How to move a whole home screen page on iPhone

Asked in 3 threads about moving or splitting whole pages (a related Stack Exchange question has 44,595 views), and in 4 threads from people who could not make a new page because the app went to the App Library instead.

Reorder, hide or delete pages

Hidden pages are a common reason people think a page of apps has vanished. If a page is missing, open this view and look for a thumbnail without a checkmark.

1. Touch and hold an empty part of the home screen until the icons jiggle.
2. Tap the row of dots near the bottom of the screen. All your pages appear as thumbnails.
3. To move a page, touch and drag its thumbnail to the spot you want. The others shift to make room.
4. To hide a page, tap the checkmark under its thumbnail. The apps stay on your iPhone and in the App Library.
5. To delete a page, hide it first, then tap the minus button on it. Its apps are not deleted; they stay in the App Library.
6. Tap Done, then Done again.

Insert a new page between page 1 and 2

There is no button to add an empty page, and iOS does not keep a page with nothing on it. A new page only appears when you drag an app past the right edge of your last page and hold it there until a blank page slides in. Several people on Reddit report that on recent iOS versions the app slides into the App Library instead. The workaround suggested there is to fill the last page with more apps until the extra ones spill onto a new page.

Once the new page exists with at least one app on it, open the page editor as above and drag its thumbnail between page 1 and page 2. That is the only way to insert a page in the middle on the phone.

Split a crowded page

Splitting means moving half of a page's apps somewhere else. On the phone, make the new page as described above, then use the two-finger stack: start dragging one app, tap the others with a second finger, and drop the stack on the new page. Expect the remaining apps on the old page to shift up to fill the space.

Doing it from your Mac with TidyGrid

1. Connect the iPhone with a cable, tap Trust, and open TidyGrid. All pages are shown side by side.
2. Add a page wherever you want it, or drag pages to reorder them.
3. Select the apps to move with Command-click or a selection box and drag them onto the new page.
4. Delete any page you no longer need once you have moved its apps.
5. Press Apply. TidyGrid backs up the current layout, writes the new pages and checks the phone matches.

Who this works for

• Reordering pages in the page editor works on iOS 15 and later. Hiding pages works on iOS 14 and later.
• TidyGrid needs a Mac with Apple silicon and a cable. Reading is tested on iPadOS 15, iOS 16, iOS 17 and iOS 27.
• Applying from TidyGrid is tested on iPadOS 15.3.1 and iOS 27.2. iOS 16, iOS 17, iOS 18 and iOS 26 are still in testing, and on those TidyGrid opens the layout read-only.

What it cannot do

• TidyGrid cannot read hidden pages. Unhide them in the page editor before connecting, or they will not be part of the layout.
• Focus modes can show their own set of pages. TidyGrid has not been tested with those custom pages.
• iOS does not keep an empty page, so put at least one app, folder or widget on any page you add in TidyGrid.
• TidyGrid moves what is already on the phone. It cannot add new widgets.

Questions