How to put iPad apps in alphabetical order

Asked in 3 threads on Apple Support Communities. The main one has 24 “me too” votes and its only answer is “do it by hand”.

Why iPad is harder than iPhone

On iPad the home screen mixes three things: app icons, widgets of different sizes, and a larger Dock that can also show recent and suggested apps on its right side. Widgets take up blocks of the grid, and when you move icons around them, iPadOS reflows the page in ways that are hard to predict. That is why people who try to do A to Z by hand often give up halfway.

Reset Home Screen Layout exists on iPad too, under Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Reset. As on iPhone, it puts Apple's apps back in their original places, lists the apps you downloaded after them in alphabetical order, and removes every folder you made. It also does not stop new apps from landing out of order later.

First, give your widgets a page of their own

Whichever method you use, the job is much easier if widgets are not spread across every page. Touch and hold the home screen until the icons jiggle, then drag each widget onto your first page (or onto one page you keep for widgets). After that, every other page holds only apps and folders, which can be put in order cleanly.

This matters for TidyGrid in particular. On iPad, TidyGrid's Arrange leaves any page that contains a widget exactly as it is, because it does not yet measure iPad widget sizes. Pages without widgets are arranged A to Z as normal.

Arranging iPad apps A to Z with TidyGrid

Move your widgets onto one page, as above, on the iPad itself.
Connect the iPad to your Mac with a cable and tap Trust on the iPad if asked.
Open TidyGrid. It reads the Dock, every page, folders and widgets, with real icons, and shows all pages side by side.
Click Arrange and choose A to Z. Apps and folders on the pages without widgets are put in order by name and the gaps between them close. Your widget page and the Dock are left alone.
If you want a few apps on the widget page too, drag them there by hand in the draft.
Press Apply. TidyGrid backs up the current layout, writes the new one, then reads it back and checks the iPad matches.

Who this works for

TidyGrid needs a Mac with Apple silicon and a cable to the iPad.
Reading a layout is tested on iPadOS 15, iOS 16, iOS 17 and iOS 27.
Applying a layout is tested on iPadOS 15.3.1 and iOS 27.2. For iPad, that is only the iPadOS version in that list so far. On other iPadOS versions TidyGrid opens the layout read-only and says why, so you can still plan the order but not apply it yet.

What it cannot do

On iPad, Arrange does not touch pages that contain widgets. Move the apps on those pages yourself in the draft, or move the widgets first.
TidyGrid does not put the apps inside folders in order.
TidyGrid cannot change the iPad's grid size or icon spacing, or add new widgets.
TidyGrid cannot read pages you have hidden. Unhide them first.

Questions

Can I put the apps in the iPad Dock in alphabetical order too?

Arrange leaves the Dock alone. You can drag apps in and out of the Dock yourself, either on the iPad or in TidyGrid's draft.

Will my iPhone and iPad end up in the same order?

Only if you arrange both. TidyGrid works on one device at a time and keeps a separate draft for each. The two grids are different sizes, so the same apps fall on different pages anyway.

Is there a free way that keeps my folders?

Yes, by hand: in jiggle mode, start dragging one app, tap others with a second finger to add them to the stack, and drop the stack on the right page. Use the alphabetical list in the App Library search as your guide.