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How do you Organize your Folders?

thomamon

thomamon

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 24, 2008
1,218
162
Flemington, NJ
So since I had to setup my phone from scratch and have to redo ALL of my folders, I was wondering how you group your folders?

Looking for ways to improve on my system, since I never really felt satisfied with the way I had it before.
 
I hate cluttering up my phone with a bunch of apps I don't need so I only have 3 folders: app store apps, jailbreak apps, and stock apps. The completely useless apps (compass, stocks, passport, etc) are hidden as a 2nd page in the 'Meh' folder so I don't have to see them.

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I often classify apps based on companies or categories. For example, I have a game folder putting all games in it. I have a Microsoft app folder putting all apps developed solely by Microsoft, such as office 365 admin.

For unused app, I put all of these things to a single folder in my past page. That page could also feature as a wallpaper home screen viewer.

Now I often use spotlight to open apps if I cannot find it in home screen.
 

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I use folders to group items I don't use that much, so only the icons of my highest used apps are on the screen
 
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I just group them based on what they are. If there are 2 apps I want that are similar then I make a folder, Apple Maps and Google maps for example.

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Excuse the weather folder with only one app. I recently deleted a bunch of apps that I rarely used.

I like using folders because it reduces the "wall of apps" so I can easily and quickly find apps I don't use that often because I know approximately where they are. The only thing I have on the 2nd home screen is a junk folder of apps I never use but can't delete. My main goal is to keep everything on one home screen.

I know there are better more efficient ways of organizing apps but this currently works the best for me due to muscle memory.
 
yjchua95 said:
Here's how I arrange mine on my iPhone 6 Plus (64GB variant, hence the large number of apps).
Click to expand...

Thank you for your little hint. I now move mail app to the dock. :)

I don't mind the number of homescreen. What I do mind is the count of apps. I don't like installing too many apps.
 
Other than grouping similar sorts of apps into folders the only real thing i did was a while ago i went from one page to two pages to suit a wallpaper i was using at the time. I changed the wallpaper again recently but i'd got used to where things were so left the folders as they were.
 

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I only use one row of icons at the top. I organize them by category. One screen for social apps, one screen for clocks/weather, one for the app store and other phone related apps (Cydia when jailbroken), music, video and so on.

Apps like my phone, messaging, email, etc go in one "iPhone" folder that is centered in the dock.

If there is an overflow in a category it all goes in one folder on the right.

I do not like my springboard full of icons. Makes it hard to see my wallpaper and wallpaper then becomes "what's the point?"

When jailbroken I use five icons on screen at a smaller size.

Right now I'm waiting for the latest jailbreak (I'm on 8.1.3) and since I will reset things up at that time I haven't bothered doing it since I lost my last jailbreak and things are now a mess.

But here's what it looks like when organized.
 

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Am I the only person who likes to have the apps spread out on multiple pages (home screens)....?

I have approximately 90 apps, and they take up 5 pages/home screens.

First page: apps that I use most often. Calendar, Music, weather, social apps, mail apps, news apps, Safari, YouTube, movie ticket app, Note, Reminder, etc

Second page: school work/study apps like MS Word, PowerPoint, Polaris Office, WPS office, cloud storage apps, Voice Memo, Mendeley, iBooks and some engineering apps..

Third page: Apple apps... And some random apps like Amazon, parking app, data plan app.

Fourth page: hobby apps like Mubi, Fandor, Amplitube, Ampkit, FD reader, etc

Fifth page: random apps... Games, Google Map, expedia, Starbucks, Carpenter app, day calculator app, etc..
 
My first page and last page. I have a few other screens inbetween but you'll get the idea.



 
I organize my apps not really by folders... The apps in folders I rarely use and are on my second page... But my home page I organize by most used starting from the button up... And then notice that each row is themed sort of... Like I have a social network row for example
 

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I have three pages - the first has mostly Apple apps and provides the core functions, like Messages, Settings, Notes etc, while the second page has frequently used third party apps and a few spillover Apple apps. The third page has folders sorted by app category - Games, Social, Video etc.
 
This is what I have come up for my front page so far... It is a work in progress, lol.

I have folders on the second page I am still working on. I am glad to see I am not the only one who switches the music and the Messages icons. I still feel like I can improve the layout of what I have done so far.
 

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I don't have a ton of apps but I have enough that I need to use folders because I do not want them all spread out and having multiple pages. The things i have in folders are grouped by category such as entertainment, cydia, etc. I have 9 folders total all placed on the second page. My first page being only 9 most used apps.
 
The iPhone gives you a 4 (or 5) x 6 grid of icons with a row of 4 for the dock at the bottom.

"Designing" what goes where is analogous to rearranging what guests sit where at a dinner party. None of the chairs (and the guests sitting in them) move except in one specific pattern, all of the spots must be filled one next to the other and your only option is to omit chairs (and thus guests) but starting only at the end of the line. Every chair is the same size.

As compared to jailbreaking where Gridlock or Anchor allows you to put those chairs wherever you wish and even increase or decrease their size and other tweaks allow you to increase/decrease the amount of chairs you can use.

I mean no offense but I fail to see how a screen full of icons, no matter how specifically laid out to "theme" or "use" or "convenience" or "ease of access/frequency of use" is anything other than a screen full of icons. And I ask again, what is the point of wallpaper if there are so many icons covering the screen you cannot even tell what it is?
 
eyoungren said:
The iPhone gives you a 4 (or 5) x 6 grid of icons with a row of 4 for the dock at the bottom.

"Designing" what goes where is analogous to rearranging what guests sit where at a dinner party. None of the chairs (and the guests sitting in them) move except in one specific pattern, all of the spots must be filled one next to the other and your only option is to omit chairs (and thus guests) but starting only at the end of the line. Every chair is the same size.

As compared to jailbreaking where Gridlock or Anchor allows you to put those chairs wherever you wish and even increase or decrease their size and other tweaks allow you to increase/decrease the amount of chairs you can use.

I mean no offense but I fail to see how a screen full of icons, no matter how specifically laid out to "theme" or "use" or "convenience" or "ease of access/frequency of use" is anything other than a screen full of icons. And I ask again, what is the point of wallpaper if there are so many icons covering the screen you cannot even tell what it is?
Click to expand...

I don't care about wallpaper. Use of my phone doesn't revolve around wallpaper. I just want to see the icons.
 
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This is mine. I like using folders. Miss widgets though.
 

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Simple. Alphabetical.

Really hope iOS 9 allows us to do more in regards to customization, but I'm not holding my breath.
 

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