This video is brought to you by Brilliant! I believe I finally nailed the ULTIMATE iPhone
home screen - it's a one-page, ergonomic, dynamic, and time-saving setup. You can use
it as a backbone and apply the organization principles, folders, stacks, and overall blueprint
for your layout. I use two apps that determine the overall
aesthetics - one called Widgy and another called Clear Spaces. Still, you don't necessarily
need to use any of them. So, an overview:
I have only one home page. I have the App Drawer on the right, and on the left, I have
the side widget page. On the home page, for reachability and one-handed
purposes, all apps stay towards the bottom of the screen. At the same time, all widgets
take the real estate above. A full-width widget stack stays on top, while 2 square ones keep
the apps tight towards the bottom of the homepage. Almost all widgets on my device are stacks,
and I'll talk more about them in a second. You'll notice that I am using a log of blank
widgets on top of the more functional ones, and for a reason. First of all, when I finish
work, I'd like to avoid the urge to think about tasks therefore, I don't want to see
them. Second, with blank widgets, I get to save time if I want to hide sensitive information.
Should I pass my phone to someone or simply shoot the device for social media. For example,
below the blank widget on the side screen, I have a photo widget that reminds me of incredible
family moments. For privacy sake, however, I keep it disguised. Note that I am not using
the smart rotate of widgets nor the suggestions options, although some might find it helpful.
The other thing to note is that I am keeping my interface always in dark mode. The dark
mode is excellent for OLED displays. Widgets and apps look more consistent when not auto-switching
between light and dark mode. Plus, it is easy on the eyes at night, and it also saves itty
bitty battery. The sidebar page is divided into a few information
sections. I keep the stats about me and my devices on the top left. I have my Apple Watch
rings widget, which is visible most of the time, and below it, I have my device's battery
widget. I don't always need to look at my batteries, but it's a swipe away when I do.
Below that section, I have my email widget, which helps me glance at my inbox. I use Hey
as an email solution, but that could be any other email client.
I wanted to discover new apps, so I placed an AppStore widget beside my email in the
hopes of finding something worthwhile. I am still looking for a decent, simple kill-time
game, so if you have a good recommendation, please let me know in the comments below,
and BTW, if you end up enjoying this video, subscribe, because WHY NOT?!?
Finishing the side page, I have the default weather full-width widget, and below it, I
have the Apple TV widget, which neatly ties in HBO Max as well. Basically, if I want to
continue watching a movie or a TV show, I can just take it from there.
Back to the homepage. I use one of my own wallpapers since I prefer to have a minimal
and inspiring background, something non-default. I recently lean towards my Blurred Lines pack,
but you can choose any non-distracting one. I'll put a link below.
My thought process about the home screen was that I wanted to utilize only one screen,
so any redundant apps or shortcuts had to go. I also use the Focus modes for some specific
scenarios, which I'll show you in a second. For example, I've removed the camera app because
it exists on the lock screen. I've also placed it in the control center at the bottom for
easy reach. Assistive touch and double or triple tap to summon Control Center are things
you might want to try if you haven't. Looking at the dock, all my messaging apps
are inside a folder. The idea here is not so much to have easy access to them but rather
to glance if I have any red bubbles. I don't want to have them taking valuable space spread
around my home screen, yet I don't want to miss something if they just stay in the App
Drawer. So, a folder in the dock is the ideal solution.
Also, in the dock, I keep the settings app because I use it all the time. I find it faster
on many occasions than the Control Center. The phone app and the browser stay in the
dock as well. Above the dock, I have 7 apps that I use all
the time. They are work-related for the most part, except for YouTube, which I use for
everything else too. I've noticed that if I use another app, it is sporadic. It doesn't
justify taking space on my homepage all the time, so I prefer to summon the search if
I need such an app. Above the app rows, I have two widget stacks.
The left stack displays today's weather information. I kept it blank before, but I think it looks
more pleasant with this custom Widgy widget. This is where the app Widgy comes into place.
