How to make the most out of the iOS 14 update

Mei Ono, Editor-in-Chief

For those of you saying “I did NOT just spend 15 hours redesigning my home screen,” yes, you did. But are you really making the most out of the newest iOS 14 updates? Now that we all suddenly have degrees in tech design, here are a few home screen ideas that would probably do numbers on TikTok.

Throwback to iOS 1. Change your app icons to match the original designs from the first ever iPhone that your dad got when you were in first grade. Who doesn’t miss the classic sunflower from the old photos album icon and YouTube’s horrendous mobile logo? For the full effect, change your lockscreen to an old iPhone 3 screenshot with the “swipe to unlock” bar at the bottom. 

Make every app icon Canvas. Now, whether you’re playing League of Legends or checking Snaps every other minute, you’ll feel amazing doing it. Good luck finding the real Canvas app (not that you’ll be using it).

Confuse yourself with the photos widget. Screenshot your current home screen and crop it to show just the top four rows of apps, and insert the picture on your home screen as a large widget with the app Widgetsmith. Relish in the triumph of fooling yourself as you’re taken to your photo album when you were just trying to open Reddit. Proven to decrease screen time by over 80% due to the amount of frustration induced when using your phone. 

Constantly remind yourself of Today. Using the app Color Widgets and Apple’s own clock widgets, fill all of your home screens with nothing but the time and today’s date in fancy lettering because the aesthetic is the only thing that matters anymore. While you’re at it, remove all of your apps from the home screen to the app library, and add a couple world clocks that you’ll never check. It’s not like you can check the time and date on your lock screen.

Larry (fan)Page. Mostly tailored for (spiteful) former Android users who are willing to waste their time Photoshopping the former Google CEO’s face into separate square pieces for each app icon, because Android phones had widgets since forever ago. If you have multiple home screens, try playing around by swapping the corresponding app icon of Page’s eyes to Steve Jobs’. 

Turn it into a Nookphone. Upgrade to the pastel style of the mobile phone from “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and spend your days pretending you’re living your dream island getaway. You won’t be earning any Nook Miles though, and Apple Pay might not accept Bells as substitution for USD. Unfortunately, Tom Nook just told me that you’re only allowed to do this once you’ve paid off your home mortgage. 

Recreate the Tinder experience. Now you don’t even need to open the app as you swipe through multiple home screens with large widgets holding screenshots of your Tinder matches. Don’t worry about Apple’s maximum number of home screens because the number of matches you’ll get will never exceed it.