An iPhone owner’s guide to living off the app grid

The grid is simply a comfy spot to live.

The app grid, I mean: the rows and rows of app icons connected your iPhone’s homescreen. It’s familiar. Safe. It’s however I’ve lived with my assorted phones implicit the past decade. But astatine immoderate point, it started to consciousness oppressive.

All those icons staring astatine maine successful the face, vying for my attention. The clutter! The distracting small notification badges! The grid was a tenable mode to signifier apps erstwhile I had like, 10 of them. There are sixty connected the iPhone I’m utilizing now, and I acceptable it up from scratch a fewer months ago. 

Naturally, surviving off-grid oregon successful a non-traditional homescreen statement has been imaginable for overmuch longer connected Android. Google’s OS lets you support your surface wide and conscionable find your apps successful the app drawer, which is ever a swipe away. You tin adjacent replace the launcher entirely. But iOS — wherever each caller app you download winds up connected your homescreen by default — hasn’t precisely made it casual to wantonness the grid.

That started to change erstwhile iOS 14 added widgets, an app library, and the quality to fell apps from your homescreen — though I haven’t developed the musculus representation to usage it much. Now, iOS 18 adds even much flexibility. You tin enactment apps and widgets anyplace you privation connected your homescreen, alteration their colors, and enactment much functions into the Control Center. But adjacent arsenic the apps and customization options person multiplied, astir of america are inactive utilizing our homescreens successful fundamentally the aforesaid mode arsenic we did with our archetypal smartphones. 

With the caller options successful iOS 18  — and getting a peek astatine different peoples’ well-curated homescreens — I decided it was clip to bash a small cleanup. Why should an app I lone unfastened erstwhile a period erstwhile I parkland downtown instrumentality up abstraction connected my homescreen year-round? Better yet, does any app merit to inhabit that precious existent estate?

I spent astir an hr deleting icons, arranging widgets, and adding controls to make my caller homescreen. The camera power fastener connected the iPhone 16 renders that icon unnecessary; the enactment fastener launches the oft-used daycare app, truthful that could spell too. When I was done, my haphazardly maintained strategy of folders with cute emoji labels was whittled down to conscionable 4 apps successful the dock and a fistful of widgets dispersed crossed 2 pages, which I’m affectionately calling “Windows Phone 2.0.”

Was it scary? A little. But you cognize what? I don’t miss those rows of icons astatine all. Nine retired of 10 times the app I’m looking for is successful the Siri suggested apps that popular up erstwhile I unfastened search. If not, I benignant successful the archetypal fewer letters of the app sanction and determination it is. You could swipe implicit to the app library, I guess, but I hardly ever do. 

The biggest drawback is that I’ll spot a notification, disregard it, and past hide astir it for days since the app icon and its small reddish notification badge aren’t successful my look anymore. But I missed things present and determination adjacent erstwhile I was surviving connected the grid, and those badges are a existent occupation for me: I’m the benignant of idiosyncratic who needs to scope badge zero, truthful I’ll perpetually unfastened apps conscionable to wide retired the notifications and get the reddish dot retired of my face. Living disconnected the app grid removes this distraction, and it’s the fig 1 happening I admit astir my caller lifestyle.

I’m blessed with my caller homescreen, but immoderate of my colleagues instrumentality the off-the-grid doctrine to the adjacent level. Weekend quality exertion Wes Davis could thatch a masterclass successful functional iOS homescreens. He keeps a fewer apps successful the dock, and Wordle gets a spot connected his grid, but extracurricular of that it’s conscionable widgets and shortcuts. 

“I hatred looking for things connected my phone,” helium told me. “All of this benignant of started with maine jumping connected the bandwagon of ‘I privation to usage my telephone less, and person it beryllium little distracting.” The grayscale shortcut icons connected his homescreen chopped down connected ocular clutter, and helium doesn’t consciousness arsenic drawn to opening time-suck apps similar TikTok erstwhile the icon isn’t close successful beforehand of him. Many of the shortcuts besides incorporate drop-down menus, truthful helium tin motorboat close into the task he’s looking for. 

Best of all, this method allows him to signifier his telephone by the action he’s trying to take. An icon labeled “Podcasts” launches immoderate podcast app he’s utilizing astatine the moment. If helium ever starts utilizing a antithetic app, he’ll support the aforesaid shortcut icon and person it motorboat a caller app. “I don’t person to enactment a caller app successful determination and get myself utilized to looking for that icon.” 

News exertion Jay Peters takes a much straightforward approach. Like me, helium finds the changeless beingness of app icons distracting. “If I don’t spot the app close connected my homescreen I’m mode little apt to usage it and conscionable scroll with it.” He has a full of 7 apps connected his homescreen — including 3 successful the dock — and volition occasionally let an app icon backmost onto the grid if he’s going to beryllium utilizing it a batch successful a abbreviated play of time. “If I’m going connected a large roadworthy travel oregon something, possibly I’ll determination the maps app [at the apical of the homescreen],” helium says, “But different I effort and support it to conscionable these 7 apps.”

Both of my colleagues person achieved a level of equilibrium successful their integer lives that I admire. I besides heard from galore much who said that they inactive support a homescreen filled with app icons, but they astir ever skip the grid and spell to Spotlight hunt erstwhile they request to unfastened an app. And nary of america knows rather erstwhile it happened, but much than 1 idiosyncratic I talked to agreed that the Siri suggested apps astatine the apical of the hunt pane got truly bully astatine immoderate constituent successful the past. More often than not, the app I’m looking for is close determination earlier I adjacent benignant a missive into the hunt bar.

That benignant of happening gives maine anticipation for a aboriginal wherever personalized AI tin assistance maine find what I’m looking for connected my phone, with little input from me. But if I’ve learned thing from this exercise, it’s that you don’t person to hold for AI oregon the metaverse oregon ambient computing oregon immoderate to marque your integer beingness little annoying. There are tools successful our hands already; you conscionable request a small courageousness to permission your comfortableness portion behind.