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Starting from zero on the iPhone home screen

by TJ Luoma May 21st 2010 at 12:00PM

This is what my iPhone looks like right now. No, it's not because iTunes went crazy and deleted all my apps. I'm trying to figure out which apps I actually use.

I've downloaded over 150 apps from the App Store. Of those 150, I have roughly 100 of them still in iTunes. I've tried grouping them using springboard pages, but I find it frustrating because I don't usually have 12 related apps. (I'm really looking forward to Folders in iPhone OS 4.)

Here's how I have been organizing my pages:

Page 1 and 2: anything app I use a lot or that may pop up a "badge" that I want to see.

Everything else: launch using search.

Here's the thing: I've gotten used to putting some apps on page 1 or 2 because I think I'm going to use them. The Phone app? I finally moved it off my Dock, but I left it on Page 1, even though I bet it's one of the apps that I actually use far less frequently than others.

Read on for more...

Update: A hat tip to Patrick Rhone's MinimalMac, where a version of this experiment appeared in January.

About the only thing I know I use a lot is the camera, because I'm trying to catch a quick picture of my kid doing something funny. Technically that doesn't even have to be on the front page because I have the home button programmed to launch the camera when I push it twice. (A feature I will miss in iPhone OS 4 when multitasking takes it over.)

I plugged my iPhone into my iMac and used iTunes to free up an empty page which I made the first page, and then put the camera on my Dock. Then I sync'd my iPhone. At which point iTunes deleted the blank page and moved the second page to the first page. Oops. So I moved the camera from the Dock to the only app on the first page and sync'd again.

Everything else that was on my Dock or pages 1 and 2 is now found on pages 2 and 3. Without using Search, I'm going to see which apps I need to "find" the most, and start filling in the blank spots from there. Eventually I'll move some apps to the Dock.

I know someone else in the iPhone user community did this some time ago, but I can't track it down at the moment (and my memory-impaired TUAW colleagues are no help either). If you know who it was, let us know if the comments. [It was Patrick Rhone, but he may not have been the first. -Ed.] There's also First & 20, which has profiled the start page of several members of the Mac community, including TUAW's own Dave Caolo.

How about you? How have you organized your iPhone pages?



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This is what my iPhone looks like right now. No, it's not because iTunes went crazy and deleted all my apps. I'm trying to figure out which...
 

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36 Comments

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free iphone 3gs

I don't have that many apps on my iPhone so I can get them all onto one screen. I do like the idea of having just the absolute bare bones though.. in this case, just the camera :)

May 22 2010 at 12:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Myklsan

Dock
Settings, Safari, Camera
1st Page
Phone, Messages, Sketchpad, Maps
2nd Page
Clock, Stanza, Pulsar, Calculator
3rd Page
Units, Oxford, Calendar, Notes, Dimensions, Mail, Voice Memos, App Store, Gorillacam, Photos, Star Walk, Google Earth
4th Page
StarTime, TeamViewer, Shazam, Remote, Ukelele, Evernote, Dictation, Siri
5th Page
SketchBookX, iRetouch Lite, Adobe Ideas, PS Mobile, YouTube
6th Page
games, 15 of them
7th Page
CloudBrowse, Opera Mini, Gizmodo bookmark, Google News bookmark, Shutterfly, Pandora, Google, Kayak, USA Weather Animated bookmark, Weather, iWund bookmark, iWeathr bookmark, Twitterriffic, Now Playing
8th Page
Rangefinder, Origami, dic•tion•ar•y, Shakespeare, OmniTuner, Chord Pro, Offlin...Guide, Instapaper, iPod, Contacts, iTunes, Stocks & any new silly apps like Pocket Pond and Orloj

May 21 2010 at 11:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sohrob

In iPhone OS 4, you double-press/click/tap & hold the Home button on the second tap to get that quick app access

May 21 2010 at 9:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jason.volk

I really wish apps have a "launch" count. Similar to a play count on iTunes. This way it would help you better organize your iPhone.

May 21 2010 at 8:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
FortNinety

So some of you feel that swiping the screen to the left X many times and/or remembering where what page the app resides on is slower than the trouble of actually tying it its name? Okay...

Sorry, but stuff like that, and all the other nonsense that Minimal Mac spews, gives me serious douche chills.

May 21 2010 at 7:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mikeman118

I'm using folders on 4.0 which is great, but what's really convenient is that you can put folders in the dock, so I can have the App Store, iTunes Store, and Safari all in one group.

May 21 2010 at 4:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alice Bevan-McGregor

These are my two screens. OS4 beta FTW:

http://cl.ly/40d79fdfdd7eb8dd3957
http://cl.ly/f98b1e03e9ba5ad277b8

Note that I rarely use the utterly useless automatic group names, besides the fact that they're often far too long to display properly.

May 21 2010 at 4:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Alice Bevan-McGregor's comment
Funkboy

Will the folders work on 2nd gen ipod Touches?

May 21 2010 at 7:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nick

I would have to second the "nearly everyone I actively call is a contact".

There's also the consideration that you can set a double click of the home button to go to page 1.

May 21 2010 at 3:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Quentin

1) Phone, mail, text messaging/IM, Flickr/camera apps and links.
2) News and social apps
3) TV, music, movies
4) Games
5) Games and entertainment apps
6) Bills, 1Password, CardBank, AAA apps
7) Utility apps
8) Default apps I never use and miscellaneous apps

May 21 2010 at 2:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
scojac

The other reason (not really mine, but a friend's) is that in the scenario you *do* need that odd app, you don't have to redownload, but can just flick to it.

May 21 2010 at 2:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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