The latest fashion among iPhone users is to customize (to the limit) the home screen of their mobile, something that has been possible globally since last September 16. This new level of customization (unheard of in an Apple product so far), has gone viral in just a few days. Social networks have been filled with snapshots and videos showing the creations of users. Displays designed in a color gamut with custom icons and widgets and drawers of apps new that have conquered us from minute one and we had infinite desire to try.
@ kaylamarie126 i’ve spent HOURS working on my home screen i love it so much 🥺 ## ios14 ## ios14homescreen ## ios14update
♬ Call me – 90sFlav
Finally did it. # ios14 pic.twitter.com/a4a2iwG9oR
– Yanin Namasonthi (@PrettySickly) September 20, 2020
If you have also fallen for this aesthetic that enters through the eyes, this is how you can get it on your mobile screen:
Install iOS 14
The first thing is to install the new Apple operating system on your phone. To do this, click on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Software update’.
Application library
Once you have iOS 14 installed, we recommend that the next step is to make all the applications disappear from your screen in order to start unleashing your imagination with a blank canvas. You don’t have to delete them, iOS 14 has a new space called an app library to store them. You can move them there in two ways:
Individually
1. Hold down a widget or an empty area in Today view until the apps move.
2. Touch the – button in the upper left corner of any app.
3. Click on ‘Move to app library’.
Mass
To move an entire page on your screen at a time,
1. Hold down a widget or an empty area in Today view until the apps move.
2. Touch the three paging dots that appear centered at the bottom of the screen.
3. Deselect the pages you want to move to the library.
If you turn pages en masse to the library and then want to access the apps that were in them, just slide the screen to the left and they will appear in this way organized by themes:
Wallpaper
Start your new design with a new background (in ‘Settings’> ‘Wallpaper’, ‘Select new background’).
Download apps
To create your custom home screen, you will need two applications: “Widgetsmith” and “Shortcuts”. You can also download “Color Widgets”. All three are free and the first and third have a paid part (not necessary, if you don’t want to).
Create widgets
The next step would be to create your widgets. Access “Widgetsmith” and click on “widgets”, you will see three sizes of widget available (small, medium and large) and you must select the one you want by clicking on ‘Add widget’. Once you do, continue clicking on “default widget” and then selecting what type of widget widget you want to create. Here you have available the widgets of time, calendar, day, photos and phrases for free. Each one supports you to select the typeface you want, the font, background and border color. To save your creation, click on the back arrow and click ‘Save’.
Install widgets
Once you have created the widgets that you will use to your liking, it is time to install them on the screen. For it:
- From the home screen, press and hold a widget or empty area until the apps move.
- Tap the + button in the upper left corner.
- Select a widget, choose from three widget sizes, and then tap Add widget.
- Tap OK.
If the one you created has not been added, click on the widget and click ‘Edit widget’. Then in ‘Widget’ and select the number that corresponds to yours. When you’re done making changes, tap outside the widget to exit.
Another option is to install an already created “Color Widgets” layout. To use them, activate the one you like and then install it by clicking on the + with the home screen in edit mode.
Airtime and Smart Groups
iOS 14 has created some widget very interesting own as ‘Time of use’ (that shows your daily activity) and ‘Smart groups’. This second, select a smart collection of widgets based on factors such as your location, an activity, or the time. The widgets displayed automatically rotate to show the most relevant information throughout the day.
Both of them are installed by pressing + like the “Widgetsmith” or “Color Widgets” widgets.
You can also stack different ones yourself widgets dragging them one on top of the other (up to ten are allowed). To edit the group:
- Press and hold the battery widgets.
- Tap Edit Stack. From here, to reorder the widgets on the stack, you can drag the + grid icon. You can also turn on the Smart rotation feature if you want iOS to show you relevant widgets throughout the day. Or swipe left on a widget to remove it.
- Tap when done.
Also, you can schedule widgets specific according to the time of day. For this you must select it as such in “Widgetsmith”.
Other interesting widgets
There are other apps that make other users available widgets that have caught our attention:
– Motivation or Motivation Widget, share daily motivational phrases.
– TuneTrack, makes it possible to add a Spotify widget to the home screen.
Change app icons
To finish emulating the home screens that have gone viral, you will have to change the photos or icons of each application. To do this, you must use the “Shortcuts” app. The procedure is the next:
1. From the home screen, click +.
2. Click on add action.
3. You can create shortcuts for different actions, but to use them to change icons you must find the action ‘Open app’, select it. It will ask you to select the app you want to open. After click in the three dots in the upper right corner and name the action as your app. Finish by adding the automated action to the screen. You will automatically see the option to load an image for your shortcut and this is where you should include the image that you want to appear on the screen.
Personal opinion
After spending hours learning and rearranging my iPhone screen, I admit that aesthetically the result is amazing and it has helped me to organize and clean apps on my mobile. I have loved the new Smart Groups functionality, the widget of usage time (very useful if you want to reduce the hours you spend “hooked”) and the widgets of time and calendar. What’s more, I have created a couple of widgets with automated calls that I have already used a lot.
Even so, I think that the use of “Shortcuts” slows down applications (you do not access them directly) and, when changing the original icons, it can be a bit cumbersome. At least, until you get used to it.
Photos | Jared