My new iOS Home Screen saves me hours every week
If you want to reduce distractions and time wasted, you need to rethink your home screen
Today’s Mission
Create a minimal but hyper-efficient layout
Use “good friction” to avoid opening apps when you don’t want to
Learn the benefits of a boring home screen
🏗️ Preparation: ~10 mins
⏳ Time savings: up to a few hours per week
I often switch between Android and iOS. You can find the android version of this post here:
Reducing Distractions
There are many ways of reducing distractions on your phone. However, most ignore one of the main starting points — the home screen.
To land on your ideal home screen, you must first set your priorities.
Here are mine:
Eliminating distractions
Having a layout that feels fast and efficient to use (without compromising on #1)
Being aesthetically pleasing, but subtle (without compromising on #1 and #2)
You’ll notice a few things about my home screen:
All my apps are in folders
I reserve the top for information and the middle/bottom for apps
The left side of the screen is empty
My wallpaper is boring
Let’s go through these decisions 👇
Balancing Productivity with Focus
Many apps are like slot machines — you open them because you associate this action with a reward 🎰. They lure you with notifications, flashy red icons, endless scrolling feeds. Maybe it’s checking who liked your story on Insta. Or scrolling TikTok. Or something else.
Ideally, you would only open an app when you need to use it — but we know that’s not how it always works out.
So, how can we avoid these behaviors and regain focus?
Why keep all apps in folders?
When there is a big, bright icon on your home screen, you're more likely to want to open it, even if you don't need to.
With folders, you force yourself to be more intentional, because app icons are tiny. It sounds simple, but it actually reduces distractions, which is the important thing. And it has the benefit of keeping your screen uncluttered.
“Adding an extra step? How does that help productivity?”
Yes, opening an app now requires an extra tap. But if it avoids a single 15-minute distraction every week (a conservative assumption in my opinion), it more than makes up for it.
Why so empty?
Phones are bigger than ever, which can make reaching the corners of your screen hard. I keep widgets at the top, and folders below it so I can access them easily with one hand.
I don’t want to fill my screen with apps that don’t serve my best interests, but instead distract me.
How can you create “empty sections”?
I use Yidget to create empty widgets that blend with your background. It creates a clean, uncluttered look, that helps with reachability.
It also lets me create widget stacks that show a widget when I need it, and hide it when I don’t.
Simple wallpaper
This is what I used to do:
Spend time looking for the “perfect” wallpaper
Get bored of it after some time
Repeat
Now I go for a flat wallpaper. The main purpose is to make my phone intentionally boring — with the benefit of making it look clean.
I’ve also created a Shortcuts automation to switch between light and dark mode (seamlessly changes the wallpaper and the empty widgets’ background).
Get it for free → Theme Switcher shortcut
Search suggestions
For every other app I want to open, I have to manually search for it. I call this Good Friction™. It stops you from seeing an app on your home screen and accidentally getting sucked in — you intentionally have to think about opening it.
I also disable all Search suggestions:
You can accomplish this by going to Settings > Siri & Search and disabling the options above.
TL;DR
You can avoid many distractions by grouping apps in folders
Add what you need and leave the rest empty
Keep it simple so your phone feels like a tool, not a slot machine
Get rid of recommendations — you make decisions, not your phone
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