So I’ve had my iPhone for about 3 months now and I’ve loved every minute of it. Hands-down it’s the best device I’ve ever used. One of the biggest draws for me to the iPhone was the number of applications available in the App Store that was better than any other smartphone platform. I think that there are now close to if not over 100,000 Apps available.
With so many options of Apps to use, I’ve been playing around with how to organize all these Apps so that the ones I use most are quickly accessible yet the ones I rarely use are still easy to find in the moment that I need them the most. I’ve tinkered around with two different organization structures. Both of these structures include the same home screen – one that has all of the Apps I use everyday multiple times.
Alphabetically
This is pretty self explanatory – I put the apps I use the most on my homescreen, and starting on Page 2, I list all of my applications from A-Z. I kind of like this structure and I have it on my iPhone right now. I have applications like Tweetie 2, Flickr, Facebook, etc. all on my home screen as I use these apps multiple times a day. The only thing I don’t like on this setup s that Apps like Weather, Yelp, etc. are all on the very last tab. If I’m out and about and want to check the weather real quick, I have to slide all the way over to the last tab. It’s nice because I know where everything is and I can keep it somewhat organized, but I can only fit so many apps on my home screen. The rest I have to dig for sometimes.
Category
Using this structure, I again keep my most-used apps on the home screen, but then break down the following pages by category type – Business, Games, Music, News, Productivity, Travel, Utilities, etc. It’s great because I can organize my Apps, and know which page an App will be on based on what type it is. It is also nice because I was smart and moved the Games page to the very last tab so that I wasn’t constantly playing them. However, some tabs would only have 3-4 apps, while the other tab I struggled to keep 16 apps of that category so as not to go over one page.
For the time being, I think I’m going to stick with Alphabetically organizing my apps. I think it just makes sense for me and the way that I use my iPhone on a regular basis.
How do you organize your iPhone? Do you use either of the structures that I have used or do you have another method?
#1 by Sarah Vab on November 13, 2009 - 12:41 pm
I put all my most used apps on the front page, but they aren’t in any certain order other than I put the stuff I used most frequently on the bottom two rows – guess my thumb can reach better?
For the rest of my pages, I have grouped by category and did it row by row, but I don’t have a whole page for 1 category. It would drive me nuts to have empty space! I did this also by most used. I have 4 full pages of apps and have even deleted some to keep it that way (compulsive? Yes, I think so).
So I guess I don’t have a particular order for my apps other than what, in my head, I find to be the best order. Weird huh?
#2 by Matt Brown on November 13, 2009 - 1:41 pm
Thanks for Sharing Sarah. I agree with having the most used apps in thumb range.
As long as it makes sense to you then thats all that matters!
#3 by CC Pearce on November 13, 2009 - 3:25 pm
Mine are in the order that I downloaded them… which is approximately chaos.
I’m going to change to categorically. If they’re arranged alphabetically, it almost seems easier to spotlight them. But I also like to keep about 50 apps that I never use on my phone.
#4 by David Turnbull on November 13, 2009 - 4:56 pm
Well on the first page it’s simply the apps I use the most like RSSPlayer Pro, and then each sequential page is a certain type of app, and those apps are organised alphabetically. It sounds convoluted, but basically I have a page of business apps, a page for games, a page for utilities etc.
#5 by geeoice on November 16, 2009 - 5:53 pm
honestly, i don’t think alphabetically makes sense, especially when you start generating a collection of apps–it’s likely difficult to remember the titles of each specific app at any given time.
i arrange mine based on category and usage. first page as the top-used apps. then the next pages are organized by cateogry, whether it be social, organizational, informational, entertainment/games, etc.
i think it all just depends on one’s own preference when it comes to organizing their own stuff. kinda like how we organize files or desktop icons (or don’t) on our computers.
#6 by Chris on November 18, 2009 - 9:12 am
Mine are organized in a very basic way. I have my top used apps on the first page then less common apps on later pages. I do break games off on to their own page though.