How to organize your iPhone Home Screen from a Windows PC
Updated
Rearranging a few apps on an iPhone is easy. Reorganizing a whole Home Screen, with several pages, folders and the Dock, is much easier on a big screen with a mouse. Here's what works today.
Can you still arrange iPhone apps from a computer?
Not with Apple's own software. iTunes for Windows used to have an Apps screen where you could drag apps between Home Screen pages, but Apple removed it in iTunes 12.7 in 2017. More on that in what happened to arranging apps in iTunes.
Apple's newer Apple Devices app for Windows backs up, updates and syncs your iPhone, but it doesn't include a Home Screen editor. So you can either arrange apps on the iPhone itself, or use a separate app on your PC.
Option 1: rearrange apps on the iPhone
- Touch and hold an empty part of the Home Screen until the apps start to jiggle. You can also touch and hold any app and choose Edit Home Screen.
- Drag an app to a new spot on the same page.
- To move it to another page, drag it to the left or right edge of the screen and wait for the next page to slide in, then drop it.
- To make a folder, drag one app onto another. Tap the folder name to rename it.
- Tap Done in the top-right corner when you're finished.
This is fine for a handful of apps. For a full clean-up it gets slow: you only see one page at a time, and dropping an app on a full page pushes the last icon onto the next page.
Option 2: organize it on your Windows PC with WiggleGrid
WiggleGrid is an independent Windows app that shows your iPhone's Home Screen on your PC, so you can plan the whole layout at once and apply it in one step.
- Download WiggleGrid on your Windows 10 or 11 PC and create a free account.
- Connect your iPhone with a USB cable, unlock it and tap Trust if it asks. If Windows needs Apple's free Apple Devices app, WiggleGrid points you to it.
- Run the free compatibility check. It tells you whether your iPhone model and iOS version are supported before you pay anything.
- All your pages and the Dock appear side by side. Drag apps between pages, into and out of folders, into the Dock, or off the Home Screen into the App Library.
- Click Review changes to see a plain list of everything that will change, then Apply to iPhone. WiggleGrid saves a snapshot of your current layout first and reads the iPhone back afterwards to confirm it matches.
Applying changes is a one-time $19.99 purchase. WiggleGrid never erases your iPhone, doesn't use iCloud and never asks for your Apple ID password. Don't like the result? Restore the snapshot in one click.
Try it on your PC, free
Download WiggleGrid and run the free compatibility check. Pay $19.99 once, only if your iPhone passes.
Windows 10 and 11 · USB cable · No iCloud or Apple ID password needed
Good to know
- Widgets stay where they are, and hiding pages or making folders inside the Dock is still done on the iPhone. WiggleGrid runs on Windows 10 and 11; a Mac version is coming soon.
- You need a USB cable. WiggleGrid doesn't work over Wi-Fi.
- Apps you take off the Home Screen stay installed. You'll find them in the App Library.
Tips for a layout that lasts
- Put the apps you open every day on page 1 and in the Dock.
- Group the rest by what you do (travel, money, photos) rather than by colour.
- Keep one page of folders and let the App Library hold everything else.
- Stop new apps from cluttering your pages: on the iPhone go to Settings > Home Screen & App Library (just Home Screen on older iOS versions) and choose App Library Only.