So, you just picked up your new iOS device, be it an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod Touch. You’ve fired it up, activated it and are ready to explore. You hit the App Store and discover a ton of apps that you just have to download. You download 10, 20, 30 apps. But did you stop and consider that with all of the apps that you’ve downloaded – which screen do they belong on? Do you have a plan in place? Does it even matter?
Well, it appears as if organizing your home screen, and all screens beyond, is fast becoming a trend worth writing about. And there are plenty of people doing it.
It’s this new phenomenon: people are sharing what apps they put on their home screens of their iPhones and iPads, and how they arrange them. Whether it’s a post dedicated the philosophy of a well-known and well-respected “Internet celebrity,” or an entire blog such as First and 20, that dedicates all of its written words to app placement, it has become a bit of a meme on the Internet to say the least – and people are flocking to these kind of articles in droves. David Sparks, best known as one of the hosts of the Mac Power Users podcast and creator of the MacSparky blog, has an ongoing series on home screens. He believes that sharing what others do in terms of app placement can help enhance the overall user experience.
“There are so many apps and Apple still hasn’t figured out the best way to curate or recommend (if there is such a way),” Sparks says. “So looking at what other people you respect use cuts through all of that.”
As for Tory Hobson, the man behind the website First and 20, he takes it a step further. In his mind, it’s not just about his interest as to where apps reside on the devices, but what apps those he respects are using and why they are using them.
“I think people are generally interested in what other people have and are using. Not just what apps people have on their mobile device, but anything really,” explains Hobson. “For me, I like to know the best tool to use for each job. For example, if I’m going to purchase a new set of kitchen knives, I’ll see what the top chefs are recommending, or if I am going to get a new set of golf clubs, maybe take a look at what the pros are using.”
The minimal look
While the home screen is certainly the most accessible place to put one’s apps, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the apps one primarily uses have homes there. Some individuals organize their home screens in such a way that only the apps that are required to be in the dock are present. Ian Hines, a popular online writer, uses such a method.
Hines has only four apps in the dock visible on his home screen. He uses the home screen on his iPhone as a recreation of his desktop on his computer; he wants to see the wallpaper he is using. Hines contends that may be counter-intuitive… but that’s the beauty of so many different philosophies behind app placement: there really is no counter-intuitive. The devices are so new that there really hasn’t been an “absolute” on how things need to be laid out on them. Since Apple enabled users to customize their iOS experience, the philosophies on how users personalize their devices vary as far and wide as the personalities using them.
Incidentally, Hines confesses that “there’s no conveyable reasoning behind the organization of his apps on the second page of his iPhone.” Just another example of a method of organization that simply sticks to one aspect of the device and one aspect alone.
