What’s on YOUR iPhone Home Screen?
My home screen is incredibly boring. Because I have a few devices, and I do a lot of testing with them, I also have to restore them fairly often and it’s gotten to the point where I just leave everything in its default location because it’s a) easier than rearranging and b) I don’t have to hunt for stuff I haven’t rearranged.
So, my second screen has become where I move my non-default, but still more often used apps. Typically the exact order will vary due to the reasons above, but the apps are fairly consistent.
I’ll list out what I use after the break, but we’re really more interested in what’s on YOUR iPhone home screen and why. If you’re willing to share a screenshot, jump on over to our TiPb iPhone Forums, attach it, and share the details!
My screen: Top row is secondary Apple apps, which I use once-and-a-while but like to refer back to.
Next is UDID so I can quickly get an Ad Hoc distro set up if I need to test something. 1Password is typically the first thing that goes onto my Macs and iPhones. Life. Saver. BeeJiveIM is for those rare occasions I keep IM on, on the go. Qik is the Ad Hoc version that actually does stream live (Apple/AT&T need to approve that version now).
TWiT.am is for when I want to listen to streaming Leo Laporte. Wikipanion gets hit often for pop culture reference. Jaadu hasn’t been set up in a while, but I dream of it working for remote desktop one day. Skype just came to Canada, but only works on full bar WiFi right now.
TwitBit 2.0 is what I’m testing for Twitter right now. Tweetie is just so Apple-like I often default back to it for power posting. Shazam is Shazam. It might get banished to a lower screen soon. Navigon keeps me from getting lost, which I am wont to do.
October 1st, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Forget which apps you have on the Home screen. Let’s talk about the LOOK of it. This is where jailbreaking shines. Nothing can touch the screens and themes they have available when you jailbreak your iPhone.
October 1st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I usually have a black screen since the 3.1 update. Hardly ever see an incoming call anymore and yet no help from apple.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I have no full screens.
I organize by App function/purpose, with the first page being reserved for the most used.
Calendar, clock, news apps (news junkie) and weather. Thats it.
This method or organization makes for a lot of scrolling, which just shows how outdated the Springboard concept really is. It was never designed with the App store in mind. It needs menus, lists, categories, etc. (And in my experience searching for apps via the search is not a good substitute for a proper method of organization.)
October 1st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I’m in the same boat as Bin75 right now, black screen most of the time.
But when it’s responding the first page is most used apps. Second page is frequently used apps and settings. Then third page randomly assorted apps, 4th page all news, 5th page more random, 6&7 games, 8 unused stock apps.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
My first screen is factory default. Second page is the apps I use almost daily. Fourth is games. Also, I organize each screen (except the first) by colour to optimize the aesthetics.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
My home page is the default, with the Contacts app added to the bottom (3G here). Eveery page after that is all my apps in alphabetical order. I’m so boring.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Umm..alphabetical order here with default home screen. Lots of apps but use spotlight most of time.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:50 pm
people still listen to leo laporte? wow.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Cycorder, MLB@bat,kindle, weather channel,snapture,pandora,simplify music 2 and AT&T navigator … The rest are default
October 1st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
October 1st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Also forgot , facebook, twittelator, slingbox and beejive. Guess I don’t have but a few default apps on the homescreen
October 1st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
doh now I look like a spammer, here’s a link to my home screen http://bit.ly/1L2pPW
October 1st, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I always set the first 2 pages relative to the ones I use most often.
Page 1: http://twitpic.com/jv7×2 Prowl is set up to send push notifications for Deliveries and IMs to my non-work accounts Pkt Weather conveniently displays the temperature in the push notification badge (very handy!) Kindle and Byline for reading, and SimplyTweet for Twitter for now. The rest should be self-explanatory
Page 2: Includes App Store, Settings, iDisk, Nike+, Daily Burn apps, RedLaser, pCalc, TomTom, NY transit apps (3), Where To? Yelp, Chase, and Mint
October 1st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Due to business purposes the home screen is for the standard apple apps…never know who is peering over your shoulder. Then when the coast is clear page 2 is for most common apps. sportacular, mlb at bat, echofon(twitter app) skype , my fantasy teams, facebook, NYC Subway maps, and Golfshots GPS(best app paid for to date)
October 1st, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I’ve kept my screen default, aside from the whole theme thing on my jailbroken phone. Plus i have a 6 icon dock now, which is awesome.
October 1st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Mines as it shipped.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
First thing to change is drag Settings to bottom bar and ditch Safari to last page. I have bookmark to Bloglines and BBC Sport on home page that are my front door to Safari.
