Home Screen

You can quickly open apps from one of your Home Screen pages or your App Library. App Library is past all your Home Screen pages. It’s where your apps are organized by category, and you can browse apps on other Home Screen pages, too, then return to App Library whenever you like.

1. To go to the Home Screen, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen (on an iPhone with Face ID) or press the Home button (on an iPhone with a Home button).
2. Swipe left to browse apps on other Home Screen pages.
3. Swipe left past all your Home Screen pages to see App Library, where your apps are organized by category.
4. To open an app, tap its icon.
5. To return to App Library, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen (on an iPhone with Face ID) or press the Home button (on an iPhone with a Home button).

You can organize your apps into folders to make them easier to find on your Home Screen pages.

A folder can hold more than one screen’s worth, too: it can contain multiple pages of apps. You can create, rename, or delete a folder, or move an app from a folder back to the Home Screen. Organizing your apps on the Home Screen doesn’t affect App Library, either.

Here’s how to organize your apps in folders on iPhone.

Create a folder

1. Go to the Home Screen.
2. Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the apps begin to jiggle.
3. To create a folder, drag an app onto another app and then drag other apps into the folder.

   A folder can contain multiple pages of apps.

4. To rename the folder, touch and hold it, tap Rename, and then enter a new name.

   If the apps begin to jiggle, tap the Home Screen background and try again.

5. When you’re finished, tap Done.

Note: If you organize your apps on the Home Screen, it doesn’t affect the organization of apps in App Library.

Delete a folder from your Home Screen

1. Go to the Home Screen.
2. Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the apps begin to jiggle.
3. Tap the folder to open it. Then drag all the apps out of it onto the Home Screen.

   When the folder is empty, it’s deleted automatically.

Move an app from a folder to the Home Screen

Moving an app from a folder to the Home Screen makes it easier to locate and open.

1. Go to the Home Screen.
2. Locate the folder that contains the app. Tap the folder to open it.
3. Touch and hold the app until the apps begin to jiggle.
4. Drag the app from the folder to the Home Screen.

App Library shows your apps, including any you’ve removed from your Home Screen, organized into categories, such as Social, Entertainment, and Productivity & Finance. At the top of the screen, Suggestions shows the apps you use most, and Recently Added shows your newest apps.

App Library is always available, and you can bring it closer by hiding Home Screen pages. You’ll find it just past all your Home Screen pages.

Note: The apps in App Library are sorted into categories intelligently, based on how you use them. You can add apps in App Library to your Home Screen, but there is no way to move them to another category in App Library.

Find and open an app in App Library

1. Go to the Home Screen and swipe left past all your Home Screen pages to get to App Library.
2. Tap the search field at the top of the screen and enter the name of the app you’re looking for. Or scroll up and down to browse the alphabetical list.
3. To open an app, tap it.

If a category has a few small app icons, you can tap them to expand the category and see all the apps in it.

Move an app from App Library to the Home Screen

Downloaded an app to App Library? You can easily move it to the Home Screen.

1. Go to App Library.
2. Touch and hold the app until the app icons begin to jiggle and the app moves to the Home Screen and then lift your finger.

Hide and show Home Screen pages

Because you can find all of your apps in App Library, you might not need as many Home Screen pages. You can hide some Home Screen pages, which brings App Library closer to your first Home Screen page. (When you want to see the hidden pages again, you can show them.)

1. Go to the Home Screen. Then touch and hold the Home Screen wallpaper until the app icons begin to jiggle.
2. Tap the dots at the bottom of the screen.

   Thumbnail images of your Home Screen pages appear with checkmarks below them.

3. To hide pages, tap to remove the checkmarks.

   To show hidden pages, tap to add the checkmarks.

4. Tap the Done button, or press the Home button on an iPhone with a Home button.

Note: If you’ve hidden Home Screen pages, new apps you download from the App Store may end up in App Library instead of the Home Screen.

Reorder Home Screen pages

With multiple Home Screen pages, you can change their order. Gather your favorite apps on one Home Screen page, for example, and then make that page your first Home Screen page.

1. Go to the Home Screen. Then touch and hold the Home Screen wallpaper until the app icons begin to jiggle.
2. Tap the dots at the bottom of the screen.

   Thumbnail images of your Home Screen pages appear with checkmarks below them.

3. To move each Home Screen page, touch and hold it. Drag it to a new position.
4. Tap the Done button, or press the Home button on an iPhone with a Home button.

Change where new apps get downloaded

Once you download new apps from the App Store, you can add them to both the Home Screen and App Library, or to App Library only.

1. Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Home Screen & App Library.
3. Choose Add to Home Screen or App Library Only.

Note: Turn on Show in App Library if you want app notification badges to appear on apps in App Library.

