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Let's talk efficiency

iFanaddic

iFanaddic

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 24, 2008
819
242
Montréal, Canada
Finally after almost a year of owning an iPhone 6 (started with the Plus, but too big) I finally found a way too use my phone comfortably, I completely eliminated the awkwardness. My phone got cluttered and I had trouble reaching the first row of apps. That's because my previous iPhones always had the most important apps on top. I decided to put the less important stuff at the top and bring everything down so they are within thumb reach. Way more convenient, after a week it felt completely natural!

Folders: No matter what I named my folders they ended up fitting in multiple ones, so when looking for an app (manually) I would search though 2-3 folders before finding the folder that contained it. So I always used Spotlight because it was way faster. Now, instead of organizing my apps by type, I organize them by actions. much easier this way. (the i**** is just because am a fanboy haha)

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I know it may sound stupid to some, but it'll certainly appeal to others..

How do you make you iOS devices easier to use?[
 
braddick said:
Stock settings. I'm a minimalist who doesn't like to repeat myself.
Click to expand...
That must make it easy when getting a new iDevice. I have a list of things I need to do. Such as: turn on battery %, show text message character limit, arrange first page to be completely blank, second screen most frequently accessed apps and third to be organized in folders.
 
iFanaddic said:
How do you make you iOS devices easier to use?
Click to expand...
I use two hands.

My apps are filed by category and only five to a springboard page.

I prefer the look of my homescreens verses a wall of icons that covers up my wallpaper.

I'm also jailbroken.

Glad you found something that works for you though.

Three of my homescreens…

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If you want to be efficient, the first thing you should move on your home screen is the settings app. Then toss Shazam in your iDontUse folder since it's faster to just ask Siri. Next, choose a darker wallpaper to increase contrast with the white font, and also remove the battery percentage. Actually, all the folders on the first page are a bit of an eyesore. And why do you even have a third page? iPorn, hmm??
 
techspin said:
If you want to be efficient, the first thing you should move on your home screen is the settings app. Then toss Shazam in your iDontUse folder since it's faster to just ask Siri. Next, choose a darker wallpaper to increase contrast with the white font, and also remove the battery percentage. Actually, all the folders on the first page are a bit of an eyesore. And why do you even have a third page? iPorn, hmm??
Click to expand...

Actually I'd keep the battery percentage over the battery image if I could. I agree that the Shazam app could disappear if only it was easier to find what Siri identified! It always takes so long to find the results later..it's buried somewhere deep within itunes i'd rather open Shazam until results are better integrated (maybe within Apple music?). Settings used to be on the homescreen but I realized that where it is now I can access it much faster because my thumb is usually in this area anyway... It's the only folder that doesn't require any stretching (it's almost a double click) As for the font I see the fonts just fine so not a problem. And you totally busted my third page. Good eye sir.
 
Last edited:
iFanaddic said:
My phone got cluttered and I had trouble reaching the first row of apps. That's because my previous iPhones always had the most important apps on top. I decided to put the less important stuff at the top and bring everything down so they are within thumb reach. Way more convenient, after a week it felt completely natural![
Click to expand...

Double tap, not press, the home button for reachability to bring the screen down.
 
17 folders and over 120 apps doesn't seem very efficient to me. With so many apps behind folders you're adding so many extra taps required to do anything. With almost all your apps in folders it now takes a home press to leave the app and another home press to leave the folder. Totally unnecessary.

And as someone else pointed out having Shazam app when it's built into Siri is a little redundant.
 
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I use launch centre pro, notification widgets, the launcher app, extensions and Siri to help make many tasks more accessible.
 
iFanaddic said:
Actually I'd keep the battery percentage over the battery image if I could. I agree that the Shazam app could disappear if only it was easier to find what Siri identified! It always takes so long to find the results later..it's buried somewhere deep within itunes i'd rather open Shazam until results are better integrated (maybe within Apple music?). Settings used to be on the homescreen but I realized that where it is now I can access it much faster because my thumb is usually in this area anyway... It's the only folder that doesn't require any stretching (it's almost a double click) As for the font I see the fonts just fine so not a problem. And you totally busted my third page. Good eye sir.
Click to expand...

Also, to see the songs Siri identified is only 1 tap in the iTunes Store. There's an icon at the top right once you open the app, then you have 4 tabs that pop up and one of them is 'Siri'. It's always the first to be highlighted for me. It lists every song you've tagged.
 
I keep stock apps on one page, and installed apps sorted into 5 folders on another. Seems to work for me.
 
braddick said:
Stock settings. I'm a minimalist who doesn't like to repeat myself.
Click to expand...

I'm similar - the first home screen on mine area always very-near stock, but I then add my most-used third-party app to it for fastest access. (Right now, it's Pebble Time.) I do move some of the apps to/from the "Extras" folder, though. For example, I rarely use the Stocks app, but DO use the Calculator.

My second screen then contains two rows of individual icon apps for my next most used third-party apps (Twitter and Facebook first and second,) then below that are "categorized folders".

Third screen is games. Most played by themselves, others (especially "series" games,) in folders.
 
Newtons Apple said:
Many have way more software than I would ever download on my device. If you use it fine if not it just sits there. If I do not use it then it gets deleted. If Apple will not allow me to delete in goes in the crap folder.
Click to expand...

I hear you.
120 apps installed for what?
I use about 8-10 non-stock apps on a daily basis.
Other stuff I use once in a while is about 15-20 other apps.
Rest is pointless.
 
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Applejuiced said:
I hear you.
120 apps installed for what?
I use about 8-10 non-stock apps on a daily basis.
Other stuff I use once in a while is about 15-20 other apps.
Rest is pointless.
Click to expand...

I agree. 120+ is WAY overboard. And some people wonder why their phones are slow. It only increases your odds of having something installed that is poorly coded, which in turn hurts performance.
 
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- I have my banking apps on my iPad, and I do my manual "balancing" on my iPhone.

- In general, if something makes more sense on the iPad, I will have the app on there and not on my iPhone, even if they're universal.

- I used to do RSS feeds, I'm going to use the News app once it ships in iOS 9, but right now I'm using Safari Subscriptions. Read stuff when I like, and don't worry about missing stuff/having to clear unread counts.

- If it's a message board - Then Tapatalk is fine, otherwise websites are just viewed in Safari, and I only keep a few bookmarked. Wikipedia, IMDB, Google, those are all known by heart, I don't need a shortcut to them.

- I have a folder called Extensions, I keep stuff I use with the iOS share sheet/notification center in there, along with the built-in iOS apps I don't use straight afterwards, so it's like they're not even there.

- I limit myself to photo apps that focus on adjustments and not so much faux photo processing.

And yeah, for the apps that do support URL schemes, Launcher Pro and Launch Center Pro make sense. They're obviously stuff you have to take the time to setup, and you might have to invest into some apps that do work a little better than the free options, but the effort pays off if you learn how to do certain things with them.
 
lagwagon said:
I agree. 120+ is WAY overboard. And some people wonder why their phones are slow. It only increases your odds of having something installed that is poorly coded, which in turn hurts performance.
Click to expand...
Just having it installed shouldn't affect anything (aside from just taking up space) unless you are actually running it or it's in the background perhaps (again, only after actually running it).
 
lagwagon said:
I agree. 120+ is WAY overboard. And some people wonder why their phones are slow. It only increases your odds of having something installed that is poorly coded, which in turn hurts performance.
Click to expand...

I go through my apps periodically and delete those that I no longer use. I just don't want too many cluttering my phone.
 
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