I have dozens of icons on my iPhone screens. What’s the easiest way to rearrange them in the order I choose?
Apple offers two ways to move your iPhone icons around, but the ease of each method is up to you. For one, you can rearrange the icons directly on the iPhone. To get started, press your finger on any icon until all the icons begin to animatedly “wiggle” on the screen.
Once the icons are wiggling around, press your finger on the edge of an icon you wish to move and drag it to your desired location on the screen. Repeat the process of pressing and dragging until you have moved all the icons into the order you prefer. You can move icons from screen to screen by dragging them to the edge of each iPhone home screen until the next screen slides into view.
You can create folders of apps on the screen by dragging the icon of one app on top of another. After you create a folder, the phone’s software gives you the chance to give it a name like “Games” or “Productivity” and you can add more apps by dragging them in by their icons. When you are finished moving things around, press the iPhone’s Home button to stop the icons from wiggling and lock the new order into place.
Rearranging icons on the iPhone itself allows you to take care of your Home screen housekeeping wherever you may be. However, some people may find it awkward to drag the small icons around from screen to screen — especially if there are quite a few apps on the phone or the fingers are not quite as nimble as they used to be.
As an alternative method, you can also rearrange your iPhone’s screens in Apple’s iTunes program. You should already have iTunes installed on the computer and set up to sync with the phone. Once you do, connect the phone to the computer.
Using the iPhone’s USB cable is a common way to link the iPhone with the copy of iTunes on the computer, but it is also the old-fashioned approach. In iOS 5, the latest version of the iPhone’s software, you can also sync the two devices over a wireless network.
When you have the phone and computer connected, click the iPhone’s icon on the left side of the iTunes window to select it. Next, click the Apps tab in the main part of the iTunes window. You should now see a virtual version of your iPhone’s screens and all its icons.
Use the mouse to click and drag icons around, make folders and move between phone screens. When you are done with your reordering, click the Apply button (and then the Sync button) in the iTunes window to finish the job.