Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

[dannyyankou]

So 10 years ago, I would've said this would be useful so with large screen iPhones so you can put the icons on the right side of the screen to make them easier to reach. But you can accomplish this now by just putting widgets on the left side (or right side if you're left handed).

Still, customization is good. I will say, this will help certain wallpapers shine.

 

[Marzzz]

Two things I have requested from Apple in the recent past:

1) Location specific Icons- so when I am at work the apps I use there are placed on the homescreen

2) Silence Unknown Callers should be a widget- how many times have you expected a call from someone (for example, from an electrician, maybe calling from their cellphone on the way to an appointment) and you had to turn this feature off so that you don't miss the call?

 

[darngooddesign]

Two things I have requested from Apple in the recent past:

1) Location specific Icons- so when I am at work the apps I use there are placed on the homescreen

I think you can do this with the work focus mode.

 

[Verified Whiskey]

All I want is single app sized widgets. Instead of “small” being the size of 4 of them.

 

[makitango]

Must be innovation year at Apple. Might throw in a few blurred personas at the home screen while we‘re at it.

 

[spinedoc77]

It's a small thing, but finally being able to get rid of all these transparent icons on my home screen(s) would be quite nice.

Yep tell me about it, I still run with some background matched icons. Can't believe we've had the same background for almost 20 years.

 

[shadymoustafa]

I hope that the ui does not change also i dont want to see circle ios icons.

 

[klasma]

Can we PLEASE get a mode where the icons stay still as you rotate? Especially iPad?

Since Apple is all about simplicity, there would be a great way to solve this: Make each home screen page hold just a single app icon (or widget). No need for complicated rows and columns. Each app would be much easier to tap, because it would be much larger. Rotation would be trivial. Finally, due to the freed vertical space on the iPhone, the Dynamic Island could show much more information.

 

[return2sendai]

Option to show/hide app names. Love to hide these. Would give the Home Screen a much cleaner look.

Also, customisable App Library. It’s such a shambles.

 

[Octavius8]

You will need a new iphone for that feature...
Now, if only Ipad UI received some love
Or if the dial pad actually were "smart", etc. Apple will give us this and take away other feature. Iphones can´t support "all" features in the same IOS release apparently...

 

[roncron]

Sounds great. Another cool new feature would be stability.

 

[bLackjackj]

Phil say it right

“Apple can’t innovate my a$$!”

Which is why people still laugh at Phils comment. Apple are long past the days of innovation.

 

[dannyyankou]

While they're at it, it would be cool if they let us add a second row to the dock if we so choose. Look at all that wasted space where the "search" button is when you can just swipe down for spotlight

 

[till]

I'm going to laugh and laugh if they spend any time at all highlighting this groundbreaking feature at WWDC.

I remain deeply unconvinced that the fundamental interface introduced in iPhone OS 1.0 - a grid of icons - is the ideal presentation for a mobile phone home screen. It's been 17 years, surely we can do better.

 

[john g.]

I would love to be able to remove the text underneath the app icon, likes the bottom row has no text.

 

[dannyyankou]

I'm going to laugh and laugh if they spend any time at all highlighting this groundbreaking feature at WWDC.

I remain deeply unconvinced that the fundamental interface introduced in iPhone OS 1.0 - a grid of icons - is the ideal presentation for a mobile phone home screen. It's been 17 years, surely we can do better.

Hmm, maybe this is why they held out for so long. Not really high priority functionality to add.

 

[Born Again]

Which is why people still laugh at Phils comment. Apple are long past the days of innovation.

I know lol - just reading it makes me giggle.

Ahhh that felt good.

 

[iStorm]

Two things I have requested from Apple in the recent past:

1) Location specific Icons- so when I am at work the apps I use there are placed on the homescreen

2) Silence Unknown Callers should be a widget- how many times have you expected a call from someone (for example, from an electrician, maybe calling from their cellphone on the way to an appointment) and you had to turn this feature off so that you don't miss the call?

Both of these have been possible for at least a couple years now...

1) Create a Work focus mode that shows the Home Screen(s) of the apps you want. Then set that focus mode to be active when you're at your work location.

2) Create a shortcut to turn on/off or toggle Silence Unknown Callers. Then and the Shortcuts widget to your Home Screen and configure it to show that shortcut. Or just add the shortcut itself to your Home Screen as an app.

 

[applefan8254]

the doc mode layout (auto-aligned left to right top to bottom) of app icons is a good thing though. without it, you have icons floating around randomly all over the place. the doc mode layout adds a good amount of organization, a "center of gravity", if you will, that allows users to place "new or important" icons in a certain place (the top left). if they want to make this new thing (freely floating icons) an *option*, that could be ok, but I think it should be just that - an option. to *remove* the existing "doc mode layout" that's there, that actually takes away functionality, because, as it stands, the existing setup creates a nice simple organized look, where, if you want to call attention to something, you know where to put it: the top left. what they could do, is, ..it seems like people maybe want a "reverse doc mode", so that, in addition to the existing doc mode (left to right, top to bottom), they could add the ability to choose a "reverse doc mode layout" where apps would auto-align right to left, bottom to top. but to just have the sort of stock android layout, where it's just like, throwing icons all over the place kind of randomly, i don't see how that really helps. if people want it, make it an option, but don't change the existing default. if anything, add an *option* to change the size of the grid so that users can add more icons, and more widgets in the same amount of space.






The “put anywhere” should *not* the the default. An option? Maybe. Default? No. the doc mode layout (the existing setup of right to left top to bottom) where there's a center of gravity (upper left) that icons flow toward is a good thing. If they want to make “put anywhere” an option, maybe. they could offer options on the doc mode layout itself. Its good that icons flow to a certain location or "center of gravity". That makes organization *more easy*. If they want to add an option to change *where the icons flow to* or “icon flow” ‘’’


Icon flow or doc mode layout

Left to right, top to bottom - aka center of gravity - top left

They could also add

reverse doc mode - where icons flow “right to left, *bottom to top*” to appease users who want better reachability.

 

[allenvanhellen]

So you can put all your app icons in reach of your thumb; this is necessitated by the iPhone devolving into a phablet.

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Akin to admitting that they have been wrong about keeping icons fixed to a left top justified order. Obviously some people at Apple felt that was a better solution or this would have happened long ago.

 

[ThomasJL]

"Can't innovate anymore, my a**!"

 

[Sogeman]

They shouldn't do this because then people will whine that it's fine like it is and if you want a good OS experience you should buy an android phone

 

[Sogeman]

It’s moving away from a key design principle if true, and to add a possible deal with Google and AI. Very risky. It’s dilution of the Apple USP.

Those principles are old and bad

 

[iansilv]

I wish they would give us an option to just automatically show on the home screen the most used icons that can fit, or just arrange them in order of most used to least used dynamically as you go through the pages.