The Home Screen Layout feature allows you to define and lock the arrangement of apps, folders, and Web Clips on the home screen of supervised iOS and iPadOS devices. This ensures every device in a policy presents apps in a consistent, predictable location — useful for kiosk setups, shared devices, and any workflow where users need to get straight to work without hunting for apps.
Requirements
- Supervised devices only — iOS 14.0+ and iPadOS 14.0+. Shared iPads are not supported.
- App Store apps — Must be assigned via a VPP token and added directly to the policy (inherited apps from parent policies are not available for assignment in the Home Screen Layout).
- Web Clips — Must have an existing Web Clip Device Setting already assigned to the policy.
Layout Limits
Keep the following grid and page limits in mind when building your layout:
- Maximum pages: 10 pages per device (both iPhone and iPad)
- iPhone Dock: Up to 4 icons or folders
- iPad Dock: Up to 10 icons or folders
- Folders on iPhone: 3×3 grid, up to 15 pages per folder
- Folders on iPad: 4×4 grid, up to 15 pages per folder
Important Considerations
- One layout per device: Only one Home Screen Layout can be active on a device at a time.
- Policy inheritance: If a parent policy has a Home Screen Layout and the child policy does not, the parent layout is deployed. If the child policy has its own layout, that one takes precedence.
- Missing apps are skipped: If an app in the layout is not installed on the device, that icon is skipped and iOS/iPadOS may backfill its position with the next app in line.
- Default OS apps remain visible: Built-in Apple apps will still appear on the home screen regardless of the layout configuration.
- Users cannot delete apps while a Home Screen Layout is deployed to their device.
- Widgets are not configurable from the Home Screen Layout. This is an Apple platform limitation.
- Hiding apps: The Home Screen Layout does not hide apps on its own. To hide specific apps, use a Restrictions Device Setting with Block Listed Apps under the Apps tab. To show only specific apps, use Allow Listed Apps — note that any app not on the allow list will be hidden, including newly deployed apps. See Allow or Block iOS/iPadOS Applications Using Addigy for more information.
How to Build and Deploy a Layout
- Navigate to the Policy that contains the devices you want to configure.
- Select Assets > Home Screen Layout.
- Use the iPhone / iPad toggle at the top left to switch between building the iPhone layout and the iPad layout for the policy.
- The left side of the screen shows a visual representation of the device home screen. The right side shows the app and Web Clip gallery.
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Use the Filter tool and Search bar at the top of the gallery to find specific apps or Web Clips.
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- Drag apps and Web Clips from the gallery onto the device representation to build your layout.
- To add a folder, click Create Folder at the top of the screen.
- The new folder will appear on the layout with a name prompt — enter a name and drag apps into it.
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Click the X in the upper right of the folder to close it when done.
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To add more pages within a folder, use the left/right arrows at the bottom of the folder view.
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To add or remove full pages, use the numbered page buttons below the device representation.
- When your layout is complete, click Save and Deploy.