TUAW iPhone Tips: Typing the Apple symbol, iOS 4 folders in the dock

As you go into this weekend looking for things to do, you might be thinking about how to organize your iOS 4.x iPhone and use the Apple symbol in the process.

The first tip, courtesy of Macenstein, deals with labeling of apps and folders. Back in the iPhone OS 2.x days, you could use the Japanese keyboard to type the Apple symbol. That feature disappeared, but now there's a way to bring back that Apple symbol.

The solution is to create a folder in iOS 4, which is done by dragging one app onto another. Give the folder a name, like "Rename me," then sync with your computer. With your iPhone selected in iTunes 10, click on the Apps tab. There you'll see all of your apps and folders, and you can double-click on the folder you just created to rename it. Use the Mac keyboard shortcut Option-Shift-K to type in the Apple symbol () and whatever else you want in the folder title, press Return to enter the change, and then click the Apply button to rename the folder on your iPhone. If you ever need to type an Apple symbol into another app, you can simply copy and paste it from the folder name.

Our second tip, from TUAW reader Adam, uses the obvious (but little-used) fact that you can put folders into the "dock" row of icons on your iPhone home screen. Why is that important? With one touch, you can have access to up to 12 of your favorite apps in the always-available dock row. Join the two tips together, and you can have an  Apps folder in your iPhone dock containing all of those Apple apps that you can't get rid of.