Streamline Your Apps!

Do you have too many apps? Is it hard to find the right app?

Applications “apps” have become so integrated into our daily lives. They help us get up on time, manage our calendars, navigate, communicate, document and entertain ourselves. They assist us at home and at work. Bottom line is that we love them and we need them but they also need some organizing and evaluation. Let’s streamline your apps!

Start by Categorizing your Apps

The first thing to do is determine exactly what apps you have. Sometimes staring at a screen and scrolling back and forth through your device is tedious and hard on your eyes. I suggest taking screenshots of each of the pages/folders of apps you have. Print them out and you can see just how many you have. It’s ok if you have several pages! Start categorizing them by their function. For example all reading apps can be grouped together (audible, kindle, ibooks, newspapers and magazines). You can cut out the apps and move them around like game pieces or you can keep a list of the categories and apps. When you’re done you can see all the categories of apps you currently store.

Analyze and Evaluate

Now take a look at each category by itself. Do you have multiple apps that do the same thing. Take a hard look at your apps – and ask yourself if you need all of those apps. Does one app do something else the other doesn’t? If so, how important is that additional feature? Can you get rid of 1 or 2 of the apps that have similar functions? If the answer is yes, delete them. Remember – remove data or information you need from the apps before you delete them. Continue with each category and really exam if the app is adding value to your life. Keep in mind the less apps you have the easier it will be to find information when you need it and it will also use less storage and data on your device.

Arrangement

After you have examined and purged your apps it’s time to organize and arrange them. If you have an iphone or ipad you can create folders to contain or file apps. You can use these folders for the categories you created when you were evaluating your apps. If you don’t have an iOS device, I suggest making pages or sections for your app categories. Think of the folders or pages as digital drawers or shelves. For all the similar apps put them in one drawer. If you have a few fitness apps maybe keep them grouped in one folder or on one page. Just like a drawer or shelf in your closet for fitness equipment do the same for your digital tools aka apps.

Main Screen Apps

The most important page on your device is the first one. This should be contain the apps you use most frequently like your GPS app, email, text messages etc. Consider arranging them by how easy it is to access if you were holding your device with one hand. For example, I’m right handed and I make sure the apps I use the most are on the bottom right of the screen so they are easy to tap.