How I Personalize my iPad + IOS 14 Tips and Apps I Use

 

The reason why people love personalization is it makes every product, every task, or every experience feel more like them, which encourages a positive connection; this connection makes people want to be more and do more.

This is what I love about the new IOS 14; it allows for further customization of home screens on ipads and iphones. I've personalized my newly- acquired iPad lately and it makes me feel more inspired to work plus it's so ~aesthetic~ too.

I'm going to show you how you can personalize your iPad or iPhones on IOS 14, plus I'll share with you the apps I use too!

For starters, you need to upgrade to IOS 14 or higher to be able to do this personalization.

There are three main home screen features that you can personalize: WALLPAPER, WIDGET COLUMN, ICONS. The widget column is a feature of IOS 14.

HOW I PERSONALIZE THE WALLPAPER:

There are three ways: download from the Internet, download a wallpaper app, or make one.

Of course the easiest choice is to download from the Internet; there are a wealth of wallpaper resources online and lots of talented people sharing their creations so feel free. Pinterest and wallpaperaccess.com are some of my go- to sites for wallpapers. But these wallpapers I download are for personal use only; I do not intend to sell or use them online for personal gain. Please respect the artists and don't attempt to sell artwork that isn't yours.

Next is to download a wallpaper app. VELLUM is a wallpaper app with a free and subscription component. The thing with free wallpapers is they are oftentimes not good, but so far, Vellum is the app I know that has nice wallpapers that you can use for free. Vellum is available in the app store, but not really sure if you can find it on Android.

Finally, MAKE ONE. I use ZINIA, a journaling app where you can create cute pages that you can save as photo and use as background. Another one I use is PATTERNATOR, which lets you create a patterned wallpaper using your own photos. Other users love using PROCREATE, but I believe this is a paid creativity and drawing app on the app store; if you want to take your personalized wallpaper further, then try out this app.

HOW I PERSONALIZE THE WIDGET COLUMN:

The widget column is the very first page on your ipad/iphone when you swipe left. You can keep it hidden or a part of your home screen when you toggle the 'keep it on home' command. I like keeping it on my home screen because it adds to the look of my personalized home screen.

To personalize the widget column, download a widget app from the app store. I use WIDGETSMITH. It's fairly easy to use. Widgetsmith has its own widget layouts and they're what you normally need for productivity such as reminders, calendar, weather, and design layouts such as moon phases, photo frame, and star field.

There are other widget apps that you can use, but I personally use Widgetsmith.

HOW I PERSONALIZE THE ICONS:

Shortcuts is one of the best pre- installed apps on iPad and iPhones because it's what you need to create those personalized icons. You cannot personalize app icons. Instead, you use Shortcuts to create another access for these apps, but this time, it's personalized.

First, you need to personalize the icons for your apps. I don't have personalized icons for all my apps; only for the ones that I use heavily.

It's quite a chore to create icons for all the commonly used apps and one tip I can give is download COLORWIDGET; it's a widget app that offers icon packs featuring commonly used apps that you can download and use as photo for the app shortcuts.

How to create personalized icons?

1. Download an icon pack from COLORWIDGET or make your own.

2. Go to Shortcuts

3. Click ADD SHORTCUT. 

4. On the right side, you will see a search bar with a column below. Type OPEN APP on search. Click Open App.

5. On the bigger, center portion of your screen, you will see scripting that says OPEN CHOOSE APP. Click this.

6. Another search bar will appear with a dropdown menu featuring all the installed apps. Search for the app that you want to create a shortcut for and click to add and generate a script for it.

7. On the topmost, center part of the screen, you will see NEW SHORTCUT+. Click the + sign.

8. Rename NEW SHORTCUT to the name of the app that you will make a shortcut for. For example, VIBER.

9. Click ADD TO HOME SCREEN

10. You will be redirected to the shortcut personalization window. Rename NEW SHORTCUT again to the name of the app that you will make a shortcut for and it should be identical to #8. Take note that you will need to rename NEW SHORTCUT label twice.

11. After the second renaming of the label, click the photo beside it and click CHOOSE PHOTO. Choose a photo that you want for the shortcut.

12. Click DONE and a prompt will say ADDED TO HOME SCREEN, which signals that you did this successfully.

Just keep on doing the steps until you have personalized all your commonly- used icons or whatever app you want to personalize.

For some apps, you will need to personalize your icon because Colorwidget doesn't have them; these are for apps such as Lazada, Shopee, Office 365, Safari, and other apps that you won't find in the packs. I use Zinia or Canva for this.

TIP ON USING SHORTCUTS: Don't create multiple app scripting in one shortcut folder. Because what will happen is when you click the shortcut on the home screen, it will redirect you to all the apps that you made a shortcut for in that folder. 1 Shortcut Folder=1 App Shortcut.

And that's it! I hope you liked this tutorial! Do let me know your tips and tricks when it comes to customizing home screens on ipad and iphone on IOS 14!