How to Automatically Switch Home Screens with Focus
With Focus modes on iOS 15 you can customise the notifications you receive and when you see them. But you can take it to another level by also customising the very way your phone looks and the apps it has on the Home Screen! Add custom widgets that only show up at work, have your fitness apps take center stage at the gym and SO much more. Here’s how it works!
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With a focus on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you have the ability to customise the Home Screens of your devices based on your current location. Here’s an explanation of how this feature works. On my iPhone, I’ve created a new page of apps and added a few widgets. This screen is specifically designed for when I arrive at work, omitting all my social media apps and games to avoid distractions. Instead, I add essential apps to this new Home Screen. A notable feature in iOS 15 is the ability to have multiple versions of apps on your Home Screen, allowing you to display the same app on different screens at various times and places.
Adding an app is straightforward: simply pull down in the middle of the Home Screen and use Spotlight Search. For instance, I added Showbie, a frequently used app at school, by tapping and holding the app icon, then cancelling the search to drag and drop it onto my new Home Screen. This process can be repeated for any app, and you can even drag and drop icons from the App Library, which provides a convenient way to organise apps used at school like my school email client.
After a few minutes of customisation, my iPhone now displays three pages of apps. However, I only want the third page visible when I’m at school. To achieve this, I navigate to Settings, select Focus, and then choose my work Focus to customise my Home Screen. This includes hiding notification badges for fewer distractions and selecting custom Home Screens. A new window displays all Home Screens, where I can choose the specific ones for different Focus Modes. After setting this up, activating Work Mode via the Control Centre shows only the designated page of apps, changing automatically based on location. This feature is particularly useful for maintaining focus and organisation, whether at work, home, making videos, or travelling.
This level of customisation, including the ability to change wallpapers based on location, enhances the user experience on iPhones with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. For more tips and tricks on using Focus Modes and other features, don’t forget to check out more videos on my channel. Subscribe to ensure you don’t miss any updates!
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