Organizing iPhone Apps

According to Nielson data, the average American accesses 26.8 apps each month. As we put more and more apps on our mobile devices, app overload inevitably ensues. Finding a way to organize all those apps on your phone can help you use them more efficiently and ensure you don't forget about important apps or get lost in distracting ones.

Yesterday, I was snowed in at home and decided it was the perfect time to finally get a functional organization system in place for my apps. Below is a look at my process, which will hopefully inspire you to examine how your own apps are organized.

I considered a few strategies based on this helpful article from Mashable, including:

Verb-Based Folders
Categorizing apps info folders and labeling the folders according to the action you take when you use them, such as "Read" for news or book apps, and "Listen" for music or podcasting apps.

Color Coding
Grouping apps in rows by color. This can help if you are a visual person, but it would require that you can recall the color of the app you're looking for in order to find it quickly.

Alphabetical
Sorting apps outside of folders in an alphabetical sequence by name.

Themed Rows
Grouping apps on rows based on theme, such as social media apps on one row and photography apps on the next. This could pose problems if you have lots of variety in app themes or if you have OCD tendencies that are put on edge when all the apps for a theme don't fit nicely on 1-2 rows, or when apps fit in more than one theme.

My Process

In the end, I employed elements of a few of the strategies mentioned above.

First, I identified apps I use multiple times every day and would want to have quick access to from my home screen.

Next, I categorized the remaining apps into folders based on the use/functionality of the app. As part of this step, I created a folder called "Unused" containing all of the apps that i don't use but that Apple won't let you delete.

I then segmented the app folders into 1st and 2nd screen folders. I wanted the first screen to contain folders of apps I would access at least daily. It also doesn't include folders of apps that could be distracting during the day, like games. The second screen contains all other folders.

On the home screen, I used the dock for the 4 apps I use most often and ones that I typically want to access quickly as soon as I unlock my phone. I then arranged the remaining apps and app folders in 3 rows. I like having only three rows because it doesn't give you visual overload on the phone home screen. I also alternated a row of app icons, a row of app folders, and another row of app icons, to add more visual contrast and make things easier to find quickly.

On the first page, it seemed most appropriate to use the verb naming strategy for my folders. On the second page, it was more logical to use noun descriptors. I also used some color grouping on the first page, within the 3rd row (Asana, Twitter and Facebook together, with Blogger isolated on the right).

Here's my final setup!

First Screen

Second Screen

Third Screen