Apple released iOS 18 to the general public on Sept. 16, a week after the company announced its new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10 and more at its September event. The update brings many new features to your iPhone, like RCS messaging and a way to remove the flashlight control from your lock screen. One big change -- and one that's overdue in my opinion -- is the ability to customize how your home screen looks.
With iOS 18, you can remove app labels, change the color of app icons and more. And since I'm right-handed, I've even arranged all my apps and folders down the right side of my home screen so I can easily access them.
Read more: iOS 18 Brings These Features to Your iPhone
Here are all the ways you can customize your home screen to make it as fun and unique as you are.
How to remove app labels in iOS 18
Tap Large to make your apps a little larger and to remove app labels.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET1. Long-press on your background to enter jiggle mode -- where your apps are shaking.
2. Tap Edit in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Tap Customize.
4. Tap Large in the new menu that appears at the bottom of your screen.
Your app icons will grow, and the labels beneath them will disappear. This looks much cleaner to me, and I don't plan on ever displaying the app labels again.
If you don't like this, follow the above steps again but tap Small. The apps will revert to their normal size and the labels will reappear.
How to change the color of your app icons
1. Long-press on your background to enter jiggle mode -- where your apps are shaking.
2. Tap Edit in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Tap Customize.
4. Tap the icon in the far right of the menu across the bottom of your screen labeled Tinted.
This will pull up a gradient scale at the bottom of this menu, and you can slide them until you get just the right hue.
The icon on the far right shows what a tinted app would look like
Apple/Screenshot by CNETYou can also tap the eyedropper icon in the top right corner of the menu to select a color from your background that matches your icons more closely. That way you're not moving the sliders and getting frustrated because the colors aren't matching -- not that this happened to me, definitely not. This change will affect all your app icons.
You can also give some of your apps a darker background.
1. Long-press on your background to enter jiggle mode -- where your apps are shaking.
2. Tap Edit in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Tap Customize.
4. Tap the icon left of center in the menu across the bottom of your screen labeled Dark.
Apple's first-party apps, like Messages, Safari and more, will now have an almost-black background. This change applies to first-party Apple apps and some third-party apps, like the YouTube and Bluesky apps. Other third-party apps, like Instagram and Snapchat, are unchanged.
Choosing Dark will darken your background, which could reduce the amount of power your iPhone uses and extend your battery life.
How to only darken your background
If you've tinted your app icons, or like the icons with a lighter appearance, you can darken your background to make the icons stand out. Here's how.
1. Long-press on part of your background to enter jiggle mode -- where your apps are shaking.
2. Tap Edit in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Tap Customize.
4. Tap the sun icon in the top left corner of the new menu.
This will only darken your wallpaper and won't affect your app icons.
How to arrange apps around your home screen
I would never think about putting an app over this sweet baby's face.
Apple/Screenshot by CNETArranging apps on your home screen is the same process as before. You can either enter jiggle mode by long-pressing on a blank portion of your background and then dragging apps where you want them to go, or press and drag an app to a new location.
You can place all your apps on one side of the screen or the other, have them frame your screen or arrange them in any other number of patterns. This can makes it easy to access your apps with your dominant hand or ensure you see your background if it's a picture of a loved one or a pet.
The grid is still present, so you can't place apps on top of each other or too close together. And if you enlarge your apps, there will be a sizable gap between your dock across the bottom of your screen and the lowest row of the grid. It looks like it's big enough to fit another app icon, but you can't -- I tried to no avail.
For more on iOS 18, here's my iOS 18 review, what to know about RCS messaging on iOS 18 and our iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also check out everything Apple announced at its September event.
Watch this: Hands-On with iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
03:41