This video is brought to you by Benks It’s 2023 and it’s been a while since
my last ultimate iPhone home screen video.
On the verge of adopting iOS17, I think it’s time to show you my current single home screen
setup, the principles of which you can use on your iPhone regardless which model you
use.
As always, the goal for me is to keep things on a single screen while allowing me have
quick and easy access to all the tools and apps I use in the means of combining and utilising
widgets, stacks, shortcuts, and clever hacks.
Reducing redundancy is key.
In fact, I’ll give you an example right now - I am removing the camera app from the
home screen to leave space for what matters most while having 3 additional ways to launch
the app - control center, double-tap on the back of the phone and of course the lock screen.
Unlike my previous setups, this time I have a lot more going on and I’ll be sure to
walk you through it.
The benefits of this setup is that it works excellent on both small and large phones.
It saves time, having everything at my fingertips, not having to swipe through endless amount
of home screen pages and with it, I have full control over the incoming traffic - messages,
phone calls and notifications.
Also, unlike before, I have a clear separation between creative/working mode and relax and
chill mode - this is where I take full advantage of focus modes.
This setup saves me time, reduces stress, and speeds up and automates frequently executed
tasks.
Let me show you an overview and then we’ll dive in details - BTW, if you end up enjoying
this video, subscribe, because WHY NOT?!?
So, in a nutshell, we have 3 screens - the home screen, the widgets page on the left,
and the app drawer on the right - that’s it.
Let me start with the widgets page structure first - since it’s more straightforward.
As I mentioned earlier, everything is stacked.
The very first stack on the top left is something that I call the Stats Stack.
In it I place widgets that show me stats like my activity, the battery levels of my devices,
and my sleeping habits.
If I were to install another app that shows me more stats, like a YouTube live counter,
it will go in that section.
By that time, you probably see where I am going with this - everything has its own predetermined
place.
Next up is my Awareness Stack.
This stack holds the default monthly calendar widget as well as a custom-made weather widget.
I tried finding a simple weather widget that would give me the forecast for the next few
days, but apparently, such a thing does not exist, especially in the smallest size widget,
so I used Widgy Widget and created this one myself.
It gives me the most important information for today as well as the outside conditions
for the next 3 days.
If I tap on it, it opens the weather app - very simple, yet useful.
The first medium widget is my Important Information Stack.
This is basically a stack that holds two email widgets.
Since I am always on top of achieving inbox zero in my accounts, all I need are those
two widgets.
The first one is from my main email client Hey and the second is the Gmail app for all
my brands and partner communication channels.
If I see an unread email in either of those - I can consider it important.
Finally, the largest widget is my tasks app Tick Tick which looks a bit weird compared
to the other widgets.
That’s because it uses the pre-iOS 14 widget style which which is legacy and only exists
in the widget area of iOS, which I think is very cool.
I can expand it and interact much more with it compared to the other widget - something
that will hopefully change for good in iOS17.
OK…let’s talk about the homepage.
The very first widget that you see on the top is again a stack.
The first widget is Widgy and features a medium widget that I recently built that is an homage
to the old Samsung weather widget of the past that I made to look a bit more modern, matching
the vibes of iOS.
This was actually an idea that was sent to me by a viewer and which reminded me of my
old Note 3 so I was like - why not.
I think it turned out great.
If I tap on the main area of the widget I trigger a new To-Do shortcut which I use to
quickly enter tasks as they come to mind.
There is now quickest way to do that since it’s just a tap away and I have a very large
area to press on, not having to look for a small plus sign somewhere.
The weather portion of the widget of course, opens the weather app.
I will package this widget with the matching smaller weather widget on my website for those
of you who want to grab them and support a creator while at it.
Also, I will be releasing that widget for my members soon, so if you are interested,
you can join the channel below and get access to wallpapers and widgets as well as all sorts
of discounts.
Creating these widgets, BTW, takes a lot of time and tinkering.
This is something that I normally do in the early hours - a time when my iPhone battery
is usually depleted.
Whenever I hit the read light in my battery icon I pull out the Benks MagClap StandGo
Power Bank which can top up the iPhone to 50% in 30 minutes.
With a whopping 10000 mAh capacity, I am covered more than once and what’s neat is the fact
that I can charge 3 devices all at once.
With 2 ports, combined with the MagSafe wireless charging pad I can charge two phones and my
earbuds for example.
The built-in battery indicator gives clear view of the remaining juice, but by far, the
coolest feature on this battery is the built-in kickstand.
I can prop the iPhone horizontally or vertically and even take advantage of pass-through charging,
where I can charge both the phone and battery pack at the same time.
