Arrange Application icons on the iPhone or iPod touch

Wed 18 March 2009

Move Application icons on the iPhone and iPod touch screens for easier access.

Arrange Application icons on the iPhone or iPod touch
Mac Tip #376, 18 March 2009

Do you have several screens of Applications on your iPhone and iPod touch? Is it hard to find the ones you need? Customise how they display.

First screen of Applications; Jiggling icons; Alert when deleting an Application.

The iPhone and iPod touch have a lot in common: both come with pre-installed Applications, and you can add more Applications from the iTunes Store.

When you add an Application it appears in the last position on the Applications screen, starting a new page as the previous page fills up. Before long you find yourself flipping through several pages of Applications to find the one you want.

Like this Tip? Buy me a coffee.

To move between Pages of Applications tap just to the left or right of the small row of dots below the Application icons. There is one dot per Page.

iPhone page indicator dots. I'm on page 2 of 4.

Here’s how to move the icons to where you want them. In these instructions I’ll just write iPhone, but everything is just the same on the iPod touch. These instructions were written for an iPhone running version 2.2.1 of the Operating System. Older or newer versions may differ.

To move iPhone Application icons:

Switch on your iPhone and unlock it. The Applications screen appears, displaying one of the pages of Applications.
To return to the first Applications page press the Home button once.
To enable moving Applications around press and hold on any Application. After a moment the icons begin to jiggle, and some display an X in the top left corner. The icons without an X are built-in and cannot be removed.
To delete an Application tap the X. An alert appears asking for confirmation. To abandon the change click Cancel. To confirm the deletion click Delete.
To move an Application drag its icon to a new position. The other icons move to make way for it. Drag the icon to the right to move it to a new page, or to the left to move it back a page.
When you’ve finished moving icons press the Home button once. The icons stop jiggling and the changes are saved.

These older Tips may also interest you:

Do you have any other tips for arranging Application icons on your iPhone or iPod touch? Share them in the Comments.

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Tagged as: applications, iPhone, iPod

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The iPod touch is hot now — KnowIT: Mon 04 January 2010 at 07:36:07
Top 20 Tips for Apple users — Mac Tips: Tue 16 February 2010 at 12:00:03

{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Justin Mon 06 April 2009 at 04:37:07

Thanks that really helped! Now my iTouch is actually organized :D

2 Miraz Jordan Mon 06 April 2009 at 07:37:18

That’s great Justin. I’m so pleased to hear the Tip has been useful.

3 tes315 Sat 11 April 2009 at 13:23:35

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you.

4 Miraz Jordan Sat 11 April 2009 at 13:45:11

Fantastic, tes15. Thanks for the feedback.

Remember to check the Related Posts listed above for other iPod touch and iPhone tips.

5 nish Thu 30 April 2009 at 09:38:49

Whenever I install a new app on my ipod touch, instead of the icon showing up at the end, it fills in any empty space on earlier pages first. Is there any way to change the settings so the icons automatically go to the end? I’d like to be able to keep some of those spots empty. Thanks!

6 Miraz Jordan Thu 30 April 2009 at 09:51:59

Nish, thanks for your question.

I’m not aware of any way to change that, I’m afraid, but it’s the kind of Feedback the Apple developers should hear.

Visit: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ and tell them what you do and don’t want to see happening with your iPod touch.

Cheers,

Miraz

7 Gene Tue 26 May 2009 at 11:53:24

Thank you just what I needed!

8 E. Blair Fri 19 June 2009 at 18:39:24

Thank you very much for your help.

9 Tim Tue 23 June 2009 at 15:08:36

The most painless way I’m aware of to move many apps over many pages is by using the dock. You can move four apps from any page to any other in about fifteen seconds.

The dock is always visible no matter what page you’re on so …

1) Clear space on the dock by temporarily moving the apps from the dock onto a page with free space.
2) Drag up to four apps you want to move onto the dock.
3) Go to the page where you want the apps to appear and drag them off the dock.
4) Repeat until you’re done.
5) Drag your original apps back on the dock.

It’s still no fun, but it sure beats the other way.

10 Miraz Jordan Tue 23 June 2009 at 16:14:57

That’s great out-of-the-box thinking, Tim! Thanks.

11 Yona Thu 16 July 2009 at 06:46:14

i have a ipod touch with 5 pages of apps. id like to have a new page eventhough my last page (fifth) is not filled up with apps yet. whenever i make my apps jiggle and try to move it to the right to create a new page it wont budge.
is there a way to create a new page without having to fill all previous pages with apps?
Thanks for the help.

12 Miraz Jordan Thu 16 July 2009 at 13:26:25

Yona, I just experimented and found that I could easily move an application to another (new) page. I’m running the latest updates.

