Here’s the Home Screen for my iPhone XS Max. Apps on this screen are ones that I need to be able to get to quickly (e.g. Fantastical), those that promote productive habits (e.g. Streaks), and those that have notification badges that tend to be time sensitive (e.g. Pushover).
Here’s mine.
Some things are there just to keep other things where they belong.
SURELY iOS 13 (thirteen, mind you) will stop this crowd up to the left madness where my apps switch from one thumb to the other just because I removed or added something.
My “off the beaten path” apps:
Onkyo HF Player for playing high-def audio purchased from HDtracks on my…
Bose Connect for switching my QC-35s between devices (really wish they supported more than two connections at once)
Lightning bolt is the companion app for bullet journaling.
I’ve got a row of shortcuts, followed by a row with apps I use in the car (plus Hours to remind me to use it), then a row of things I do on my iPhone 6, which is greatly reducing these days.
Commonly used apps are in folders at the bottom, and work email is in a folder on the second screen - commonly used, but this reduces the reflex to open it (and I have a server-side rule to move all incoming mail out of the inbox, so Apple’s Mail app never nags me about them, but can still access the account).
Pixelated “Text CM” icon is a Siri Shortcut that opens a text message to my girlfriend. (iPhone 7+)
Breaker is a podcasting app that I like a lot, and now use instead of Overcast. Though I sometimes use Overcast when driving because Breaker doesn’t have a CarPlay app.
I do that “Blank Tile” trick to get the homescreen to look like that, which I did a few weeks ago, and I turn off all notifications and badges except for Phone and Messages.