How to create home screen shortcut on iphone

One of the best ways to personalize your iPhone is to add custom icons and tiles of various shapes and sizes for apps, widgets, and folders, anywhere on your home screens. You can also swap in images you choose and design in place of standard icons. This feature has been available since iOS 14, and in the upcoming iOS 16, you'll be able to make your customized home screen change automatically based on your Focus mode, as well as customize the lock screen.

As an example of how far you can go with icon customization, one user on Twitter used MS Paint(Opens in a new window) to produce amusingly amateur-looking icons. The secret here is the Shortcuts app. Read on to find out how to create a unique iOS home screens with custom icons and widgets.

How to Create Custom Icons for Your iPhone

Open the Shortcuts app(Opens in a new window) on your iPhone and tap the plus sign (+) in the upper right corner of the screen, which takes you to the New Shortcut page.

Choose Add Action.

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Tap on the Scripting icon. (If you're tempted to click on Apps, you'll only see actions created by the app maker, such as starting a tweet, rather than just opening the app.)

Select Open App, then select the three-dot menu icon at the top right to show Details.

Choose Add to Home Screen. Tap the lower, smaller icon next to the name of your new shortcut. The default name is New Shortcut; tap the circled X to rename it.

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Here we get to the meat of the tip: The mini Edit Icon menu lets you choose a file, a photo from your camera roll, or snap a picture with the iPhone's camera to replace the icon.

Tap Add to Home Screen and select the icon next to your shortcut under Home Screen Name and Icon.

In the pop-up window that appears, select File, Photo, or Take Photo. You can crop an image to customize what will show, but happily, the image needn't be square or a specific size.

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Tap Add > Done.

You can see my new icons for Acrobat and AccuWeather. I used Windows 10's Paint 3D to create the mock Acrobat icon.

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Note that while it's fun to create custom icons, there are drawbacks. For one, when you tap the custom icon to open the app, you don't go directly to the app. Instead, the action first opens the Shortcuts app, which then shunts you to the app you want.

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Also, you lose any long-press menu options the official icon provides. For example, the WhatsApp icon offers starting a chat or taking a picture on a long tap. The only options you get when you long-press a custom icon are to delete it (it's called a Bookmark in this menu rather than an App) or edit the home page.

Custom icons are fun, but I'm far more excited by widgets on the home screens. Adding a widget to a home page is extremely simple.

Long-tap on the home page, then tap the plus sign (+) button at the top—it's on the left on some iPhone models and the right for others.

Select the widget you want. You can then scroll through whatever size and design choices are available by swiping to the right.

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To make a selection, press the big blue Add Widget bar along the bottom of the screen. You may have to allow privacy information the app widget requires. That's it! Enjoy your new widget.

For more on iOS customization and other tweaks, read Hidden iPhone Tips and Tricks to Make You an iOS Pro.

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Usually, you think of the home screen on your iPhone or iPad as the place where your apps reside. But you can add websites there, too.

The home screen on your iPhone or iPad isn’t just a place where your apps live. You can also add shortcuts to websites. And in some cases, the website shortcut is sufficient instead of installing the full app.

You need to install plenty of apps to get things done on your iPhone or iPad. But have you thought about using a website as an app on your device? Most apps provide extra features and abilities that a website can’t. But if you need the basic features that the web version offers or want to check a favorite webpage, add it to the home screen.

For example, I just need to check my PayPal balance on my iPhone and maybe move some money around. And I don’t need to install the full YouTube app and all its features. And certainly don’t need to install the official Minnesota Vikings app just to keep up with the team.

Open Safari and head to a website you want to pin to the Home Screen to get started. Then tap the Share icon at the bottom. Then tap Add to Home Screen from the menu.

Next, type in a name for your shortcut and then tap the Add button. The website icon will be displayed as a shortcut on the home screen — just like an app. When you tap the shortcut, it will open to that page in Safari.

The process on the iPad is the same. But the Share button is located at the upper-right corner of the toolbar next to the address bar.

You can add any page you like, and when you tap it from the home screen, it will open to that page in Safari. In some cases, the site’s icon will look exactly like the app. The only way one would know that Spotify, YouTube, and PayPal were not the actual apps on my phone is by launching them.

Using Web Versions of a Site

When installing apps, you need to consider that it might be mining your data in the background. For example, relaying your location, usage, and other telemetry data to the app company. Which in turn sells it to advertisers.

So, take inventory of the apps you have installed and your actual needs. Perhaps you can get by just adding the website to the home screen.

This will help save space on your device by not bogging it down with a ton of apps. It can also improve battery life because the apps aren’t running background processes and using device resources.