mac Store.

did you ever try this? Good luck.

 

[Jared G.K.]

did you ever try this? Good luck.

what I mean:

• 1st you have to connect your iPhone to the Mac with a cable.
• then you can - in theory - edit the home screen layout.
• widgets are not supported. They just don't show on the configurator display.
• Screens with only widgets appear empty, and sometimes move to different positions, by themselves.
• You can mark multiple icons and move them to a different home screen (without seeing the widgets that might be there already).
• If you then want to apply changes, it does not work - 'unexpected error', 'service ended unexpectedly' etc.

iPhone 14 here, with iOS 16.6.1. Latest Configurator 2 installed on Mac OS 13.5.2.
I never ever succeeded in managing the home screen layout by use of Configurator 2.

That's why I said 'good luck'.

 

[poorcody]

I used Configurator on a Mac just yesterday to rearrange all my home screens. Much faster than doing it on the phone. I didn't have any widgets though, so not sure if that makes a difference. It was otherwise fairly straightforward.

 

[JSBRGX]

what I mean:

• 1st you have to connect your iPhone to the Mac with a cable.
• then you can - in theory - edit the home screen layout.
• widgets are not supported. They just don't show on the configurator display.
• Screens with only widgets appear empty, and sometimes move to different positions, by themselves.
• You can mark multiple icons and move them to a different home screen (without seeing the widgets that might be there already).
• If you then want to apply changes, it does not work - 'unexpected error', 'service ended unexpectedly' etc.

iPhone 14 here, with iOS 16.6.1. Latest Configurator 2 installed on Mac OS 13.5.2.
I never ever succeeded in managing the home screen layout by use of Configurator 2.

That's why I said 'good luck'.

It's been a while since I've used the program, but like @poorcody I didn't experience any problems either. The OP asked for a possible solution, Apple Configurator 2 may be the only one, so I wouldn't fail to mention it.

 

[Jared G.K.]

It's been a while since I've used the program, but like @poorcody I didn't experience any problems either. The OP asked for a possible solution, Apple Configurator 2 may be the only one, so I wouldn't fail to mention it.

...and I just wanted to alert people for potential problems, so everything's fine.
It might also not be clear immediately that a cable connection is needed, therefore like me, people may try to mess with setting up a connection via wifi or bluetooth, which then of course won't work.
Maybe the home screen widgets cause the issues, so if there are none it might be a good solution. Otherwise frustrating.