No one wants a cluttered home screen on their smartphone, but that can seem like an inevitable outcome for anyone who downloads lots of different apps. However, Android users can change one simple setting to help keep their phones clean and tidy.
Here’s how to do it: In the Google Play store, navigate to the Settings menu by clicking the three-layer icon in the top left corner or just swiping right. Within settings, you’ll see a checked box for the item “Add icons to Home Screen.”
This is Android’s default setting, and means that every new app you download winds up taking up some real estate on your home screen. Uncheck the box, and new apps will be shuttled to the “app drawer,” which is the Android equivalent of the Programs folder on a PC.
You can use the app drawer, usually accessible via a permanent button on Android’s home screen, to see a full listing of all your apps. Then you can pick and choose which apps to feature on your home screen by simply dragging them from the app drawer to the home screen.
Google originally shared this handy tip on the Android team’s Google+ page.
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