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Screens vs Folders

I

i0Nic

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 17, 2006
1,456
68
Sydney, Australia
On my iPhone and iPad, I have all my most used apps on the home screen and no folders. My second page is a mix of frequently used apps and folders. I have no more screens on my devices.

My friend was playing around with my iPhone and was shocked at my set up. He said he thinks it's far more convenient to instead organise the apps into multiple screens instead of using folders as a tap to open a folder is more work than swiping to another screen. Also when an app is in a folder it limits discoverability.

I'm a bit of a neat freak so I like the older of having apps organised into folders but couldn't help but thinking he has a point. However screens and screens full of apps may be too overbearing.

So what do you guys think? Do you prefer using folders to organise or do you have your apps organised into multiple screens?
 
Well, in the end it's a matter of personal preference, but I prefer folders, because if you organize apps by page, there's no way to jump from page 1 to, say, page 9. You have to scroll past page 2, 3, 4, 5... Plus, you can fit a lot more apps into folders than you can fit onto pages.

On my iPad, I've managed to fit all my apps onto just one page using folders, so I never have to scroll. On my iPhone, I haven't quite managed that, so I have two pages. My most used apps are out in the open, then the next batch of frequently used apps are in folders on the first page, and the rest are in folders on the second page. I organize my folders by app type, and if I ever forget which folder an app is in, I use Spotlight to locate it.

But anyway, at most, any app I have is three steps away -- swipe once to get to the right page, tap to open folder, then tap on app. If I didn't use folders, then some of my apps would be god knows how many swipes away. So for me, folders all the way!
 
I have too many apps and not enough screens to even consider leaving all of my apps free in the wild.

I keep a few 'high usage' ones open on the front page, but otherwise they're in a folder.

While your friend may have a point about it being easier to swipe than tap, that would assume the app you want is on the next page. By using folders, nearly all my daily apps are within one page and one tap instead of multiple swipes.
 
I arrange all of the apps that I use with any sort of frequency onto two screens with some in folders and some not. The third page is for really infrequently used apps or newly downloaded apps I haven't decided whether or not to keep.
 
I have them all in folders arranged in alphabet order, and apps in the folders are alphabetical order as well.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1350115462.372377.jpg
 
In the first screen just icons (except the "social" folder in the dock) and in the second screen folders arranged by name.
 
I have all my apps in folders except for the most used. They reside on the menu bar and the first row above it. The rest are in dedicated folders like games, news, utilities, etc. Everything is on my first screen so I never have issues finding anything. I realize that others may have so many apps that it is impossible for them to condense them to one screen. I have found that over time there are many apps that don't get used, so I delete them knowing I can always get them back. Example if my news folder becomes full, do I really need more than 12 different apps? Not likely, so in essence the folders become the best of all the apps per category.
 
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