Try to find the Notes app on your phone.
If you’ve spent more than a minute hunting for this across your home screens, you may want to consider organizing your smartphone for easy access.
See also: These 11 Apps Will Supercharge Your Personal Life
With thousands of apps at our fingertips, they can quickly overcrowd our screens. Apps are designed to improve our lives and make us more efficient, but trying to find them in a mishmash collection of colorful icons can be time-consuming.
Solve this problem by taking 15 minutes to clean out the jumble of app clutter, and find an organizational structure that works for you. After all, no one wants to be an app hoarder.
Here are six creative ways to arrange your smartphone apps.
1. Verb-based folders
A screenshot of app folders categorized by actions on an iPhone.
Image: Screenshot from iPhone Kyli Singh
For some people, default category names such as “Productivity,†“Reference†and “Utilities†are too vague.
Instead, take a second to think about what you use your phone for. Do you watch videos on YouTube? Listen to music? Read the news? Labeling folders with verbs such as “watch,†“play†and “learn†can help you jump to the app you’re looking for infinitely faster.
2. Color coding
A screenshot of apps arranged by color on an iPhone.
Image: Screenshot from iPhone Kyli Singh
Color coding isn’t just for notes, emails and closets.
An app icon’s visual elements are specifically designed to be easily identified and memorable. Your mind associates colors much quicker than black and white name labels, and colors can help you navigate your phone faster.
The end result may be a smartphone with a rainbow color scheme, but you’ll see that color filing may make your life run a little more smoothly.
3. Alphabetical order
A screenshot of apps arranged in alphabetical order on an iPhone.
Image: Screenshot of an iPhone Kyli Singh
If you find comfort in an A-to-Z world, this method may be for you. Instead of manually alphabetizing your apps, here’s an easier way to sort them on the iPhone:
Launch the Settings app.
Tap “General.â€
Scroll down and tap “Reset.â€
Tap “Reset Home Screen Layout.â€
The icons that came with your Apple phone will be placed into their default locations, and your other apps will be sorted alphabetically.
If you like placing your apps in bins, another option is to create an “A†folder, “B†folder, etc.
4. How you hold your phone
Determining how you hold your phone can help you place apps in easy-to-reach spots.
Image: Flickr, crschmidt
Think about how you hold your phone. If it’s easier for you to open an app on the perimeter of your phone, then it may be best to place your frequently used apps strategically around the phone’s edges.
However, if you like to file away apps in folders, this may not be the ideal method for you.
5. Themed rows
A screenshot of apps sorted by themed rows on an iPhone.
Image: Screenshot of an iPhone Kyli Singh
If you aren’t a fan of using folders, you can use the themed row method to place related apps together.
Assign a specific genre or theme to each row, like “day planning.†By grouping similar apps, you can easily identify which row to navigate toward.
For example, your first row can be dedicated to day planning apps such as your calendars, to-do lists and reminders. The second row could be dedicated to your favorite reading apps, and so on.
6. Frequency of app usage
A screenshot of three iPhone home screen pages arranged by frequency of usage.
Image: Screenshot of an iPhone Kyli Singh
Arrange apps on different home screen pages in order of how often you use them. To keep your phone clean and easily accessible, the goal is to have no more than three home screens.
Place the apps you use most on the first page of the home screen. This is also a great section to include apps you need to get to quickly, like your camera.
On the second home screen page, you can organize folders by categories and subjects. This can be home to apps that you don’t access as regularly as the apps on your dock or home screen.
The third screen can consist of apps you use the least. You can also put apps that distract you (like games) or apps that you’re trying to use less in this space.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
BONUS: 10 Must-Download Apps for New iPhone Owners
10 Must-Download Apps for New iPhone Owners
1. Instagram
This photo sharing app boasts compatibility with Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare, and has lots of fun filters. Instagram isn’t just a great way to share your own photos, it’s a great way to see what photos your friends are taking. As a freebie, this app is a no-brainer. It’s the kind of quality offering that has made the App Store such as huge success.
Cost: Free
2. Cut the Rope
Starring Om Nom, a little green monster that loves candy, Cut the Rope is a surprisingly addictive physics game in which you are required to cut said rope in order to drop a sweet into Om Nom’s mouth. Despite the cutesy premise and child-like graphics, the game has received some serious accolades and, as an App Store exclusive (for now), is a bit of a jewel in the iPhone’s casual gaming crown.
Cost: $0.99
3. GoodReader
The iPhone 4 has built-in PDF support, but GoodReader works better for large files and has many more features, including support for some MS Office formats. It’s a great all-purpose document viewer, file manager, PDF reader and annotator, so if you’re planning to do more with your iPhone than play games and take pics, this will start you off on the right track.
Cost: $2.99
4. Hipstamatic
Apple’s iPhone app of the year for 2010 turns the mobile into a toy camera. More than just a filter pack, the photographs taken with the app have a genuine toy camera feel, with options to adjust the film, lenses and even type of flash effect. In fact, you can even order analog prints of your snapshots from within the app.
Cost: $1.99
5. Reeder
Are you an RSS feed fan? Then swallow the cost and download Reeder, one of the very best RSS apps around. The app makes Google Reader finally worth using on mobile, and browsing is easy thanks to the intuitive controls. Besides catching up on your daily dose of news, you can share items to Twitter and Facebook.
Cost: $2.99
6. HippoRemote
An app that really demonstrates what the iPhone is capable of, HippoRemote acts as a remote control for your PC, Mac or Apple TV. It’s pretty smart as a companion device, especially if you have a laptop or desktop hooked up to your TV. The touchpad on it controls the mouse, there are programmable macros for certain actions, and it’s a snap to set up. If you can’t afford the price tag, or don’t need all that functionality, then Apple’s free Remote app also works quite well for controlling an Apple TV or iTunes.
Cost: $4.99
7. Netflix
If you’re a Netflix “Unlimited†member, then this app is a must with a capital M. It’ll allow you to manage your Instant Queue from your iPhone. Better still, you can stream TV shows and movies whenever you want, and the really clever part is that you can resume watching where you left off on your TV or PC. For non-Netflixers, the Hulu Plus iPhone app is also worth a look for paid-up subscribers of that service.
Cost: Free
8. 8mm Vintage Camera
Think of 8mm as Hipstamatic for video. It has “live view†functionality so you can see what you’re shooting, and there’s even “projector†sounds to achieve authentically aged footage. You can apply cool filters and effects to the video you shoot and then save it or upload it straight to YouTube. The app is easy to use and the results are surprisingly good.
Cost: $1.99
9. Fruit Ninja
Not quite as cute as Cut the Rope, but no less addictive, Fruit Ninja brings some wholesome, tasty fruit slicing fun, and uses the touchscreen to great advantage. We’ve seen 4-year-olds and 40-year-olds get sucked into this game â€" it’s fun, messy and boasts great satisfying sound effects. Three million downloads later, App Store customers seem to agree.
Cost: $0.99
10. Google Mobile App
If you’re coming to the Verizon iPhone from a background in Android, this app may will help with the transition. The free Google Mobile App will alleviate any homesickness with Google Goggles, search by voice, the My Location map shortcut and various Google-powered search options. Quick links to other useful Google applications also make this a worthwhile download for non-Android folk.
Cost: Free
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