This portable battery takes up very little space while packing a lot of power and amazing
features, so check out the first link in the description below to grab the Benks MagClap
StandGo Power Bank yourself.
So, underneath the Homage widget, I have a 4 shortcuts widget.
It’s a swipe away, and I use it as follows.
If I tap on Play I am presented with a list of genres that I most often listen to.
Next to it is my AirPlay shortcut which allows me to choose where I want to broadcast whatever
I am listening to - weather that is my HomePods, my Mac or Apple TV.
The next shortcut is a very simple one that saves a ton of time.
I called it finder and when I tap on it, I am presented with a list of my most used folders
that I can directly go to.
No need to open the files app and navigate back from where ever I left it last.
Next
up is a very simple quick entry stack for Notion
- everything is work-related.
I have 3 shortcuts that open my most used Notion databases - topics, videos, and quick
notes.
Quick notes, for example, is the place where I dump everything that comes to mind in terms
of work.
The topics page is where I write down ideas for future videos and so on.
Next to the quick entry stack is my listening stack.
In it, I keep my OverCast podcast widget, Apple Music widget, Audible for audiobooks.
On top of them, I have the now playing MD Vinyl widget, which I talked in my iPad Home
Screen video which I’ll link at the end of this one.
The remaining of the space below all these widgets are apps and folders that I most often
use.
I’ll get to some cool apps worth checking out in a bit, but before that it’s worth
mentioning the folder that I keep anchored in the dock.
This is my Notifications folder which holds messaging and other apps that display red
bubbles.
The idea here is to eliminate distraction from regular notifications and observe red
bubbles on demand as they come in.
Basically, if I see a red bubble there, I am to check it when I am ready - not when
the app decides to throw a notification at me.
With this folder, I don’t have to worry about red bubbles that appear in the App Library
as only those in this folder are of somewhat importance.
The next important aspect of the homepage is the very last icon above the dock that
reads HOME.
This is a shortcut that switches to a focus mode called HOME.
You see, I have 4 focus modes.
LIFE, HOME, KIDS and SLEEP.
LIFE is what I’ve been showing you up to this point.
It’s my day-to-day active Focus mode that revolves around work, productivity and creativity.
HOME is the chill, relaxing mode which I switch to once I am done with work.
The KIDS focus mode displays a Home Screen filled with educational games and fun apps
for my kids for whenever I want to give them my phone - no access to my personal organization.
SLEEP is…well…sleep - it activates based on my schedule at night.
KIDS is triggered manually from the Control Center, while LIFE and HOME is triggered by
pressing on the respective shortcuts on each home screen.
By now, you might’ve noticed that I don’t use the default focus mode of the iPhone - which
is in fact no focus mode.
Instead I choose to use my own focus modes at all times and for one main reason - with
focus modes, I have yet another layer of controls as to what comes through to me in terms of
notifications and calls.
The HOME home screen is similar to my usual LIFE screen with a few exceptions.
On the very top a have an explore stack which features a medium AppStore widget that I can
glance at and keep track of what’s new in the world of apps.
Below it I have Microsoft’s app Start, which is bascially a bing AI interface.
It is great for exploration, news and research.
Below that stack I have another Medium stack which is my entertainment corner.
With it I can catch up when it comes to movies and TV shows, as well as podcasts and audiobooks.
Below that I have a folder with all my home appliances apps which unfortunately don’t
work with HomeKit.
Until I upgrade everything, I will have to live with this folder.
If you want to optimize your home screen like I did here, one tip that I can give you is
to take advantage of control center.
I for example, don’t want to see my Home appliances there but I prefer the access to
my camera as well as screen recording, the remote control, the toggle for light and dark
mode, Shazam and of course the white noise part of Background Sounds.
A few apps that I recently started enjoying and are worth mentioning are as follows.
MyMind is an awesome catch-all app.
Their slogan is - Remember everything, organize nothing, which is exactly me.
Whenever I stumble on something interesting, I can simply grab it to save it in MyMind
- notes, quotes, highlights, photos, videos…you name it.
It’s awesome.
Sofa is a catalogue app.
I use it to fill in the shows and movies that I enjoy a lot.
I can use it share things with friends and of course add things that I want to get to
at a later point.
Finally, inoreader is a very interesting RSS reader app that allows me to enter direct
feeds to online channels which I might take advantage of as a better way of organising
my personal and work-related stream.
If you want to know the exact steps I use when I setup a new Mac, check out my guide
video here.
Like & Subscribe to the channel, as well as my newsletter, and as always, it’s been
an absolute pleasure, This is E
Over & out