Other home page certs are Jaadu VNC, Spotify (testing), Copilot (for EU), WunderRadio (for BBC 5 Live radio etc), iMapMyFitness, iPeng (for Squeezebox control), Midomi (not Shazam), Maps, The Weather Channel (not standard weather app), Dublin Bus/Dublin Rail (a kind of Irish equivalent for NYC City Subway maps or HopStop), Yelp! (with monocle, fun but not useful for me) and finally, Camera.
On holidays I had Lonely Planet, Accuterra, HopStop, Navigon (for US) and NYC Maps on front page.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Also, I move Phone from bottom bar to back page and bring SMS to bottom bar. I access the phone with double click of Home to Favourites. (I should say this is not my primary phone … work pay for the other one which is used more often.)
October 1st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
HTC HERO SENSE UI BABY!!!
October 1st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
iphone homescreens are so boring… all the same, no agenda, no sms or email preview, no cool background.
only Apple could take a boring (but at least clean) interface like that of the iPhone and sell it to so many people. Thumbs up for their Marketing dept, they reinvented the wheel
October 1st, 2009 at 5:52 pm
For the sake of sounding like Truth:
who cares? This is a “how do I have things listed” post. There’s no themes or custom anything, just what order you have them in.
October 1st, 2009 at 8:20 pm
My pages are set by category then priority: Page one – absolute essentials, including news and banking, maps, email. After that, it’s pages of utilities, entertaiment then games.
Oh yeah…also on page one: Bookmark for TiPB.
October 1st, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Mine are also organized by most used on the first page and second page, then pages 3 and 4 are all games. Using five-row springboard as well as five-icon dock, from left to right starting at top: clock, weather max, BofA, accounts, billminder, convert, docs2go (which was just updated yesterday to support full excel support!), istudiez pro, voice notes, awesome note, navigon, google maps, google earth, star walk, compass, iPod, pandora, kindle, pictures, camera genius…and on the dock: phone, messaging, calendar, email, safari. Very organized, very few default apps, and with wallpapered backgrounds (haven’t made the jump to 3.1…I see no need to lose all of the functionality of jailbreak, I have my MMS, the rest can wait.)
October 1st, 2009 at 8:40 pm
You’d never know my iPhone was jailbroken by looking at it (unless there’s a status bar notification). No trashy themes or backgrounds – just SBSettings and Backgrounder with icons hidden. Only three home screens with first one still Apple default (use those the most).
October 1st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I keep mine to a minimum as well…high quality wallpapers, otherwise, no themes, just status bar notifications, SBSettings, cyntact, my name replaces the AT&T icon on status bar, and upcoming calendar events on lockscreen.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Maximizing. Minimalist. Jailbroken.
http://twitpic.com/jwze2/
October 1st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Maximizing. Minimalist. Jailbroken.
http://daveinstereo.posterous.com/maximizing-minimalist-jailbroken
(Mods plz 2 delete TwitPic one. Thanks!)
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:19 am
[I'm not affiliated.]
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:43 am
Just for your information: I’ve started a small homescreen project on posterous. Feel free to have a look: http://bit.ly/mdb7p
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 am
Most useful by category on first page, most useful by category following 5 pages.
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Organized by most frequently used and jumps to other categories (just a tad bit OCD)… JB w/customized theme: http://bit.ly/FaXz8. Theming is part of the JB appeal, I do believe.
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:17 am
Hi Rene, here is a little gift, a live version of your second screen with clickable icons and a few stats
http://bit.ly/ReneRitchieTiPb
you also have an embedded version on the same link if you want to use it on your blog!
And if you are interested here are my favorite apps http://myap.ps/ouriel
Ouriel Ohayon AppsFire.com
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 pm
My screens are color coordinated. I hate when they change an icon. Does this make me a nerd or OCD?
October 4th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Yeah I wish you didn’t have to jail break your phone to get themes and cool backgrounds! Are they ever going to release some quality apps for that?
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:23 am
I’m waaaay late on this post but it was so interesting I had to post, the iPhone has really changed my life organizationally. Like a lot of posters here I organize my apps by function and frequency of use. On the permanent bar are The Weather Channel, Safari, Messages, Phone. Home screen mostly native apps except for Weather and of course Stocks, also InrixTraffic, ProCamera, Pandora, Skype, and Battery Level (love the badge). Second screen is productivity apps like Evernote, ToDo’s, and Bill Tracker. Third screen is for what I consider reference apps like Wikipedia, Yelp, SnapTell, RedLaser, Superpages, and City Search. Next screen is news and media (and the TiPB badge). After that nothin but apps for the kids and games.