How to keep your home screen layout on a new iPhone

Asking how to transfer the app layout page by page, so the new iPhone shows exactly the same apps on each page, came up in 7 threads we found; the main Apple Support Communities thread has 33 “me too” votes and a related one has 40. Another thread asked how to give an iPad mini the same home screen as a new iPad Pro.

The three ways that keep your layout

Quick Start: put the new iPhone next to the old one during setup and choose to transfer from your iPhone. Your apps, pages, folders and Dock come across with the rest of your data.
Restore from an iCloud backup: during setup choose to restore from iCloud and pick the latest backup of your old phone. iCloud backups include the home screen and app organization.
Restore from a Mac backup: back up the old phone in Finder, then restore that backup to the new phone in Finder during setup. Encrypt the backup if you also want passwords and Health data to come across.

Before you switch

Arrange the old phone the way you want it on the new one. Changes made after the backup will not come across.
If you use a backup, make a new one just before you start, and check its date when you pick it during setup.
Sign in with the same Apple Account on the new phone, so apps can download again from the App Store.
After setup, keep the phone on Wi-Fi and power. Apps appear in their places as grey placeholders and fill in as they download.

When the new device is a different shape

A layout moves cleanly between iPhones. Between an iPhone and an iPad, or between iPads with different screen sizes, the grid is different, so pages reflow and widgets can move. The answer people get on Apple's forums for matching an iPad mini to a new iPad Pro is to erase the mini and restore it from the Pro's backup, which replaces everything on the mini, not only the layout.

TidyGrid cannot copy one device's layout onto another in one step. What it can do is make rebuilding quicker: connect the old device to see its pages laid out side by side, then connect the new one and arrange it on its own grid by dragging, selecting several apps at once, or using Arrange by color or A to Z, before applying.

Who this works for

Quick Start and backup restore are Apple features that work on any recent iPhone and iPad.
TidyGrid needs a Mac with Apple silicon and a cable between the device and the Mac. Reading a layout is tested on iPadOS 15, iOS 16, iOS 17 and iOS 27.
TidyGrid applying a layout is tested on iPadOS 15.3.1 and iOS 27.2. iOS 16, iOS 17, iOS 18 and iOS 26 are still in testing, and on those TidyGrid opens the layout read-only and says why.

What it cannot do

Apple has no option to transfer only the home screen layout without the rest of your data.
TidyGrid cannot copy one device's layout onto another device in one step, and cannot restore one device's backup onto a different device.
TidyGrid cannot install the apps on the new phone. They come from the App Store during setup.
TidyGrid cannot read empty spaces you left between icons on purpose, so it cannot keep them.

Questions

The new phone has the apps but not my pages. What went wrong?

Usually the apps are still downloading, the backup was older than you thought, or the phone was set up as new. Our guide on a layout not restored from backup goes through each case.

Can I copy my layout to a new phone with TidyGrid instead?

Not in one step. TidyGrid works with one device at a time. Apple's Quick Start or a backup restore is the way to carry a layout to a new iPhone; TidyGrid helps when you want to rearrange it afterwards.

Can I keep my apps but start with a fresh layout?

Apple does not offer that as a setup choice. See our guide on setting up a new iPhone without the old home screen layout for the ways around it.

Do I need to arrange my iPhone and iPad the same way?

No, each device keeps its own layout. If you want them to match, see our guide on the same layout on iPhone and iPad.