How To Organize Apps on Your iPhone with 6 Simple Tips

Ever felt overwhelmed with a cluttered iPhone home screen after tossing in dozens of apps? Yeah, it’s kind of a pain to find that one app quickly when your screens are packed. But, thankfully, iOS has some tricks up its sleeve to help keep things tidy without deleting everything. This guide tries to cover a few practical ways to organize your apps—whether you’re into just hiding stuff, grouping similar apps, or using some of the newer features introduced with iOS 14 and beyond. Because let’s be honest, if your phone looks like a digital tornado, finding anything feels like a scavenger hunt. Implementing these tips can make your device feel a lot more streamlined, and actually improve your day-to-day experience finding apps fast.

How to Organize My Apps on iPhone?

Let’s look at some of the most straightforward methods you can try that actually work without overhauling your entire setup. Some are super quick, others take a bit of time, but overall, they help keep that screen from becoming a mess.

1. Shift Apps Installed on iPhone to App Library

This is probably the easiest way to clean up your home screens, especially if you’re using iOS 14 or later. The App Library is like a super-organized folder that automatically categorizes all your apps. The trick is, you can remove apps from your home screen and still keep them installed, so they’re not cluttering your main display but are still accessible when needed.

Here’s how it helps: It declutters your view, makes your most-used apps pop up faster, and keeps less-frequent ones out of the way. When you long-press on an app icon, a menu pops up. Just tap Remove App. A menu will then show up offering options: either delete or remove from home screen. Pick Remove From Home Screen and voila, the app goes to the App Library, visible only when you swipe right on your last home screen. Use this for apps you rarely need right away.

Note: Not all apps should be hidden—some, like Maps or Safari, might deserve a prominent spot, but for cluttering apps, sending them to the library works magic.

2. Use Minimal Home Screen Pages

If you’ve ever installed a dozen apps in a day, you probably noticed how iOS automatically spawns new home screen pages. Over time, these pages get filled, and scrolling through them can become a pain.

To streamline things, simply long-press on your home screen background, and the jiggle mode activates. You’ll see the page indicators (little white dots at the bottom).Tap on the page indicator, and the screens switch to a minimized view—so you can select which pages to hide. Deselect the pages you don’t want cluttering your main view, and they will be hidden behind the scenes. This doesn’t delete the apps, just hides their page from view, giving a cleaner look.

Good for those who want quick access to just key apps on the first screen but still keep secondary apps somewhere in the back.

3. Use Spotlight Search on iPhone

Sometimes the best way to avoid digging through endless pages is just using Spotlight. It’s a pull-down search that appears instantly—no extra taps needed. Swipe down from the middle of any home screen to reveal the search box at the top, and start typing. You can quickly find any app, contact, or even relevant settings with just a few keystrokes. Honestly, it’s much faster than scrolling, especially if you have a dozens of apps.

Some people don’t use it enough, but it’s kind of a secret weapon if you’re aiming for quick access without cluttering your home page.

4. Make Sure Frequently Used Apps Are on the First Home Screen

This one sounds obvious, but it’s surprisingly helpful—keeping your top apps front and center. Think of your home screen like your command center for everyday stuff: your banking apps, messaging, a quick phone dial, maybe Slack or WhatsApp, and so forth. For fast access, drag those onto the first page or onto the dock itself, which is always visible at the bottom.

Long-press on a free space, then tap on an app, drag it to the first page or the dock. Keeps them ready at a moment’s notice, rather than buried in some folder deep on another page. It’s a simple thing, but on busy days? It saves a lot of hassle.

5. Organize Apps into Folders by Type

Grouping similar apps into folders is the most classic approach, but it works. Got a bunch of finance apps? Toss them into a folder called “Financial” or “Money, ” and keep other groups for social media, work, entertainment, whatever. Makes your home screen look tidier and helps find stuff quickly—no hunting for that one banking app hidden in the corner.

Hold down on an app icon, then drag and drop it onto another app. They’ll automatically form a folder, which you can then open to move more apps in. Don’t make the folder too full, or it gets cumbersome.

6. Move App Folders to the Home Screen Dock

If you want even quicker access, put the folders with your most-used apps right on the dock. Create the folder, then enter jiggle mode, drag the folder onto the dock, and place it wherever it fits. Sure, you can cram a few folders there—just don’t overdo it, otherwise it ends up cluttered again. The goal’s quick access, not chaos.

Keep only the top essentials there. Having a couple of folders with your day-to-day apps can be a game-changer. Because of course, Apple makes things easy to organize but also makes it slightly clunky when you want to move stuff around.

Wrapping up

All these tricks, when combined, can really whip your iPhone into shape. It’s not perfect—sometimes folders get lost, or hiding pages feels a little fiddly—but that’s part of the charm. Consistency is key: spend a few minutes organizing your home screen to fit your needs, and it’s surprisingly rewarding to find things faster. This isn’t about perfection; it’s about making your device work smarter, not harder.