13 Andy Fri 21 August 2009 at 00:25:46

Is there a way to reorganise your apps on any page without the machine just shuffling them around?
A bit like how we organise icons on a PC desktop.

Many thanks in advance

Andy

14 Miraz Jordan Fri 21 August 2009 at 09:27:29

Andy: the steps I outlined above work fine for moving Applications around within one screen. If I move, say, the 2nd app out of its position the others all move ‘up’ one to fill the gap, but still in the same sequence. I can then drop the one I’m ‘holding’ in any position I like and the apps move aside for it.

So, if I start like this:

A B C D

I can easily move things so they are now:

A C B D

or any other sequence I choose.

15 Ali Moledina Sat 22 August 2009 at 02:55:53

Just what I was looking for….great tip.

16 Kirk Wed 04 November 2009 at 15:18:56

This tip helped make this easy. Thanks alot!

17 Kb Sun 08 November 2009 at 01:57:34

What is the maximum number of pages of Apps and apps can you have

18 KB Sun 08 November 2009 at 02:33:57

What is the maximum number of pages of Apps and apps can you have?

Is there a way to change the size of the app icons to fit more on a page

19 Sami Tue 10 November 2009 at 13:21:33

i played around with an app, and i changed the options around. Now i cant move around my apps or delete them by pressing the ”x”. I cant remember which app i used or where i went to change that option. Please help. Thanks in advance.

20 Miraz Jordan Wed 11 November 2009 at 06:41:11

KB: There’s no way I know of to change the icon sizes.

The maximum number of Pages you can have is 11. If have more apps than that you must search for them. See:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2207910&tstart=435

Cheers,

Miraz

21 David Anderson Thu 12 November 2009 at 18:47:13: Actually, there is a trick that you can use to get more than 11 screens with OS 3.x. I’ve come up with myself, and I’ve never seen anybody else mention it.

I’ve just posted it as my first entry in a new blog at:

http://spaceowl3000.blogspot.com/

I’d love to hear some feedback on it!

Thanks,
David.

Reply

22 Miraz Jordan Wed 11 November 2009 at 06:42:31

Sami: I’m not aware of anything that stops you moving or deleting your apps.

Do note that you can’t remove the apps that were installed with the iPhone — such as Contacts, Calendar, Safari, etc.

23 Nick Wed 11 November 2009 at 23:02:26

I wish i could orgainze my many icons into categories, in the same way that the App store has categories. I could then see all my games on a games page etc., and it would be nice to add my own categories too.

24 hannah Sun 06 December 2009 at 10:29:15

thankyou sooo much this has helped me loads :D x

25 GNu Tue 08 December 2009 at 13:55:17

I have over 250 apps on a 32 GB Ipod touch. Is there a way to add more than the 11 pages they give us so I can actually use them. I mean come on. They advertise 100,000 apps but only let you have access to 11 pages. Steve needs a wake up call.

26 David Anderson Tue 08 December 2009 at 14:17:32: GNu,

I have 17 visible pages on my 32gb iPod Touch, 2nd Generation.
I am able to view 272 apps. I could maybe add another screen or two, but those dots across the bottom nearly fill the page.

You can add more screens, just like I did, in three simple steps:
1) Push “Voice Memos” off of your last visible page, onto an invisible page. 2) Download a new app to fill the hole you just created. (Delete the new app later if you wish.)
Success? Check your second page, it should be full of apps that were previously not visible.
3) Repeat as often as desired.

Here is a link to my blog, explaining in further detail how I got 17 screens:
http://spaceowl3000.blogspot.com/2009/11/add-more-screens-to-your-ipod-touch-or.html

Let me know there or here if you have any comments, complaints or suggestions.

Good luck!

Reply

27 Robin Banks Fri 22 January 2010 at 00:16:18

Thanks man, helped me out heaps!!

28 Tyler Thu 11 February 2010 at 15:37:16

has anyone here heard of jail-breaking? all of these problems can be solved with it.

29 Ange Thu 25 February 2010 at 18:26:03

Hi, My Daughter got a hold of my iphone and now the pages are all enlarged! I cant seem to shrink them back by the normal pinching! Do you know how i can get it back to normal? I have tried switching it off and on again??? Thanx

30 Miraz Jordan Sat 27 February 2010 at 15:46:02

Ange, I don’t have the latest iPhone, but I wonder if that’s an accessibility feature. I’d look under Settings to see if there’s anything about the font size.

Do let us know if you find an answer there.

Cheers,

Miraz

31 Ange Sun 28 February 2010 at 22:04:51: I have finally figured it out! Its the three finger control! All i needed to do was tap the screen with three fingers at once……. How simple!

Reply

32 Miraz Mon 01 March 2010 at 08:35:58

That’s great Ange. Thanks for letting us know – I’m sure it’ll help someone else. :-)

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Arrange Application icons on the iPhone or iPod touch