Widgets show you information from an app at a glance, like today’s headlines, weather, reminders, and battery levels. You can add them to your Home Screen, and turn an app icon into a widget. A Smart Stack, a widget with dots next to it, shows the most relevant widget based on the time and your location.

What are widgets?

With widgets, current information from an app is easy to view at a glance, whether it’s today’s headlines, the weather, reminders, or battery levels. You’ll find them in Today View, and you can add them to your Home Screen or Lock Screen to keep that information at your fingertips.

Quick tip: A widget with dots next to it is a Smart Stack. It’s a combined set of widgets that automatically shows the most relevant one at the appropriate time in your day, based on information such as the time, your location, and activity. You can add a Smart Stack to the Home Screen from the widget gallery, then swipe up and down through it to see the widgets inside.

Add a widget to your Home Screen

1. Go to the Home Screen and then find the Home Screen page where you want to add the widget.
2. Touch and hold the background until the apps begin to jiggle, tap the Edit button, and then tap Add Widget.
3. Scroll or search to find the widget you want, tap it, and then swipe through the size and style options.
4. When you see the size you want, tap Add Widget.
5. While the apps are still jiggling, move the widget where you want it. Then tap the Done button.

Turn an app icon into a widget

An app icon can quickly become a widget.

1. Touch and hold the app icon on your Home screen.
2. To choose the size of the widget, tap one of the icons at the bottom of the pop-up menu.

To change the widget back to an app icon, touch and hold it, then tap the App Icon button.

Interact with widgets

You can perform tasks by tapping widgets on your Home Screen, Lock Screen, or StandBy. Tap an item in the Reminders widget to check it off, tap the Play button in the Podcasts widget to play an episode, or tap the Home widget to turn on your living room lights—all without opening an app.

Edit a widget on your Home Screen

You can adjust most widgets right from your Home Screen so they display the information you want to see. For example, for a Mail widget, you can tap the mailbox shown in the widget, then choose a different mailbox so the messages in that mailbox are displayed in the widget.

1. Touch and hold the widget.
2. Tap Edit Widget (or Edit Stack, if it’s a Smart Stack). Choose options.

   For a Smart Stack, you can reorder widgets by dragging them within the stack, drag a widget from the Smart Stack to the Home Screen, or remove a widget by tapping the Remove button in its upper-left corner.

3. Tap Done.

View widgets in Today View

To view widgets in Today View, swipe right from the left edge of the Home Screen, then scroll up and down.

View widgets in Today View when iPhone is locked

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Face ID & Passcode (on an iPhone with Face ID) or Touch ID & Passcode (on other iPhone models).
3. Make sure Today View and Search is turned on (below Allow Access When Locked).

On the Home Screen, in App Library, in Control Center, and in apps, you can use Quick Actions menus, see previews, and more. In Photos, you can preview an image and see a list of options. In Mail, there’s a preview of the message contents and a list of options, too.

Perform quick actions from Control Center, the Home Screen, and App Library

On the Home Screen and in Control Center and App Library, touch and hold apps to open Quick Actions menus.

Here are a few examples:

• Touch and hold Camera, then choose Selfie.
• Touch and hold Maps, then choose Send My Location.
• Touch and hold Notes, then choose New Note.

Note: Touch and hold an app too long before choosing a quick action, and all of the apps start to jiggle. If that happens, tap Done on an iPhone with Face ID, or on other iPhone models, press the Home button, and then try again.

See previews and other Quick Actions menus

• In Photos, touch and hold an image to preview it and see a list of options.
• In Mail, touch and hold a message in a mailbox to preview the message contents and see a list of options.
• Open Control Center, then touch and hold an item like Camera or the brightness control to see options.
• On the Lock Screen, touch and hold a notification to respond to it.
• When typing, touch and hold the Space bar with one finger to move the insertion point.

Widgets show you current information from your favorite apps at a glance. On iPhone, you can add a Mail widget and choose which mailbox it shows on your Home Screen, from recent unread emails to new emails from your VIPs or any other mailbox.

Add a Mail widget to your Home Screen

1. Go to the Home Screen and then find the Home Screen page where you want to add the widget.
2. Touch and hold the background until the apps begin to jiggle, tap the Edit button, and then tap Add Widget.
3. Scroll or search to find Mail, tap it, and then swipe through the size and style options.
4. When you see the size you want, tap Add Widget.
5. While the apps are still jiggling, move the widget where you want it. Then tap the Done button.

Choose which mailbox the Mail widget shows

You can tap the mailbox shown in the widget, then choose a different mailbox so the messages in that mailbox are displayed in the widget. You can also change it from the widget’s options:

1. Touch and hold the widget.
2. Tap Edit Widget and then choose options.
3. Tap Done.