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Home Improvement: remove the lure of ‘time drain’ apps

The iOS home screen is a great way to keep your favorite apps close to hand. But doing so can be a double-edged sword, allowed you easy access to all manner of distractions.

Chances are you have a bunch of apps on your iPhone to dip into when you’re bored. Everyone has their own personal Kryptonite, whether you’re caught in the feedback loop of a social network like Instagram or addicted to the rush of an endlessly playable game like Pokémon GO.

One way to encourage positive change is to rearrange your Home screen to hide away the worst offenders. Out of sight, out of mind!

We’re not suggesting that you delete all the other apps – just move them to subsequent Home screens and tuck them into folders.
To do this, press and hold an app until everything on your Home screen starts to wiggle. You can then drag the offending apps to the right-hand edge of the screen and onto a second (or third) Home screen.

Folders within folders

Just moving them away from the main screen should be a help, but even better is to hide them in folders so the apps aren’t sat there tempting you with their bright, familiar icons.

With the apps still wiggling, drag one onto another to create a folder containing the two. You can add further apps in the same way, and rename the folder by tapping its name.

How you organize these is up to you, but we recommend a name like “Time Drains” for all your social media apps. The name is an acute reminder that you’re about to waste some time whenever you go to launch one. You can make similar folders for addictive games that you want to stop playing quite so often.

You’d be surprised how much the introduction of a few small hurdles can discourage you from mindlessly tapping into these apps!