Last but not least, the users themselves are to blame for the fact that numerous apps or app groups are on the homescreen. According to an analysis by the analysis company App Annie, a user uses an average of around 30 apps per month on his iPhone. However, around three times as many are installed, namely 90 to 100. With such a large number of apps, it is almost impossible to keep an overview. You start looking at page two of the home screen at the latest. High time for optimization.

Apple now provides a remedy in iOS 14 with the app media library (app library). This is the last page on the homescreen and allows you to structure all apps in folders according to their category or topicality. The folder symbols are four times the size of the standard folder. The “most important” apps (up to three) are available to the user in a category for direct start. These are also shown larger as an icon so that they can be easily reached with the finger. The rest appear in the familiar grid when you tap the lower right corner of the respective folder.

The automatic classification is certainly not “understandable” for everyone. There are apps that a user would classify in a different category. But once you get used to the system, the potential of this simplified view comes into play. The app media library also offers a search function. The user not only has the option to search for an app, but also sees an alphabetical list of all apps on his device.

In addition to the new function, Apple still allows something to improve the structuring on the homescreen. The user can define which pages of the home screen should be hidden. To do this, he keeps the home screen pressed and then selects the lower points of the navigation. Now a dialog for hiding homescreen pages opens. Unfortunately, iPadOS 14 does not yet offer these options in the current beta – hopefully this will change in the near future. (mb)