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Easily Rearrange Applications Across Multiple Home Screens

Submitted by Michael Johnston on September 14, 2008 - 10:22pm.
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One of the most irritating problems that iPhone owners face is having to manage many apps across multiple home screens. Thankfully apps return to their previous spot after being updated, but new apps can still be a pain, especially when you want to stick a new one 3-4 home screens deep. This tip comes from Leo Laporte, and I didn't realize how insanely useful this method was until I actually gave it a try.

I personally arrange my 3rd party applications alphabetically, which means many new apps need to push their way past a barrage of other applications to get to their destination, leaving a mess of disorganized apps in its path. The problem is that, as you move an app across pages that are full, a space is made the application you're moving, which pushes other apps down a page.

The way around this is simple. Before you start moving applications around, move an icon or two out of your dock and drag it to its own temporary page. Now drag your new application into the free spot in the dock, navigate to its destination page, and drag it in. When you're done, put the original app back in the dock, and you've just avoided a giant mess and saved loads of time.

Enjoy!

That is so simple, why didn't we think of it?

Submitted by oregonfarmer (not verified) on September 15, 2008 - 12:24am.
Thanks for passing this helpful hint down. It seems so simple and yet, I had been sliding icons across screens for months now, never thinking of using the handy dock. That space is so special that I didn't want to disturb it - the phone, email, SMS and ipod icons are practically holy ground...

Submitted by Nikolay Andreev (not verified) on September 15, 2008 - 1:00am.
Very usefull tip. Thanks Michael

Submitted by Swn (not verified) on September 15, 2008 - 4:11am.
I've been using this ever since jailbreak came out. I thought other people already new about this... I guess not.

Submitted by WmH2 on September 15, 2008 - 7:09am.
I must have something messed up on my iPhone or it's a new feature with 2.1, but when I update an application, it doesn't stick it back where it was originally. So I've been having to do the icon shuffle. I have wished that it actually did put it back where it originally was.

The tip about using the dock however is I one of the "duh" moments for me... like why didn't I think of that before. That is such a fantasic idea! 8)

Submitted by katmail on September 17, 2008 - 5:53am.
I'm with you!

Quote:
Originally Posted by WmH2 View Post
The tip about using the dock however is I one of the "duh" moments for me... like why didn't I think of that before. That is such a fantasic idea! 8)
I'v been driving myself crazy sliding icons all over the place.

Submitted by Chas on September 19, 2008 - 12:23pm.
Hey, just like playing Freecell!

App

Submitted by pdconner on October 7, 2008 - 8:17pm.
Why cant they make (Apple) an app or inset it into iTunes that has a layout of your screens just like the picture above so you can move them where you want and then when you hit apply they move to that position..

Submitted by dadditude on January 27, 2009 - 8:45am.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdconner View Post
Why cant they make (Apple) an app or inset it into iTunes that has a layout of your screens just like the picture above so you can move them where you want and then when you hit apply they move to that position..
That would be great, but I doubt if Apple would ever do it. Maybe it's something one of the great developers on Cydia could do... I'm sure that information is stored SOMEWHERE on the phone - it'd just be a matter of finding & decoding it and figuring out how to write it back to the phone.

I'll say this much: if someone did develop such a program (even better, with Category support), I would be willing to pay for it.

Submitted by V.B. on January 27, 2009 - 11:01am.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WmH2 View Post
I must have something messed up on my iPhone or it's a new feature with 2.1, but when I update an application, it doesn't stick it back where it was originally. So I've been having to do the icon shuffle. I have wished that it actually did put it back where it originally was.



The tip about using the dock however is I one of the "duh" moments for me... like why didn't I think of that before. That is such a fantasic idea! 8)
The current firmware is version 2.2. Is your firmware current? If not, try updating it first.

Submitted by midnightshow22 on October 28, 2009 - 12:43pm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdconner View Post
Why cant they make (Apple) an app or inset it into iTunes that has a layout of your screens just like the picture above so you can move them where you want and then when you hit apply they move to that position..
Seriously, it's not much to ask for. Good tip Btw.