How to Manage Apps on the iPhone Home Screen
One of the decent interface touches on the iPhone is that users are capable to change the order of apps on their home screen to suit their needs and to modify pages to throw apps if they’ve installed more than can suit on one screen.
You can regularize and uninstall apps on the iPhone itself (as long as you’re running OS 1.1.3 or higher, but I’m guessing about everyone is at this point), but in iTunes 9 or higher, you can also manage apps and arrange them on the iPhone home screen through iTunes.
When you sync the iPhone, iTunes offers a tab called Apps. This is where the management happens.
This tab shows both a list of all the apps on your computer (whether they’re installed on your iPhone or not) and the pages of apps already configured on your iPhone. Apps that aren’t installed have a button labeled Install next to them. Apps that are installed have a button labeled Remove next to them.
You can sort apps on your computer by name (just type in the field with the magnifying glass in it) or browse by name, category, or date downloaded.
The pages of apps you’ve already got configured are shown in a column on the left. There will always be one more page ready than you’ve got configured, represented by a gray square, so you can create another page.
To Install/Uninstall
To install an app that’s on your hard drive but not your phone, just drag the icon from the list at the left onto the image of the iPhone screen. You can drag it to the first page and then move it elsewhere or drag it immediately to the pages in the column at the right. You can also click the Install button.
To uninstall an app, hover your mouse over the app and click the X that appears on it. You can also click the Remove button.
To Re-Order
To re-order apps, simply drag the icon on the image of the iPhone screen to place you want it. You can also drag apps between pages.
If you’ve added an app that you don’t want, hover over it like you’re uninstalling it and click the X.
To Create Folders
You can create folders of apps from this screen, too. On the screens at right, click on an app you want to add to a folder. Drag and drop that app onto a second app you want in that folder. You can then give the folder a name. Tap anywhere else on the screen in the right column and you’ll close the app. Add more apps in the same way.
To remove apps from folders, click on the folder and drag the app out.
When you’re done arranging your apps and are ready to save your changes, click the Apply button at the bottom right of the iTunes window and your phone will sync, making the changes.
