Front matter: Artwork by Jacquie Gouveia.

When a new iOs version comes out we usually see a lot of people sharing captures of their home screens. I love these images as it shows how we’re all using the same device in various ways.

My current home screen looks like this:

Launching

I don’t see a lot of posts about how people interact with their phones. I recently came across as setting that once disabled, allowed me to use my phone in the way that makes sense for how I think about launching apps.

Caveat: I likely use my phone different than most people. I’m a weirdo. Full Stop.

This is not meant to be prescriptive. It’s a demonstration of options that work for me, personally. I just like to search not sort. I use spotlight on the Mac to launch apps and files, and this is as close to that as I can get on iPhone.

The setting is Settings > Siri and Search > Suggestions in Search. With that option disabled, when you swipe down from the home screen, apps are the most prominent thing in the search results. This is a very fast way to launch and app and not be distracted by anything else.

The place where text starts

Drafts is the best thing to happen to me on the iPhone since the iPhone. It’s coming to MacOS as well (it’s in beta, currently).

When I have to send an email, text, or start a calendar invite… Basically anything that requires me to type, I go to Drafts. It’s the only thing that is on my home screen. Everything starts there. There’s a ton of great info regarding the Drafts app. Start here. Highly recommended!

The combo

This combination of starting text in Drafts, and launching apps from the pull down works for me. It’s helping me not overuse my phone and avoid distractions.