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.
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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.
See more from: Mac Tips,iPhone,iPod
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* 46 comments… read them below and tell us what you think.
Thanks that really helped! Now my iTouch is actually organized :D
That’s great Justin. I’m so pleased to hear the Tip has been useful.
This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you.
Fantastic, tes15. Thanks for the feedback.
Remember to check the Related Posts listed above for other iPod touch and iPhone tips.
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!
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
Thank you just what I needed!
Thank you very much for your help.
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.
That’s great out-of-the-box thinking, Tim! Thanks.
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.
Yona, I just experimented and found that I could easily move an application to another (new) page. I’m running the latest updates.
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
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.
Just what I was looking for….great tip.
This tip helped make this easy. Thanks alot!
What is the maximum number of pages of Apps and apps can you have
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
thankyou sooo much this has helped me loads :D x
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.
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!
Thanks man, helped me out heaps!!
has anyone here heard of jail-breaking? all of these problems can be solved with it.
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
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
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!
That’s great Ange. Thanks for letting us know – I’m sure it’ll help someone else. :-)
The three fingers thing diddnt work for me all of my pages enlarged so the simplest way to do this if the three fingers thing doesnot work is just restore your I-pod/phone to its factory settings.
I need help! I hit 11 pages and then downloaded another app which I can only find when I search for it. Since then I have deleted some apps, is there anyway I can move the new app in this space so I don’t have to search for it? Thanks
Kuldeep, I’ve never struck that limit myself. Perhaps you could find the app one more time, delete it, then download a fresh copy. That should add it to the regular screens.
Thanks for that Miraz but I can’t delete it? I have tried pressing it for a few seconds but it doesn’t shake like the others and I can’t drag it to the empty spaces from the searchable bit either!
Thanks for helping me with this, it’s driving me mad! What’s your location? The times that I post are incorrect, here in the uk it’s 2245 and I’m ready for bed!
Kuldeep, it sounds as though you might have to delete the app from within the iTunes interface when syncing with your computer. Or even just move it within iTunes.
This website (and I) are based in Wellington, New Zealand.
My daughter actually moved my phone, message, Internet, and email apps which were at the bottom where you can put 4 apps.. I cannot get them back down there?? What do I do?
Moving icons to the home row is the same basic process as moving them to a different screen, but it takes a bit of finesse. When I do it, I first make sure the icon is centered vertically, between the top and bottom edges of the home row. Then, before letting go, wiggle the icon slightly left and right. After a few seconds you can let go, and it should stick. If not, try again.
Good luck!
Thanks this helped me move important apps to the default screen!!
Is there a way to get more than 11 home screen pages on the iPod touch? If so could tell me how because I have used up all my space!
pleaaase help me any one ….. i dont have the icon (app store) built in my ipod touch 8G ….. plzzzz any one tell me how 2 install it …. even when i connect it 2 the computer with the itunes the applications doesnt show with the other like > music , movies,etc…
plzzzzzzzzzz help me ::::
When I rearrange the apps on the iphone, how do I get itunes to keep them that way? Whenever I sync the phone it puts it back the way it was before. I tried the transfer purchases and backup option, no luck. Since I can now have folders (OS 4 on iphone 3G) itunes wants to put them all back on the pages they used to take up, even though it allows me to create folders in itunes. Any help?
Stinky, I’m not having that problem. It sounds as though some preference somewhere may be corrupt.
I’d do these things:
1] search the Apple forums to see if you find others with the same problem, and perhaps a solution.
2] make sure you’ve copied everything of value from your iPhone (eg photos) and then do a Restore. That will wipe the phone and put almost everything back on via iTunes. It may take a while.
Not a fan of the wipeout. Not a fan of itunes either but I guess if you want an iphone you don’t get around that.
The interesting thing is that when I uncheck the sync apps, it shows greyed out exactly how the apps are on the iPhone. When I check the sync apps, it comes to live and shows how they looked before I rearranged them on the iphone itself. To me it seems any changes made on the iphone are generally ignored by itunes and it overrides anything and everything.
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