It’s been three years since I have done one of those (you can check my 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019 iPhone Home Screens here), but I guess better late than never.
Since my last post in this series, Apple went all-in on device personalization, going way beyond Home Screen widgets, and giving us Lock Screen customization with its own set of widgets, dark and tinted app icons, and the ability to hide labels by making them larger — just to name a few. I did experiment with all of these options at some point (especially during the iOS beta periods), but I have always went back to a much simpler setup every time. And that’s where my Home Screen is at today.
But first, a hardware update. For the first time ever, I have switched to a Max/Plus-size phone. I went from an iPhone 13 Pro to iPhone 16 Pro Max. The addition of the Action Button and Camera Control had a major influence on my Home Screen, as I was able to replace some app icons with these physical controls.

I have always been a big fan of the Today page as it allows me to access my most used widgets from pretty much anywhere in iOS. Going from the top left corner, I have Apple’s Weather, Batteries, and Calendar widgets. They are followed by a widget from a habit-tracker app Streaks. I use it to log journaling, meditation (tracked automatically via Apple Health), taking online courses, and reading books.
I use a single Home Screen. No fancy Focus-based setup like I used to have in the past either. I use the light and smaller appearance of the app icons — I guess I’m just used to how they looked like for all of these years. I still have my phone switch to Dark Mode at night, hence dark-themed widgets. Most of my Home Screen is occupied by a Things 3 widget. I truly love this app for its design and Quick Entry feature on macOS.
Ever since Apple Maps gained cycling directions in Berlin and Germany, it’s been my go-to app for navigation. I still use Google Maps for looking up restaurants and creating lists for when I’m traveling. Apple Photos’ new design didn’t upset me nearly as much as many others who updated to iOS 18. In fact, I like how much customization it offers. Apple Music just keeps getting better, especially with its growing number of personalized playlists and radio stations. Same goes for Apple Podcasts and its spot-on AI-generated transcripts.
Safari continues to be my only web browsers on iPhone, especially with its extensions. In the near future, I want to expand on how I use 1Blocker, SocialFocus, and UnTrap to reduce distractions on the web. Apple Calendar is all I really need, but I’m also playing around with Notion Calendar for some time. ChatGPT feels like a must-have Home Screen entry these days. Notion, despite not being my main note-taking app, is a big help in organizing larger projects or managing my article ideas.
My Dock is pretty standard. Gone is Camera, since I can just launch it with the Camera Control button. Yes, I’m a Phone-in-a-Dock kinda guy. Living in Europe, WhatsApp is a must, but I much prefer Messages, which now also support RCS. And Apple Notes is where I go to take notes.
I also use a single Lock Screen (again, no fancy Focus automations). I have Weather displayed next to today’s date. Underneath the time (default font option and 12-hour clock, if you’re curious), I have Apple Calendar widget to the left, and Things “New To-Do” to the right. New in iOS 18 is the ability to change Quick Controls. I kept the Flashlight and swapped Camera for Halide for when I want more manual controls when taking pictures.
Another thing that iOS 18 brought is the new Control Center. By default, it comes in three pages (Controls, Media, Home), but I reduced it to one with everything mixed together.
Wallpaper-wise, I have created a set of simple gradient backgrounds with colors matching Focus modes. I just use a basic gray one. You can download the complete set for free here.