When your first get your tablet, the first thing you usually do is start installing the apps you need. But What about your home and lock screen? They, too, deserve you giving them your own personal touch when it comes to personalizing it.
There are different ways you can customize your tablet’s home screen, such as adding wallpaper, moving the app icons around, or creating folders, so your most-used apps are bundled together. Let’s see what other things you can do to your tablets home and lock screen.
How to Group Apps into Folders
When you first turned on your tablet, you saw that there were already some folders with various Google apps in it. But, How to group together apps you regularly use (for example)?
Long-press on an app and place on top of the other app you want to add to the folder. As soon as one app icon is on top of another, the new folder will open only showing these two apps.
To add more apps to the folder, tap on the Add apps option at the bottom. As you can see in the image above, the app will have an empty dot to the side of them, and as go select them, a check will appear.
Select as many as you want, and when you’re done, tap on the back or home button to leave the folder.
How to Change the Size of the Apps Screen Grid
If you’re not happy with the current size of the apps screen grid, there’s a way to change that by accessing the Home screen settings. Long-press on an empty space on your display and tap on Home screen settings.
Once you’re in Home screen settings, tap on the Apps screen grid option. There are only two options to choose from 5 X 5 and 6 X 5. This means that there will be six or five apps for each row.
Other Things You Can Change in Home Screen Settings
As long as you’re in the Home Screen Settings, there are other changes you can make. For example, you can change the home screen layout.
You’ll see options to have a separate apps screen available, and where you can swipe up or down on the Home Screen to view it. With the Home Screen Only option, you’ll have all your apps on your home screen.
Other useful features include:
- An option to hide apps
- Show a button to access the apps screen
- Show/hide numbers on app icon badges
- Lock home screen layout
- Add apps to the home screen as soon as their installed from the Play Store
- Swipe down for notification panel
How to Add/Remove Widgets
Having widgets on your home screen can be very useful. To add a widget, long-press on an empty space on your home screen and choose the Widgets option.
Look through all the widget options, your device has to offer, and when you’ve found one, select the folder. For example, let’s say that you want to add a Gmail widget. Select the kind of widget you want to add and drag to where you want to place it on your home screen.
Once you let go of the widget, you’ll see how it’s selected and with dots all around it. Drag to the dots to the side to adjust the size of the widget.
How to Add a Website Shortcut to the Home Screen
Do you want faster access to your favorite site? The steps may vary depending on the browsers you’re using. For example, if you’re using Firefox, tap on the three dots at the top right and tap on the Page option.
When the side menu appears, choose the Add Page Shortcut option. You should see a message asking you to drag the site icon to where you want to place it on the home screen. You can also just tap on the add option.
For Chrome users, tap on the three dots as well, followed by the Add to Home Page option. You’ll see a preview of what the shortcut will look like, if you’re happy with what you see, tap on the Add button.
If you’re an Opera user, you can add a site shortcut by tapping on the three dots and choosing the Home screen option.
How to Change Home Screen Wallpaper
To change the wallpaper, long-press on an empty space on your home screen. Choose the Wallpaper option, and a series of default wallpapers will appear. You’ll also see any images or other wallpapers you may have saved on your device.
Choose the wallpaper you want to add and then choose where you want the wallpaper to go. You can set the wallpaper on your Home Screen, Lock screen, and Home and lock screen.
How to Add Face Widgets to Your Lock Screen
By adding Face Widgets to your lock screen, you can get quick access to things such as:
- Music
- Today’s schedule
- Next alarm
- Weather
To enable these on your lock screen go to:
- Settings
- Lock screen
As long as you’re there, you can also select apps to open from the lock screen, choose a clock style, and more.
Conclusion
Everyone customizes their home screens to their liking. Some may add a launcher, while others like to keep the default one. How do you personalize your home screen? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Did this help? Let us know!