Its 2026, and I still cant believe Apple wont change the most frustrating thing about iOS

Date:
Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Description:
Its baffling that, after nearly 20 years of iOS, Apple still wont let you easily place apps where you want them.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter The year is 2026, and I still cannot fathom why moving iPhone apps and organizing my Home Screen is one of the most frustrating things in my technology life.

Now, I have a somewhat obsessive approach to app layouts and management in that I like to try and keep a logical flow to them Google productivity apps are in one row but, due to the same color scheme, they'll be joined by Google Photos , which also sits under the native iOS Photos app. Basically, I do a form of visual sudoku with my apps so that they all fit a logic in my head; everyone has their quirks. But while this process is trivially easy on Android, its a nightmare with iOS. Despite the just works nature of iPhones and the often-touted simplicity of iOS, Im baffled as to why Apple still wont let users simply tap and hold an app and put it wherever they want. Article continues below You may like I was wrong about macOS 26 its far worse than I first thought Liquid Glass isnt going anywhere in iOS 27 watchOS fitness apps need to make better use of the Apple Watchs incredible user interface

Theres still the absurdity that moving one app affects all the others on a given page of the Home Screen if its a particularly packed one, iOS will shunt apps onto another page. Often, this results in me losing track of an
app or folder something I just noticed as I write this article. The Home Screen customization interface in iOS (Image credit: Future) Now, this is nothing new; iOS has been like this for years. And while Ive felt white-hot fury at the idiotic nature of app management in iOS, by the time Im done tweaking, Ive either decided to blame (my) user error, or have simmered down.

But I feel that with iOS 26 and Liquid Glass, it feels more finicky than
ever. Maybe its the design or the way the apps respond, but when I accidentally deleted an entire page from my Home Screen (the result of a too-fast reaction after a phantom pocket press) and decided to recreate the dead page and do some app-layout spring cleaning, I nearly lost my mind.

Not only is there the male-bovine-excrement situation of apps Im not interacting with flying around the screen as I try to move a particular one, but there seemed to be an utter refusal of one folder to accept an app I was trying to give it. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
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Said folder sat in the top right-hand corner of a Home Screen page on my iPhone 17 , and each time I tried to move an app to it, the folder refused to ingest it and leaped to the row below. I tried moving fast, I tried moving slowly, I tried something in between, but it simply wouldnt work. Its 2026
and I still cant believe iOS makes app management so fiddly! #apple #ios #ios26 #madness - YouTube Watch On Eventually, I moved the folder into the middle of the row it was sitting in, which messed up the layout of my other apps/folders, and only then could I deposit the app I wanted into the
targeted folder. I then had to check that all the folders and apps had moved back into their original places; inevitably, one app had been kicked into another screen but wasnt asked back by whatever absurd protocol is governing all this on iOS.

This weapons-grade tomfoolery from a company that arguably revolutionized
user interfaces just makes no sense to me. Maybe Jony Ive tore his own hair out at the sight of such UI unfriendliness being injected into his immaculately designed hardware. What to read next 2025 in iPhones: the good, the bad, and the Cosmic Orange 5 innovations I want from iOS... that'll keep me away from Android How the heck did phones become so boring? Looking at
you, Apple and Samsung but at least theres hope on the horizon

I've previously moaned about Apple Intelligence not being up to scratch , but in general, I rather like iOS; its design is fine, its easy to use, and,
while not great for power users, theres not a lot of menus to dig through or settings to tweak to get your iPhone to (mostly) do what you want it to.

But this utterly backwards approach to app management and layout
customization feels like UI blasphemy, and often has me close to throwing my iPhone to the floor and going back over to Android. Ive not yet got angry enough to make that swap, but each time I have to wrestle with the layout of my iPhone apps, Im one step closer to grabbing the Google Pixel 10 Pro on my desk and turning my back on iOS.

Seriously, Apple, please change this; the joke isnt funny anymore.

Let me know what you think, and if you have workarounds for this, in the comments below. Today's best iPhone deals Contract Deals Sim Free Apple
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/ios/its-2026-and-i-still-cant-believe-apple-w ont-change-the-most-frustrating-thing-about-ios


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