iOS 18 may finally let you create an empty home screen row.
Concept: Kevin Kall
Apple will allow more customization of the iPhone’s home screen in iOS 18, including the ability to place app icons anywhere on the screen, according to a new report.
iPhone owners will also reportedly get the flexibility to create empty rows and columns, although the icons will still be attached to the grid.
iOS 18 could fix a major iPhone home screen customization limitation
Apple has added several home screen customization options starting with the 2020 release of iOS 14, such as home screen widgets and an app library to store apps to achieve a cleaner look. However, you can’t place app shortcuts anywhere on the iPhone home screen or insert empty rows or columns.
If MacRumors’ anonymous sources prove correct, that should change with iOS 18 later this year. The update should fix one of the significant limitations of customizing the iPhone’s home screen.
The report is tight on details, but claims that iOS 18 could bring “the biggest home screen overhaul in years.” This should make customizing your iPhone home screen a lot more fun.
The biggest update to iOS since its inception
Bloombergis Mark Gurman first reported that such a change it will come in the next iOS release. iOS 18 is apparently shaping up to be the biggest iOS update since the original iPhone, according to Gurman.
In addition to the ability to customize the iOS 18 home screen, Apple will include a bunch of AI features in the next release of iPhone software that will be useful in everyday life, Gurman wrote in Sunday’s edition of his Inclusion bulletin. These on-device AI improvements will be different from the rumored cloud-based generative AI features of iOS 18. Apple is reportedly looking to partner with Google or ChatGPT to launch the latter.
Gurman also thinks visionOS 2.0, codenamed Constellation, will go off sale this year. Apple may unveil the next major OS release for its Vision Pro mixed reality headset at WWDC24 alongside iOS 18 and watchOS 11. (The Apple Watch update sounds like a minor release.)
Apple’s annual developer conference is scheduled to take place in June, although no announcement has been made yet.