This is an utterly inconsequential question—but that’s never stopped me before.
I like having a well-designed background on my iPad while I’m working. I don’t want it to be too busy, but I do appreciate a few widgets that provide important information at a glance. Still, I always seem to end up with a home screen that feels a bit unbalanced or poorly arranged. Design is not exactly my strong suit.
The attached screenshot shows my current iPad Home Screen. The background image was AI-generated.
I’d love to see how you’ve arranged your iPad Home Screen—especially if you’re using widgets.
As I said, this is a completely inconsequential question—but I’m curious nonetheless.
I used my Apple Pencil and “Clean Up” to obfuscate certain areas. That’s why my calendars/tasks look like Klingon.
Of note; I recently took the plunge and added my (timed) tasks (Todoist or Reminders) to Fantastical. What I once deemed to be too cluttered is now my one glance for my responsibilities. I am liking it.
Mine is nearly identical to this “work” setup. The only exception is that I don’t have the Reminders widget and instead have the “App Suggestions” box so that I have access to the apps on my dock, the 4 I’ve picked as permanent, and Apple’s best 8 guesses at what I want to open next. I almost never go to the second page of my Home Screen.
As typical for me, it’s utility-oriented. I’m not a good designer either.
Hey calendar widget with the next countdown item. I only countdown things I’m excited about; it’s not for deadlines
I’m not actually in Cupertino this week, sadly
The iPad OF perspective is narrow, so it doesn’t often have a task, but I want it on the home screen so it’s unmissable when I need to do something there
The family photo widget will probably return soon in the bottom left
I like the big widgets. Weather and calendar run my life so front and center just makes sense. Clock and battery I don’t get – they’re both up in the taskbar at all times anyway. But that’s what makes these devices personal!
I am using Apple’s Calendar while weaning off Fantastical for data entry and using BusyCal for its widgets to get a bird’s-eye view of my upcoming schedule.
After seeing some of the home screens shared in this thread, mine feels a bit cluttered by comparison—but here’s how I’ve set it up:
My home screen is almost entirely made up of Shortcuts, using the Shortcuts widgets. I use two iPads and an iPhone, and I like being able to replicate my layout and most-used apps across all devices easily.
The top half of the screen features Shortcuts organized by context—work, personal, etc. The bottom half contains Shortcuts for specific tools: tasks (OmniFocus), calendar (Fantastical), and project notes (NotePlan).
The only widget I use is the Drafts Actions widget. I’ve tried removing it a few times, but I always miss it immediately—it’s too useful.
I also really like what @Dfuhrman has done with the dock. I think I’ll give that a try too.
I use Focus modes to choose which home screens the iPad will show me. I have “Work” (which is an absolute mess and needs to be reworked), “Chill,” which shows all sorts of stuff and turns off my work email, “Watching,” which gives me apps like Max, Prime Video, YouTube, etc., “Reading,” and “Study” (which is my most-used one). I have a folder on the left of the Dock that has shortcuts to launch the various “Modes.” I’ll attach screen shots of Study and Reading modes.
I do the same! And I stole the idea from someone here so if that was you, thank you!
I have different focus modes, and most are on schedules so they change automatically (e.g. my work one automatically applies during working hours, my morning routine one runs during my allocated morning hours, etc.). I also keep a set of shortcuts in the same place on every screen (top right) where I can switch between modes easily (it’s a stacked widget so I can scroll to find all the buttons). Here is an example of my main dashboard, which I go to when I don’t need one of the other focus modes. Each mode has its own background and I usually know where I am immediately.
I’ve been meaning to re-arrange some of my other modes so only sharing this one!
I have a similar principle on my iPhone except it’s even more brutal with only a couple of modes that run solely on schedules (no buttons to swap modes manually like I have on iPad)
(The random quote in the middle is the Oblique Strategies app, which is based on Brian Eno’s cards. I mostly enjoy it for the sense of whimsy though as it happens today has one of the favourite suggestions that turn up.)
Edited to add: it’s not a boring background, it’s the weather app, I have thunderstorms forecast today so it looks dark and boring!)
