How to set up a digital minimalist iPhone Home Screen

What is digital minimalism?

The phrase comes from the writer Cal Newport, who has advocated what he calls digital minimalism since 2017 and published a book of that name, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, in 2019, as the Wikipedia entry on Newport records. The idea is to use technology on purpose, for things that clearly serve what you value, and to drop the rest.

You do not have to adopt the whole philosophy to benefit. A Home Screen is the front door to your phone. If it is full of colorful icons that pull at you, you will open them more often. If it shows only tools, the habit has less to hold on to.

Step 1: Take stock

Before you change anything, write down the ten apps you open most and what you use each for. Be honest. Some will be tools, such as maps and messaging. Some will be feeds. Some will be apps you open out of habit and do not enjoy. This list decides what stays on the first page.

Check Screen Time for the numbers. The guide to checking screen time explains where to look, and First Used After Pickup shows what grabs you first.

Step 2: Keep one page

Move your real tools to the first page: phone, messages, maps, camera, notes, calendar, wallet. Leave room. A page with a dozen icons and empty space looks quiet, and the quiet is the point. Everything else goes off this page.

Step 3: Hide the extra pages

Touch and hold an empty part of the Home Screen, tap the page dots, and untick the pages you do not want. The apps stay installed and appear in the App Library. A phone with one page offers nowhere to wander. You can bring pages back at any time.

Step 4: Use the App Library for feeds

Remove feed apps from the Home Screen by touch and hold, then Remove App, then Remove from Home Screen. They stay on the phone in the App Library, a swipe away. That swipe is a small amount of friction, and it breaks the habit of tapping an icon by muscle memory.

In Settings, Home Screen and App Library, set newly downloaded apps to App Library Only, so that new apps do not clutter the page.

Step 5: Remove badges and widgets

Red badges are designed to make you tap. Turn them off in Settings, Notifications, for every app that is not a person. Remove widgets that show feeds or counters. A calendar or weather widget is fine; a widget that shows the latest post is a doorway to the feed.

Step 6: Open apps by search

Swipe down on the Home Screen and type the first letters of an app. Typing takes a second, which is just enough to ask whether you want it. For the apps you use constantly, keep them in the Dock. For everything else, search.

Step 7: Choose a plain wallpaper

A busy photo with bright colors adds visual noise behind your icons. A dark or muted wallpaper makes the screen calmer. If you like the effect, pair it with the Dark Mode setting. This is a matter of taste, so only keep it if it pleases you.

Step 8: Keep one feed, with a pause

You may want to keep one feed, for friends or work. Put it in the App Library, and add a pause at the door. A Shortcuts automation can run when the app opens. Ebb, an iPhone app in development, supplies a short focus game for that moment, and counts it as turning back when you close the gate. See the gate for how it works. Ebb is a speed bump and not a lock, and you can remove it whenever you like.

Step 9: Review monthly

On the first of each month, look at the Home Screen and ask whether it still serves you. Apps creep back. Move them again. A minimalist screen is a practice you maintain, not something you set up once.

What are the trade-offs?

You will lose a little convenience, and you will occasionally search for an app you need. Some people feel disconnected the first week. If something is essential, put it back. The point is to make the phone a tool you pick up on purpose, and a setup that frustrates you every day will not last.

What should be in the Dock?

The Dock is the one strip that appears on every page, so choose it with care. Four slots are enough: phone, messages, maps and one tool you use daily, such as notes or the camera. Leave feeds and games out of it. Whatever sits in the Dock gets opened more than anything else, because it is always under your thumb. If you notice a feed creeping in, move it out and let the Dock go back to being a toolbox.

What about folders?

Folders are a good home for apps you need but rarely touch, such as banking, travel and utilities. Name them by purpose, for example Money or Travel, and avoid cute names that you have to decode. One folder per theme is enough. Avoid a folder called Social: it turns the Home Screen into a tidy shelf of feeds, which is the opposite of the goal.

Will it last?

Only if it fits your life. Check in after two weeks and note what annoyed you. If you keep searching for the same three apps, bring them back to the first page. If you kept reaching for a feed that is now hidden, that tells you the habit is strong, and you might add a pause rather than hide it more. The best setup is the one you do not fight every day.