If you haven't used it, it is a compelling widget creation app that you can spend days
in. Suppose you don't want to learn to use it. In that case, you can choose any widget
from its library of community-based creations or even use an alternative. To make the background
blend in with the device, Widgy has the option to take a screenshot of my wallpaper setup
and disguise my widget as if it has a transparent background. I also have a quick notes page
in Notion in the same widget area. I use it to ditch all sorts of thoughts, measurements,
or ideas that come to mind. That could easily be a Notes Quick note or something of your
choice. I use this Notion page to gather everything that matters that I can spread around the
appropriate commitment apps later on. The third app in this stack is my workout notes
page. It is very rudimentary, yet that's the point. I just write down the dates and the
routines that I've done. Plus, it's easy to see if there are too many couch days to push
me harder. The other widget area on the right is my listening
section. I have the Apple Music app, Pocket casts for podcasts, and Audible for listening
to audiobooks. I can easily choose what to listen to and play it right away with a simple
swipe. In it, I also have a shortcut widget to trigger if I'd like to AirPlay whatever
I am listening to. This is the easiest way to broadcast something on the HomePods at
home or onto my laptop at the other office. Above both stacks, I have another full-width
widget stack that again uses Widgy to hold a custom weekly calendar. Since I never know
which day and date it is, it helps dummies like me keep track of the space-time continuum.
Under it, I hide my Things tasks widget. This is the quickest way to glance at what I have
to focus on for the day and create new to-dos with almost no friction. Finally, in the same
stack, I have my Notion recent pages. With them, I can quickly jump to a page that I've
been working on recently. Note that I have a blank app space on the
bottom right. That space is usually reserved for an app that I am currently testing, or
I'd like to spend time with. Also, that same space changes when I switch a focus mode.
This brings me to Focus Modes - I have 4 of them. DND and sleep are nothing worth explaining.
I have a kids mode that hides all my apps and displays only the kid's games and educational
content when needed. The REC or recording focus mode is something
that I use all the time, and that is what takes up that empty app space I mentioned
a moment ago. When I switch to REC, I keep the exact layout of everything else. Still,
I add a folder that holds all my video workflow apps - e.g., the teleprompter app or my camera
control app. Besides turning off and rejecting all notifications and calls, REC also helps
me grab whatever video app I need at the moment. When in REC mode, note that
Hey, Future editor here! As I was working on the video I realized that there is a faster
way to toggle between Focus Mode off and my most used REC one. I should’ve come up with
this earlier because it’s awesome. To save time, I created simple homepage shortcuts
to trigger REC focus mode on and off. When Focus Modes is off, the shortcut lives in
the blank app space I mentioned earlier and when REC is on, I placed it in my camera app
folder. It’s a lot faster to toggle on and OFF and I might even place a Widgy trigger
for it. I am also hiding all widget areas on the top
to eliminate distractions. For that, I use an app called Clear Spaces. Like Widgy (which
can also be used for blank spaces, BTW), Clear Spaces displays cutouts of my wallpaper as
a placeholder to push my apps down. In a nutshell, creating a minimal and distraction-free interface.
Swiping between the widget stacks reminds me of the Monty Hall problem. Imagine you
are in a talk show, and you have 3 doors, one of which contains a car and the other
two goats. Assuming you want to win the car, you make a choice. The host (Monty Hall) opens
another door with a goat behind it and asks you if you'd like to switch your pick to the
remaining door. Switch or not? To find out the answer and learn to analyze problems through
the framework of conditional probability, check out Brilliant's course on Perplexing
Probability. Challenge yourself by learning how to mathematically master some very surprising
games and experiments including the Monty Hall game show, the Boy or Girl paradox, and
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If you enjoyed this video, check out my Apps & Software playlist where I have tips and
tricks and other setup content. If you got this far, subscribe to the channel
and click on the bell icon and as always, it’s been an absolute pleasure,
This is E Over and out