On September 16, Apple released iOS 14, the latest operating system for the iPhone. The upgrade has some features that make life easier, like direct replies in group chats and a new translation app, but one upgrade makes your life a lot harder. Possible way - New customized home screen with widgets, graphical icons that provide a summary of apps at a glance. Using widgets on your iPhone home screen in iOS 14, You can quickly view information without opening the app. For example, you can check the date, or press play on an audiobook, or start a workout without having to scan the app or wait for it to load. With a little bit of skill, you can make these new icons really cute.
TikTok users in particular are very interested in these new features. Over the weekend, videos tagged #ios14homescreen were viewed more than 130 million times. These videos show tutorials on how to personalize the look of your iPhone with different colors, photos, shortcuts, and more. TikTok users (who admit to spending hours designing) create beautiful seasonal themes and color schemes that completely change the vibe of their phones. There's lots of inspiration to help you make your iPhone look like a bullet journal, or Inspector Gadget's iPhone if that's your thing.
With the help of a few different free apps, one can customize fonts, color schemes, layouts, and graphics on the home screen, which looks very satisfying. If you miss staying up late customizing LiveJournal, this is a lot of fun to play.
How to add widgets to your home screen in iOS 14
First, you'll need to make sure your phone is using iOS 14, so head to Settings to check for the update if you haven't already. Once updated, Apple's basic widget settings will be available. To add a native widget, long-press on the home screen, just like you would when moving an app to a folder or deleting an app. In the upper left corner you will see a plus sign. This will lead you to the widget menu. From there, you can add a music player or note-taking app to your home screen. You can then move these widgets to organize your home screen into different blocks. Please familiarize yourself with this process before continuing to customize your screen with fonts, icons, or colors.
How to add shortcuts to your home screen in iOS 14
If you want to customize the appearance of your app, you'll need to use the Shortcuts app that comes preinstalled on your iPhone. Open the shortcut and tap the plus sign in the upper right corner. To create a shortcut for an action within an app, such as writing a text message to mom or turning on a smart light, select Apps and search for the action you want to create. To create a shortcut that only opens an app, select the script, click Open App, and select the app you want to open. Click the ellipsis in the upper right corner to name the shortcut, assign it a color and icon, and add it to your home screen. You can even use a picture from your photo roll as an icon - so if your home screen theme is "Autumn" you can use a photo of autumn leaves as the icon. (The super ~beautiful~ widgets you make in Widgetsmith won't open anything, so keep that in mind when you're deciding how to customize your home screen.)
You just save the shortcut as an icon that looks like the app, then hide the shortcut by moving the normal app the shortcut replaces to your app library, which will appear if you long-press on the home screen to edit it. An option pops up and tap the app’s icon. You can also create widgets from shortcuts by following the same process as widgets.
Once you've exported all your snazzy new shortcuts to your Home screen, you can organize them, group them, and arrange them with a tap on the Home screen background.
How to customize your home screen with Widgetsmith
The super cute design widgets used by TikTokers come from the app Widgetsmith, although the Color Widget and Photo Widget work similarly. After downloading Widgetsmith, you can create small, medium, and large widgets to decorate your home screen. For example, you can create a custom calendar widget by choosing the fonts and colors you want to display on the screen. It won't show any appointments on your personal calendar, but it's pretty chic. You can also add a text widget - so if there's a quote that inspires you, you can see it on your home screen - among other fun options. Browse the different settings through the tabs to choose the font and color options that work best for you , then save the widget.
To bring a widget to your home screen, press and hold on the home screen's background to enter edit mode. Click the plus sign in the upper left corner of the screen. Then, scroll down to Widgetsmith and select the size of the widget you want to upload. You can have small, medium, or large widgets, in the quantity of each you choose. If you made a small calendar widget, scroll to "Widgets" and select the icon.
Your widget will then be added to your home screen. You can edit the location of widgets from the home screen's edit mode and add new widgets at any time. Chances are, once you start customizing, you won't stop.
