You can change your home screen background, layout, and app icons without touching your lock screen or system settings

Your iPhone's home screen is the grid of apps you see when you unlock your phone. You can rearrange apps, change the background image, use custom app icons, and organize everything into folders — all without affecting your lock screen, Control Center, or any other part of your phone. The changes stay on the home screen only.

The easiest change is the background image. Open Settings, tap Wallpaper, then Add New Wallpaper. Choose a photo from your library or use Apple's built-in images, then tap Set and select Home Screen. That's it — your lock screen stays the same.

Key Takeaways

  • Change your home screen background by going to Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper, then choosing Set > Home Screen only.
  • Rearrange apps by long-pressing any app icon, dragging it to a new spot, and releasing — no settings menu required.
  • Create custom app icons using the Shortcuts app, which lets you replace the standard icon with any image you want.
  • Organize apps into folders by dragging one app onto another, which groups them under a name you choose.
  • All home screen changes are independent — altering your layout, icons, or background does not change your lock screen or system settings.

How to change your home screen background image

Open the Settings app and scroll down to Wallpaper. Tap it, then tap Add New Wallpaper. You'll see three options: Featured (Apple's curated images), Collections (organized by theme), or Photos (images from your camera roll or library).

Select the image you want. You'll see a preview. At the bottom, tap Set. A menu appears asking where to explore the wallpaper: Home Screen, Lock Screen, or Both. Choose Home Screen only. Your lock screen will not change.

If you want a photo from your phone, tap Photos, find the image, and follow the same steps. You can crop or adjust the image before you set it.

How to rearrange apps on your home screen

Press and hold any app icon until a menu appears. Tap Edit Home Screen (or just keep holding). The icons will start to jiggle, and a minus sign appears on each one. Now you can drag apps to new positions. Drag an app to the edge of the screen to move it to the next page, or drag it up to move it higher on the current page.

When you're done, press the home button or swipe up from the bottom to exit edit mode. The apps stay in their new positions. You can also create a new blank page by dragging an app to the right edge and holding it there until a new page appears.

To delete an app from the home screen (but keep it on your phone), long-press it, tap Remove App, then Remove from Home Screen. The app stays in your App Library — you can find it by swiping right past your last home screen page.

How to create custom app icons

Custom app icons let you replace the standard icon with any image or design you choose. This requires the Shortcuts app, which comes built into every iPhone. Open Shortcuts, tap the plus sign to create a new shortcut, then tap Add Action. Search for Open App and select the app you want to customize.

Tap the three dots in the top right, then scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen. A dialog appears. Tap the icon preview (the small square showing the app's current icon). You can choose a photo from your library, take a new photo, or pick a color. Select what you want, then tap Add. Name the shortcut and tap Add again. The custom icon appears on your home screen as a separate tile.

This method creates a shortcut that opens the app, not the app itself. The original app icon remains in your App Library unchanged. You can have both the custom icon and the original icon on your home screen if you want.

How to organize apps into folders

Drag one app icon directly onto another app icon. They'll combine into a folder with an auto-generated name based on the app category. Tap the folder to open it and see the apps inside. Tap the name at the top to edit it — you can type any name you want.

To add more apps to the folder, drag them onto it. To remove an app, open the folder, long-press the app, and drag it out onto the home screen. When a folder is empty, it disappears automatically.

Folders are a home screen only feature — they don't affect your App Library or any other part of your phone. You can have as many folders as you want, and you can organize them however makes sense for your workflow.

What you cannot change on the home screen alone

Some things require going into Settings or other apps. You cannot change the dock (the row of apps at the bottom) without editing the home screen — long-press the dock itself, tap Edit Dock, and drag apps in or out. You also cannot change the home screen grid size (the number of rows and columns) without going to Settings > Display & Brightness and enabling or disabling Larger Accessibility Sizes, which affects your whole phone.

Your lock screen, Control Center, Notification Center, and app-specific settings all live elsewhere and are not affected by home screen changes. If you want to change your lock screen background, that's a separate process in Settings > Wallpaper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does changing my home screen background also change my lock screen?

Not automatically. When you set a wallpaper, you choose whether it applies to Home Screen, Lock Screen, or Both. If you select Home Screen only, your lock screen stays the same. If you want them to match later, you can set the same image to both.

Can I undo changes to my home screen layout?

Yes. Long-press the home screen background (not an app), tap Edit Home Screen, then scroll to the bottom and tap Reset. This returns your home screen to the default layout. Your apps are not deleted — they just go back to their original positions.

If I create a custom app icon, does it replace the original app?

No. The custom icon is a shortcut that opens the app. The original app icon remains in your App Library. You can have both on your home screen, or just the custom one if you prefer.

Can I have different home screens with different layouts?

Yes. Swipe left or right to move between home screen pages. Each page can have a different layout, background, and set of apps. You can also hide entire pages by long-pressing the home screen background, tapping Edit Home Screen, scrolling to the bottom, and unchecking pages you don't want to see.

What happens to my home screen changes if I restart my iPhone?

They stay. Home screen layouts, custom icons, folders, and backgrounds are saved to your phone. Restarting does not reset them. Only a factory reset or manually using the Reset option in Settings would undo your changes.