Assorted tips for phone homescreen organization, with a goal of getting off the homescreen to where you want to be as easily as possible.
- Delete more apps. You don't need half the builtins, the rewards program you haven't used in a year, or a dead mobile game you played for a week.
- Hide more apps. If you don't use it frequently, it can live in the big app list instead of onscreen. Searching is faster than scanning and swiping.
- Widgets, which are primarily informational, should go on top where they're out of the way of your fingers and closer to your eyes.
- Frequently used apps should go on the bottom, where they're the easiest to reach. The center is the best, followed by alternating away from the center, dominant hand side first.
- If you want to organize apps by type, group by row. Rows are easier to read as a group (at least if you're reading this English normally), and they form nice hierarchies of use as you approach the edges.
- Folders are acceptable but slow, if you have so many apps you need a folder a second screen or the main app list may be faster. Multi-page folders are a waste of time.
- A third screen is bad unless you have very specifically curated homescreens (e.g. work and personal). Remembering relative position of screens when there's more than "this one" and "the other one" is slow.
- You don't need to duplicate apps and widgets, use the widget to open the app instead. Same with messages/phone/contacts and camera/photos, only place whichever you use most often. If you use camera enough to be on the homescreen, learn the gesture instead.
- You can change many app icons, especially the colors, to be less garish.
- Don't set a busy wallpaper you can't see behind a wall of apps. Pick something simple/abstract or clean out some space to appreciate it.
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Nightly Notes
Wasn't feeling it and low on time, so a nice easy list for today.
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