We all like new apps, but when every single newly downloaded app appears with its shortcut on your home screen, they can get quite frustrating. Not only does this automatic feature of most Android devices clutter up your home screen infuriatingly quickly, it can actually be more trouble than it’s worth.
To learn how to permanently stop app shortcuts from automatically appearing on your Android home screen after you download a new app, check out our short and simple tutorial below. For all other information, or if you have further questions, see our FAQ section at the end of this article.
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How to stop app shortcuts from automatically coming to your home screen on Android
- On your Android device, navigate to your home screen by pressing the home button or unlocking your device
- Tap and hold on any blank, empty space on your Android device’s home screen
- When the screen changes to display the customizable and edit options for the home screen, tap ‘Home Screen Settings’ in the bottom right of the screen
- Scroll down through the settings until you locate one which reads: “Add apps to Home screen”
- Toggle the button next to “Add apps to Home screen” from ON (blue) to OFF (gray) by tapping it
- You can now exit out of the Home screen settings
- You have successfully stopped app shortcuts from automatically coming to your Home screen on Android
- To delete existing app shortcuts you don’t want to see on your Home screen, simply tap and hold the shortcut icon, and then select ‘Remove from Home’ from the pop-up menu
That’s all there is to stopping app shortcuts from automatically appearing on your Android Home screen after you first download and install them. Good luck! For any further information or questions, see our FAQs below.
FAQs
How do I stop my home screen on Android becoming so cluttered?
Stopping app shortcuts from being automatically added to your home screen when first downloaded is certainly one way of ensuring your home screen on your Android smartphone doesn’t get too cluttered or chaotic, but it’s not the only way.
In fact, shortcuts on the homescreen can be super handy, and disabling them might not be your best recourse. Instead, consider tidying up that crazily chocka home screen by grouping apps into neat and tidy, fully personalized folders instead.
You can group as many apps as you like in as many folders as you like, and drastically reduce the number of icons you see when you scroll through your homescreen. You can also choose to make the folders you group apps into represent anything you like, with any name you like.
You could sort your app shortcut icons into folders labeled by use (Work, Play, Home, Finance) etc., or by type (Social Media, Messaging, Banking, Gaming, Entertainment) etc. The choice is yours!
Of course, if you do still decide that you want to stop app shortcuts from automatically appearing on your Android home screen, that’s fine too! Just follow our short and simple instructions up above to learn how!
Where will I find my apps if I remove their shortcuts from the home screen?
If you remove your apps’ shortcuts from your Android smartphone or tablet home screen, you might suddenly worry that you’re not going to be able to quickly and conveniently access those apps any more.
Thankfully, that’s not the case. An app shortcut is just that: a shortcut. A shorter, faster way to access that app. However, it’s not the only way to open the app. Instead, you can always still access your apps from your app menu.
The app menu is a roster of all of the apps you currently have installed on your device at any given time, and can most typically be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen when you’re on the home screen of your Android device.
From the app menu, swipe left-to-right and vice versa through your pages of apps until you find the one you want to open (they are ranked alphabetically), and simply tap it to open it. It’s as simple as that!
How do I put an app shortcut on my home screen?
If you decide that you want to add an app’s shortcut to your home screen – either manually, after downloading it for the first time, or to reverse the decision you made previously to remove it – the process is really quite straightforward.
Simply access your app menu by swiping up from the bottom of the Android device’s home screen. Next, swipe left and right through the pages of your apps until you find the one you wish to add to your homescreen.
Next, tap and hold the app icon until a small menu of options appears above it. From the pop-up menu, select ‘Add to home’ (a little home-shaped icon with a ‘+’ inside it). The app’s shortcut icon will be displayed on the last page of your home screen. To move it, tap and hold it until it becomes ‘unstuck’ and then just drag it into position and let go.
