There seem to be two kinds of people out there. The people that keep their tech gear super organized and the people who don’t. If you are tired of scrolling through pages and pages of apps on your iPhone to find the one you need, follow these 3 steps to organize your iPhone.
Step 1-Delete Unused Apps
Before doing anything else on your phone, I recommend going through your apps and deleting all the ones that you never use. Simply press and hold on the app until the X appears in the upper left corner, then press the X to delete it.
Step 2-Pin Favorite Apps to Your Home Screen
If there are certain apps that you use on a regular basis, I recommend that you do not file them in a folder. Instead, keep them on your home screen. I would keep the 4 most used apps in the dock at the bottom of the screen. I would put the next 4 most used apps above those.
Step 3-File Your Apps Into Folders
I organize my apps into folders on my phone in the following categories. This is a basic list and at the end of the day, just use the ones that apply to you. There will be apps that you could put in more than one location, so just pick the folder that makes the most sense to you so you can find them.
Apple Apps
The first folder that I use on my phone is a folder for Apple Apps. In this folder I keep apps from Apple that I don’t currently use, but may use at some point. I have apps such as Numbers, iMovie, GarageBand and iTunes U in here.
Books
I love to read so of course I have more than one reading app on my phone. In this folder I have my Kindle, and iBooks app. I also have a few reading apps my children use and my library’s digital rental app called Hoopla.
Entertainment
In the entertainment section I do not have much, but I do have the Internet Movie Data Base and RunPee Mobile (it tells you when to go to the bathroom during a movie). Other apps you could store here would be social media apps, newspaper or magazine apps. If you find that books are mostly your entertainment, then I would combine the two files. You could put YouTube in here or in Social Media.
Food
In this section I keep all apps that pertain to food. Eating food, buying food or cooking food. In this section I have my recipe manager, restaurant apps, and apps that rate restaurants.
Games
If you are big into gaming you should make a file for games. While I am not a big gamer, there are a few games I play from time to time while sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room or games I let my kids play while we are waiting somewhere. If you really don’t use games you could always combine this section with entertainment.
Health
In this section I keep all my apps pertaining to my physical and mental health. I store all Apple apps related to health in here, my workout apps, my food tracking apps and my health insurance doctor app.
Lifestyle
In this section I keep random apps that don’t really have a good home elsewhere. I keep the neighborhood app in here as well as the communication app for my daughter’s school and our community emergency app.
Music
This one is pretty self explanatory. I basically put any app that has to do with managing or consuming sound in here. So that includes iTunes, Podcasts, Pandora, and Shazaam.
Photography
I love to take pictures so this is one of the categories I have to have. I do not put my Camera or Photos app in here. In this category are apps that allow me to edit photos like PicMonkey, PhotoGrid, and Photo Shop Express.
Productivity
This is any app I use to help me with productivity. I put Dropbox, notes, reminders and scanning programs in here.
Reference
This is where I keep my web browsers, bank app, weather apps and any other app that I use to find information.
Shopping
In this folder I keep all store apps and coupon apps such as Target, Michaels, RetailMeNot, etc
Social Media
I honestly don’t have a social media folder because I don’t use that many social media apps. If I did I would have a social media folder and put apps like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat in there. You could also add YouTube.
Travel
While this is a folder I don’t use all the time, I am glad to have it when I travel by car, plane or ship. I keep things like GasBuddy, Southwest, FlightAware and GateGuru in here.
Tools
This is where I keep apps such as the clock, calendar, calculator, settings, compass, etc. You can combine the tools and reference folder if you want. I prefer to keep them separate.
Work
In this file I keep any apps that I need for work. In here I have my work email app, Google Classroom, etc.
Once you have your iPhone home screen organized I promise you will never want to go back to pages and pages of never ending apps. It does take time to organize your phone, but it will be well worth it. If you ever have trouble finding an app, just swipe down on the home screen to get to the search bar. Type in the name of the app and it should pop up.
Need more help getting organized? Check out these posts.
The 10 Routines That Will Keep Your Home Organized
Home Organization Tools That Won’t Break the Bank
You make it sound so easy! I definitely don’t have an organized phone. I always get so nervous about deleting apps I don’t use because I feel like I’ll need them once I delete them. LOL that probably won’t happen.
However, I should definitely make more folders though. thanks for the tips!
Most apps, even the paid for ones will let you re-install them easily and without paying a second time. Keep that in mind when you are afraid to hit delete. Thanks for the note.