What Is App Library in iOS and How to Use It to Organize Apps

iOS 14 introduced several new features that users wished they had the longest. These include home screen widgets, a compact user interface for incoming calls, Siri, and more. A dedicated app screen on iPhone was also one of the missing features. That eventually changed with the launch of iOS 14, which gave birth to App Library. What is app library on iPhone and how do i use it? Find the answer in this article.READ   How to change Left & Right mouse buttons on Windows 10 PC

This article explains where the App Library is located, what the App Library is in the new iOS version, and several tips for using and organizing the apps in the App Library.

Let’s get to know the app library on iOS.

How to access the app library on iPhone

The App Library is only available on iPhones running iOS 14 and higher. When updating to iOS 14+ for the first time, you won’t find any difference on the home screen. This might lead you to wonder “Where is the app library?” Well, you will find the app library to the right of the last home screen. You can swipe your finger from the last home screen on the right to view the app library screen.

Note: The app library is not available on iPad. This only displays on the iPhone.

What is the app library

Previously, all installed apps would be available on your iPhone’s home screen. Even if you could create folders, it would still clutter the home screen. To keep the Home screen clean, Apple introduced the App Library, which contains all the apps installed on your iPhone.

The App Library is a new home screen page on your iPhone that automatically categorizes all installed apps into different folders. You will find categories like Productivity, Utilities, Social, Entertainment, Games, etc. in the app library.

Your installed apps can now be found in two places: the Home screen and the Apps library. You can choose which apps you want to put on the home screen. The rest of the apps will remain in the app library. Consider this a way to hide apps from the home screen without uninstalling them. If you are from an Android phone, the iPhone app library is similar to the Android app drawer. But it looks and works slightly differently.

10 best tips for using the app library to organize apps

Let’s see different ways and tips to use the app library.

1. Launch apps from the app library

When you open the app library, you will find all the installed apps neatly arranged in square shaped boxes. Each folder consists of 4 application icons. However, if there are more than 4 apps in a folder, you will have 3 large app icons and a four apps icon at the bottom right.

Tap the large app icons to launch the app. However, if you tap on the small group of four icons, it will expand the folder and show all apps. Tap any app to launch it.

2. How to use recent suggestions and additions to the app library

At the top of the app library, you have two cleverly organized folders – Suggestions and Recently Added.

The Suggestions area displays apps Siri thinks you might need based on time of day, location, and other usage characteristics. The suggestion box gets smarter, depending on how you use your phone over time. Next to Suggestions, there is Recently Added, which hosts the apps you recently added.

Note: Both folders are automatically created and change based on your usage.

3. Search for apps in the app library

In addition to Spotlight search, you can now search and find apps directly from the app library. This will come in handy when you are having trouble finding the right app in the app library.

While on the app library screen, tap the search bar at the top. You can also swipe from the top of the screen on the app library screen to view the full list of apps.

Type the name of the app you are looking for. You can also use the letters on the right side to scroll through the alphabetical list of all apps or tap a letter to see all apps starting with that letter.

4. Move apps from the app library to the Home screen

To switch an app from the app library to the Home screen, press and hold the app icon until you see the menu. Select Add to Home Screen. You can also long press the app and drag it out of the app library to the Home screen.

Note: If an app is already on the Home screen, you won’t see the Add to Home screen option.

When you add an app to the Home screen from the app library, it will not remove the app from the app library. The app will continue to stay in the app library. Basically, all the apps added to the home screen are also available in the app library.

5. Move apps from the Home screen to the app library

Technically, all of your installed apps are already available in the app library. Therefore, you cannot move apps from the Home screen to the app library. But you can remove apps from the home screen. This will only remove the app from the Home screen and keep it in the app library unless you uninstall it. Basically, if you don’t want an app icon to appear on the home screen, you have to remove it from there.

To do this, long press the app icon on the iPhone home screen. Select Remove app from the menu. Another context menu will appear. Choose Remove from Home Screen. This will remove the app icon from the Home screen, but keep it in the App library.

Tip: Tap Remove instead of Remove from Home screen to uninstall the app from your phone.

6. Add applications only to the application library

By default, any new apps installed on your iPhone will appear in both places, i.e. in the app library and on the home screen. However, you can change this behavior and avoid cluttering your Home screen by forcing new apps to stay only in the App Library. This way, iOS won’t add new apps to the Home screen. You will need to move them manually from the app library to the home screen as shown above.

To enable this feature, go to iPhone Settings> Home Screen. Select only the application library.

Tip: On the home screen settings page, you can enable the notification badges for the app library.

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7. Quickly open the application library

If you have more than one Home screen page, you’ll need to go through all of them to access the app library. What you can do is delete the extra pages. This way, you will have to swipe once to open the app library.

To remove pages from the Home screen, touch and hold any app icon on the Home screen. When the phone enters shake mode, tap the tiny page indication icons at the bottom. Next, iOS will take you to the Edit Pages screen. Uncheck here the pages you want to hide.

Note: Hiding pages will not remove the layout of those pages. If you turn the pages back on in the future, iPhone keeps the layout.

8. Remove the application from the application library

When you delete an app from the app library, it is uninstalled from your phone. You can no longer access it both from the Home screen or the Application library. It is not possible to delete or hide the app from the app library only.

To uninstall the app from the app library, press and hold the app icon. Select Remove app.

9. Rearrange apps in the app library

Well, without coating my words in sugar, let me clear it up. From now on, you cannot organize apps manually in the app library. Everything is automatically created and organized by your iPhone. Whether it’s the folders or the applications they contain. You cannot move apps from one folder to another in the App Library. Likewise, you cannot rename or rearrange folders.

Note: You can still create folders on the Home screen and manually organize the apps inside.

10. Hide the application library

Currently, it is not possible to get rid of or disable your iPhone’s app library. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to use it. Just ignore it and avoid swiping to the right of the last home screen.

Need more control

Currently, the app library is a little bit intuitive to use because Apple automatically determines everything. A user has very little control over the Application Library. We hope there will be changes in the future with Apple letting you customize the app library.

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