Digital declutter: How to clean up your home screen

Give your iPhone a breath of fresh air. Here are some ideas on how you can keep your Home Screen neat and tidy by using iOS 14’s library and widget features.

Hide apps and pages

Easily hide the apps and pages that you rarely use, and make your Home Screen look cleaner—great if you’re into the minimalist aesthetic.

Move apps to App Library

1. Touch and hold the app.

2. Tap Remove App.

3. Tap Move to App Library.

To access the App Library, swipe to the last page of apps or widgets, then swipe one more time.

Hide pages from Home Screen

1. Touch and hold an empty area on your Home Screen.

2. Tap the dots near the bottom of your screen.

3. Untick the circle under the page you want to hide, then tap Done.

Change where new apps get downloaded

Besides manually hiding your apps, you can also change where new apps get downloaded.

By default, all new apps you download to your iPhone are added to your Home Screen.

Change download settings

1. Go to Settings > Home Screen.

2. Select either Add to Home Screen or App Library Only.

Add widgets for handy information

Home Screen widgets keep the most important information at your fingertips and save you the hassle of launching an app. Some examples of helpful widgets include your appointments for the day or daily stock prices. You can add widgets to your Home Screen or Today View. Save even more screen real estate by adding a widget stack (i.e. multiple widgets that you can rotate through).

Add widgets to screen

Add widgets to Home Screen:

1. From the Home Screen, touch and hold a widget or an empty area until the apps jiggle.

2. Tap the Add button (+) at the top left of the screen.

3. Select a widget, choose a widget size, then tap Add Widget.

4. Tap Done.

Add widgets to Today View:

1. Swipe to the right edge of the screen to access Today View.

2. Touch and hold a widget or an empty area in Today View until the apps jiggle.

3. Tap the Add button (+) at the top left of the screen.

4. Scroll down to select a widget, then choose a widget size.

5. Tap Add Widget, then tap Done.

Add or create a widget stack

You can add a Smart Stack, a pre-built collection of widgets that change based on time, location, and activity.

1. Touch and hold an area on your Home Screen or in Today View until the apps jiggle.

2. Tap the Add button (+) at the top left of the screen.

3. Scroll down and tap Smart Stack, then tap Add Widget.

Otherwise, create your own widget stack based on your needs. You can stack up to 10 widgets.

1. Touch and hold an app or empty area on the Home Screen or Today View until the apps jiggle.

2. Drag a widget on top of another widget and tap Done.