What’s on my iPhone home screen today

I’m always fascinated by what’s on people’s phone home screen.  To me those are the only apps that matter.  If it makes it to the home screen, its usually a keeper.  There’s probably a stat out there about the percentage of usage an app gets on the first page of your phone vs. the second page.  And don’t get me started on the third page.

Here’s what my home screen looks like today.  Yes, I have a lot of little red circles alerting me about things I need to update or complete.

A few new things since I posted iPhone apps I loved in 2010 earlier this year.

Most notably is that I’ve taken the Phone app and the Messages app (sms) off of the home screen and instead, I just have the Google Voice app.  You can read more about why I switched to Google Voice if you want.  I highly recommend it.  I was texting people last night from my laptop…while on my flight back to Atlanta.  That’s cool.

Reeder is a new addition.  I now use it for my Google Reader feeds.  @interpolate turned me on to it.  The thing I like the most, it will suck in all your new subscriptions so you can load it right before a flight and then read without wifi.  I haven’t looked yet but I’m hoping they have an iPad app so I can do the same thing.

Lastly and sadly, I’ve taken Teuxdeux off the home screen.  In fact I’ve stopped using it altogether.  It’s still a great little app/website and I love its simplicity, but I’ve recently absorbed a great deal more responsibility at Engauge and the number of to-do’s I have and the deadlines associated have increased dramatically.  So I’ve decided to plunge headfirst into Omnifocus.  I have it on the mac and the iPhone and will get it soon for the iPad.  So far I like it a lot, but time will tell.  I just knew I needed something more robust from a to-do standpoint.

So, anyone else care to share their home screen? If so, throw up a flickr link or something (not sure you can add an image to a disqus comment).  I’d love to see what your screen looks like, maybe I’m missing something I need!

20 Comments

  1. Josh Martin on March 15, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Here is my iPhone home screen: https://flic.kr/p/9qy8Lr

    I haven’t started using Google Voice, but I’ve heard from several people that they recommend using it. I’ve been using Wunderlist as a “To-Do” app, but I’m always interested in new tools to keep things organized. Would love to learn more about Omnifocus.



  2. Thomas L. Strickland on March 15, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    My iPhone home screen: https://flic.kr/p/9qyhei

    Recent additions under Check-Ins include SoundTracking, a great #NowPlaying (and music identification) app, and an icon link to Untappd. I don’t use GoWalla or NextPint so much anymore, but I keep them on just in case. The big red 20 is mostly from LinkedIn, a stack of invitations from people I don’t exactly remember from previous jobs but haven’t had the heart to ignore. Under “Music And Radio”, I’ve added AudioGalaxy and DropBox, two more ways to gain access to my at-home or shared music.

    And in the last week, I’ve moved RedLaser to the home screen. QR Codes keep showing up, so I might as well be prepared …

    (The ridiculous background is from here.)



  3. Jeff Hilimire on March 15, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Wunderlist, I would have tried it but since I plunked down the cash for Omnifocus (it comes with a pretty hefty price tag), I won’t be using anything else for a while for to-do.

    Did you move your blog over to Posterous? Is that why you have that on your home screen?



  4. Amy on March 15, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    First off, let me say that if I had 183 unread emails in my inbox, I would freak. Don’t know how you do it! And I see 9 logos in the “Check-in Folder”, are there more than 9 in the folder and how many of those do you actually use when you check-in?

    Here’s my home screen: https://flic.kr/p/9qBGjY

    I do use some of the stuff on page 2, but that’s more on an as-needed basis. Pretty much everything on my home screen gets used daily (with the exception of some of the Utilities).



  5. Jeff Hilimire on March 15, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Interesting that you’re using QR so much that its a home screen app. Course that’s easier because you have folders on your home screen. I used to do that but then got to a point where I wanted to be able to one-click my way to the good stuff.



  6. Anonymous on March 15, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    I’m a huge fan of Wunderlist and I don’t know what I would do without it anymore. The instant desktop to mobile sync is a huge time saver for me.

    The rest of my home screen icons are similar to yours. Facebook, iPod, Calendar, TWC, Evernote. Also I keep Hootsuite and Instagram there.



  7. Amy on March 15, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    That’s where the Two Gray Cats blog is hosted. :)



  8. Jeff Hilimire on March 15, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    I use WeReward the most. The only time I use another is to see if they are doing anything new. Don’t be fooled by my 183 emails either, that’s b/c I don’t use gmail all that often other than priority, but I have to check it in the Mail app if I want to send from @gmail.com. Otherwise you’ll notice I have a bookmark on my home screen directly to gmail’s priority inbox.

    Saw your note on the Two Gray Cats, at least Josh has his home screen priorities ;)



  9. Counterpart on March 15, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    My iPhone home screen: https://i.imgur.com/hop5G.jpg

    Or, rather, my only iPhone screen. I turned into a folder junkie when that feature was released. I like the cleanliness. It takes longer to swipe four pages than to open a folder with a tap. Plus it keeps me honest about which apps I actually use.

    I’ve done the same with my iPad, with fun imperative folder names to boot: https://i.imgur.com/T2PL2.png



  10. Counterpart on March 15, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    My



  11. Amy on March 15, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    It’s on my 2nd page as one of the ‘as-needed’ apps. Since it’s not an every day thing for me to post to the blog, I couldn’t have it taking up valuable space on page 1! ;)



  12. Jeff Hilimire on March 16, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Dude I LOVE your ipad home screen. I’m totally gonna try that, its gonna require some purging!



  13. Seth on March 16, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    My current home screen is dominated by folders with a blank bottom row for easy swiping. Background is from Rovio: the official Angry Birds: Seasons iPhone background.

    Also, since I hold the phone primarily in my left hand, the left-most column are the most-used folders and are easiest to tap with my left thumb.

    FWIW

    https://flic.kr/p/9qNxVv



  14. Tessa Horehled on March 17, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    That is some amazingly efficient organizing! Mine used to be that well configured and I’ve kind of lost that during switching iPhones. (Now on my third.)



  15. […] Jeff’s blog post earlier this week, I’m sharing what I have on my iPhone home screen at the moment. It’s […]



  16. Lauren Mullins on March 18, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    I feel like my home screen is tame compared to some of the others posted, but here it is: https://yfrog.com/h7ggfpp

    I have 2 home screen philosophies:

    1. My OCD and fear of change (just a little…) prevent me from having the gumption to change my dock from being anything other than the iPhone default. Thankfully, I do use all of the 4 default dock apps regularly, so it isn’t me being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn.

    2. NO FOLDERS. I detest the aesthetics of iPhone folders. They are functional, yes, but ugly. Every app on my home screen is used at least once daily, if not much more. I want easy access to the apps I use most. I don’t mind going to a second/third pages to open a less-used app if it means not having folders on my home screen. There’s that OCD again.

    My second and third screens, however, are filled with folders. My organization system is a bit wonky, because I actually have folders that apps on my home screen would fit into if I wanted them in a folder. Example: I have a “Local” folder that contains apps like Groupon, OpenTable, Foodspotting, etc. Seemingly, apps that are on my home screen (Scoutmob, Yelp) should belong in that folder. To some, this is unorganized. To me, it’s perfect. :)



  17. Jeff Hilimire on March 18, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    Nice, sporting the ScoutMob app on the home screen. Way to promote the ATL!



  18. […] week, @JeffHilimire posted a blog on what his iPhone home screen looked like, so I thought I would too. Earlier this year, I blogged about my favorite iPhone apps […]



  19. […] iPhone homescreens: MG Siegler, Dan Frommer, Jeff Hilimire, Flickr […]



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