The iPhone's home screen is getting a lot more customizable, and it only took 17 years.
All iOS 18 Home Screen Customization Features!
In iOS 18, according to well-documented Apple reporter Mark Gurman, Apple will finally let us place app icons wherever we want, rather than forcing them into a strict left-to-right, top-to-bottom grid like some sort of anti-gravity brick wall. Android has had this feature since the dawn of time, of course, and today we’ll take a look at what it means for iPhone users.
“The ability to customize app icons and add widgets to the home screen provides users with a more personalized and efficient experience. Users can prioritize their most used apps and access them quickly,” Billy Parker, Managing Director at Goldhook Group Limited, told Lifewire via email. “This feature also creates a more aesthetically pleasing home screen, as users can arrange their icons and widgets in a way that suits their preferences.”
Since the iPhone’s launch in 2007, the Home screen has looked much the same: a grid of icons that could be rearranged, but never broken out of that strict grid. In iOS 4, we got Home screen folders to help with organization, in 2020, Apple added Home screen widgets, and in iOS 16, 2022, Apple added Lock screen widgets.
