Home Screen Configuration for iOS 14: App Library, Widgets, Applications Hiding
For the first time in a long time, Apple updated the home screen for iOS 14, adding an app library that allows you to hide files, widgets that can be put between apps, and more.

This guide goes through all the changes from widgets to the App Library on the current Home Screen, and includes how to use all the new features with walkthroughs.

Quick Start Video

Our hands-on video of iOS 14 shows you how to set up your home screen to your specifications easily, and also dives into other subjects of interest in iOS 14:

Widgets

Widgets were available in the Today View, which can be reached on the home screen by swiping from left to right, but widgets have been revamped in design and functionality in iOS 14.


Apple overhauled all of its widgets, introducing a fresh design that uses less transparency, more spacing, and richer content to make widgets more useful. The redesign was implemented because for the first time, widgets can move out of the Today View and right onto the Home Screen.

Widget Sizes and Functions

Up to three sizes of widgets can be customised: small, medium, and big. With each widget size, a different amount of information is supplied.


For instance, a small widget shows only one headline in the Apple News app, but a large widget shows three. A tiny widget for the Weather app displays the current temperature, the medium version shows the full daily forecast, and the weekly forecast is displayed in the large version. Not all widgets have all three sizes, but most of them do, and multiple widgets of the same app can also be created.

Widget Stacks

Multiple widgets can be stacked on top of one another so you can put all of your favorites together and then swap between them with an upward or downward swipe of the finger.


A special "Smart Stack" has also been introduced by Apple, which is a widget stack that uses Siri Intelligence to surface the most important and useful widget based on your iPhone use habits.

If you often order coffee in the morning, for example, the widget for a coffee app might pop up. If you always listen to a podcast on the way home from work and have the Podcast app widget in your stack, the ‌iPhone‌ will surface the widget at the appropriate time.

  • How to Create a Widget Stack in iOS 14

Siri Suggestions Widget

There's a separate widget for Siri Recommendations that sounds similar to Smart Stack on the surface, but is actually different. The Siri Suggestions Widget uses app suggestions based on your iPhone user patterns, similar to what happens when you use the search feature of the iPhone under Siri Suggestions.

There's also an option to have the ‌Siri‌ Suggestions widget display Shortcut suggestions based on your most used Shortcuts and Shortcut usage patterns.

You can add and customise widgets via the Widget Gallery, which can be reached by long pressing on the widget list 's Today View and then pressing the "+" button in the upper left corner.


You can search for a particular widget from there or scroll through the choices that are available. Tapping on a widget in the list lets you see the widget 's available size and content choices. You can add a widget to the Today View by tapping the "Add Widget" button.

You can rearrange widgets, uninstall widgets, or scroll down to the 'Edit' feature, which allows you to see all your widgets in a quick view list, including those from third-party developers, if you press the Today View screen for a long time and do not tap the '+' button.

Widgets on the Home Screen

It is also possible to add any widget available in the Today View to the Home Screen. To get to the gui editing options, you can drag them out of the Today View or long-press the Home screen.


Tap the "+" button in this view to get to the Widget Gallery to put a new widget right on the Home screen. Home Screen widgets work much like app icons, they're just a little larger.

Widgets can be placed right next to apps on the Home Screen. The space of four apps in a square form is taken up by a small widget, the space of eight apps in a rectangle shape is taken up by a medium widget, and the space of 16 apps in a square form is taken up by a big widget.


You can have widgets next to apps or a screen that's all widgets, and to get to jiggle mode and then only move icons around, everything can be rearranged by long pressing on the Home Screen.

  • How to use Widgets in iOS 14

App Library

Apple also added an App Library along with the redesign of the widget and the ability to add widgets to the home screen, designed to let you see all the apps you have in one easy-to - access spot.



You can reach the App Library by swiping through all of the Home Screen app pages from right to left before you get to the top. Smart organisation works in the App Library, and all the applications installed on your iPhone are divided into smart folders.

Productivity, Services, Social, Artistic, Reference & Reading, Health & Fitness, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Games, Apple Arcade, and Education are some of the folder choices.

As it's automatic, there is no way to change the organization of the folders. Each folder shows the top three most used apps and a set of four app icons that you can tap to see all the other apps in that same folder.

Based on your app use patterns, Apple has also introduced a "Suggestions" folder that houses applications that you may want to use at a specific time. To make it easy to find your newest applications, there's also a "Recently Added" folder. If you want to display notification badges in your App Library applications, open the Settings app, select "Home screen" and then turn to the "Show in App Library" option under Notification badges.


The apps are jiggled by a long press on the main App Library tab, enabling apps to be deleted right from the App Library. Alternatively, you can also press any app icon for a long time and pick the option to delete the app.


How to Use the iPhone App Library

    There is a separate view in the App Library, which is an alphabetical list of all the applications you have installed. By pressing the search bar at the top of the Software Library interface, you can get to it.

    You can swipe through all of the apps in the alphabetical list, scan for an app, or use the letter bar to skip to a particular app on the right side of the app. You can launch apps in the App Library from the alphabetical list, but you can not remove apps from that spot.

    Hiding Home Screen Pages and Apps

    For all applications available in the App Library, if you want a simpler look for your iPhone, there is no longer a need to have apps on your home screen or home screen sites.



    In fact, you can hide entire app pages (the pages you swipe between to get to different screens of apps) or you can hide specific apps one by one. To hide whole app pages, long press on the Home Screen or any app page to enter the jiggle editing mode, then tap on the icon at the bottom that has a series of dots representing each page of apps.

    You can check or uncheck any app page from here that you wish to conceal. All but one app page can be covered, since at least one needs to be available.

    If you want to cover a single app instead of a whole website, just click the app's icon for a long time, tap "Edit Home Screen," tap the app's-" "icon, and then select" Delete from Home Screen. If you want to add the icon back to the Home Screen, locate the app in the App Library, click the icon for a long time, and then select the option 'Add to Home Screen'.

    To download all new applications to the App Library instead of the Home Screen, go to Settings > Home Screen, and under New App Downloads, tap "App Library Only".

    • How to Cover the iPhone Home Screen App Pages
    • How to add new applications to the iPhone App Library



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