Learn how to sort your iPhone and iPad Home Screen apps alphabetically for easier access.
Arrange apps alphabetically on iPhone and iPad Home Screen
Resetting your Home Screen layout puts all third-party and optional Apple apps in alphabetical order. However, you’ll still need to manually arrange stock iOS apps like App Store, Camera, FaceTime, Mail, Photos, and Settings.
- Open the Settings app and tap General.
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone/iPad.
- Hit Reset and choose Reset Home Screen Layout.
- Finally, tap Reset Home Screen on your iPhone or Reset on your iPad to rearrange your Home Screen layout to its factory defaults, which arranges third-party apps in alphabetical order.
What happens after resetting the iPhone Home Screen layout
- It alphabetically sorts all your third-party apps, including offloaded apps and Home Screen Safari web shortcuts/PWAs.
- Stock Apple apps remain unaffected and appear on the first Home Screen page, while the remaining ones occupy the top part of the second Home Screen page.
- Apple apps like Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Clips, and iOS beta Feedback are arranged in alphabetical order among third-party apps.
- All Home Screen pages, except the last one, are filled with app icons to the brim.
- Your Home Screen widgets are removed.
- The app folders you created are also gone. The apps inside them now appear on the Home Screen.
- Your iPhone or iPad Home Screen looks like it did when you first set it up. iPhone will have the Smart Stack widgets that Apple puts on the first Home Screen page by default.
- Your iPhone or iPad’s Home Screen Dock also resets, and the apps you added will be moved back to the Home Screen. However, the recently used area of your iPad Dock will continue to show the apps you used recently.
- Today View widgets are also reset to their default state.
- All extra Home Screen pages are removed.
- The Home Screen pages you hid are now shown again. However, hidden apps remain hidden.
What does not happen
- Your apps or app data are not deleted.
- Photos, music, videos, etc., remain unaffected.
- The organization of the App Library remains as it is.
- The iPhone or iPad wallpaper you set is not switched to the default one.
- Lock Screen widgets stay as they were.
Note: Even after organizing your Home Screen apps in alphabetical order, new apps you download will not follow this rule; they’ll take the first available spot. To maintain an alphabetical grid view, go to iPhone Settings > Home Screen & App Library. and set newly downloaded apps to show only in the App Library and not on your Home Screen.
Manually organize iPhone apps in alphabetical order
You can manually drag and rearrange apps alphabetically if you don’t want your Home Screen widgets or app folders to disappear, or if you’re not okay with the above consequences. Just know that doing so will take a significant amount of time. Plus, it might be hard to see each app’s name and then determine its alphabetical position relative to other apps.
Tip: You can view all your apps in alphabetical order in the App Library. Take screenshots of this App Library screen, send them to your other device, such as your Mac, and then manually rearrange your Home Screen apps using those screenshots for help.
Bonus: Have one Home Screen page and use App Library
Automatically rearranging Home Screen apps alphabetically has some downsides, and the manual method can be time-consuming.
If you don’t want to do either, go to the App Library and swipe down to see all your installed apps and app clips listed in alphabetical order.
To access the App Library even more quickly, you can hide all Home Screen pages and keep only one. Then, simply swipe to the left on the Home Screen to go to the App Library, and swipe down to view your alphabetized app list.
On a related note: