Home screen

A home screen, homescreen, or start screen is the main screen you see when you turn on a device or open a computer program. It’s like the welcome mat for your gadgets! Each home screen looks a little different because you can move and arrange the little pictures, called icons, however you like.

Almost every smartphone has a home screen. On this screen, you’ll usually find links to different applications, ways to change settings, and little messages, called notifications, that tell you about new things happening on your device.

Think of the home screen as your personal dashboard—it’s where you start to explore everything your device can do! For the main page of the English Wikipedia, see Main Page. For main web pages of websites, see Home page.

Common features

A home screen is the main page you see on a device like a phone or tablet. It usually shows a grid of app links or shortcuts that you can move around and organize. These links help you open apps and use phone functions easily. Many home screens have a special area called a dock where you can keep favorite app links for quick access from any page.

Some home screens can also show live information, like live tiles on Windows Phone or widgets on Android. These tiles and widgets display current updates or details, which can be helpful but might use more battery and data. They are different from regular app icons because they change and show new information.

Alternative home screens

While many home screens look similar, some are quite different. For example, Siri is Apple's special helper that can open apps, show information, and help manage phone settings, much like a traditional home screen. Another example is WebOS, which uses icons that change based on what the app is currently doing, much like a task manager on other phones.

Most phones come with a default home screen, but users can often switch to a different one. Some devices let you replace the usual home screen with another app or a third-party home screen, offering even more ways to organize and use your device.

History

One of the first examples of a home screen appeared on the PalmPilot in 1997. Early home screens were not as customizable as they are today. For instance, early versions of iOS did not let users move applications around or change the background picture.

Since home screens are the main way people interact with mobile operating systems, they usually change very little when the operating system gets updated.