There are more apps than ever to download and explore on your Android phone. But one problem that arises from downloading so many apps is that your home screen becomes overcrowded. When there are so many apps on the home screen, it becomes difficult to locate the one you want to use. Here’s how you do a cleanup and stop new apps from being added to the home screen
Removing Apps from the Home Screen
Depending on your Android phone model and the home launcher used, most Android phones have a setting to disable adding new apps to the home screen. Below are the steps to changing the settings:
1. On your Android phone, go to your home screen. This is the screen that is the first thing you see when you turn on your phone. Think of it as the desktop for your phone.
2. Locate a blank section of the home screen where there are no apps pinned to the screen.
3. Press down on the empty space on the home screen for a couple of seconds.
4. A few options will pop up on your screen at the bottom. Select the option titled “Home Settings.”
5. Click on this option to bring up a list of features relating to the appearance and functioning of your home screen.
Scroll through the list until you get to the section titled “Add icon to Home screen.” This is the option that decides whether or not an app will be added to your home screen.
6. Toggle Off the blue button next to the option by clicking on it so that the button becomes gray. Now, every time you download an app, it will no longer be added to your home screen.
7. If you wish to go back to the original setting, simply follow the same steps as described above and toggle on the button next to “Add icon to Home screen.”
Adding Individual Apps to the Home Screen
Now that your downloaded apps no longer appear on your home screen, there might be some individual apps that are visible on your apps page that you wish to add to your home screen. In order to do so:
1. Go to the page where the app is located.
2. Press down on the app icon for a couple of seconds, then move your finger slightly without taking it off the screen.
The home screen will be displayed in the background. Drop the app icon on the portion of the home screen you wish to pin it to.
The app will now be pinned on that location on the home screen.
Conclusion
The home screen of your Android phone is a place for keeping the most important apps where they can be easily accessed, instead of every new game or novelty app that you downloaded on a whim. Keeping only the essential apps on your home screen will make your home screen more manageable and do away with the multiple pages that you have to keep scrolling through otherwise.
Related:
- How to Customize Your Android’s Lock Screen
- How to Set Custom Font in Android
- How to Switch to a 24-Hour Clock on Android
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
