Digital declutter: How to clean up your Android home screen

Give your phone a breath of fresh air. Here are some ideas on how you can keep your Home Screen neat and tidy.

Hide apps from the home screen

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

Hide apps in app drawer

Samsung devices

1. Long press the app you wish to hide until the pop-up menu appears.

2. Select Remove from Home.

3. The app will be hidden and can be found in your app drawer.

You can also hide multiple apps at a time:

1. Long press any blank area on your home screen.

2. Select Home screen settings at the bottom right of the screen.

3. Tap Hide apps.

4. Select the apps you wish to hide, then tap Done.

Other Android devices

1. Long press the app you wish to hide.

2. Drag and drop it to the area that says “Remove”.

Change where new apps get added

Besides manually hiding your apps, you can also change where new apps get added. By default, all new apps you download to your phone are added to your home screen.

Change download settings

Samsung devices

1. Long press any blank area on your home screen.

2. Select Home screen settings at the bottom right of the screen.

3. Turn off the toggle for Add apps to Home screen.

4. Your new apps will now only appear in your app drawer.

Other Android devices

1. Long press any blank area on your home screen until a pop-up menu appears.

2. Select Home Settings.

3. Turn off the toggle for Add app icons to the home screen.

4. Your new apps will now only appear in your app drawer.

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.

Add widgets to screen

Samsung devices

1. Long press any blank area on your home screen.

2. Select Widgets at the bottom of the screen.

3. Choose a widget to add to your home screen.

Other Android devices

1. Long press any blank area on your home screen until a pop-up menu appears.

2. Select Widgets.

3. Touch and hold your chosen widget to add it to the home screen.