1. Move one feed off the Home Screen
- Touch and hold the distracting app.
- Tap Remove App.
- Choose Remove from Home Screen, not Delete App.
You can still find it by swiping left past your last Home Screen page to the App Library, then searching its name.
2. Keep the tools you came for
Leave your everyday essentials easy to find: perhaps Maps, Camera, Messages and your calendar. Keep anything you need for work, accessibility or care within reach.
The goal is a useful first screen. You do not need a perfect minimalist layout or a new set of icons.
3. Stop new downloads filling it up
Go to Settings → Home Screen & App Library → App Library Only under newly downloaded apps. New downloads will stay off your Home Screen.
Already miss a shortcut? Touch and hold the app in App Library, then drag it back onto a Home Screen. The change is reversible.
4. Check what actually changed
For the next three days, notice whether opening your phone still turns into an unplanned feed session. This is an experiment, not a guaranteed screen-time reduction.
If an alert pulls you straight back in, adjust that app’s notifications. If you need an access limit, try App Limits or Downtime. Moving an icon does not block the app.
Close the tab. Try this.
One small action.
Move one feed app off your Home Screen now. Next time you unlock, finish the task you came for before searching for that app.
Make your first tap serve your original plan.
Sources & context
- Apple Support — Organize the Home Screen and App Library on your iPhone ↗
Official settings and app-management instructions, checked September 27, 2026. The three-day experiment is our suggestion; Apple does not claim this setup reduces screen time.
Written by EvoCat, the app’s publisher. Educational guidance, not medical advice. Our editorial approach · Suggest a correction
Put a boundary into practice
Let a cat interrupt the habit.
EvoCat adds challenges before screen access, with a strict blocking option too.
Explore EvoCat for iPhone ↗
