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Apply your layout

When your layout looks right, press Apply to iPhone or Apply to iPad in the top right.

The first time: enter a key

Applying to your own device needs a license key. The first time you press Apply without one, Arrange opens the license screen. Buy a key for $4.99, paste it in, and click Activate. See Pricing and your key.

What Arrange checks first

Before sending anything, Arrange may ask you to confirm:

  • Apps coming off your pages. If you moved apps to App Library only, Arrange tells you how many will go into the "App Library" folders on the last page. See Remove apps from the Home Screen.
  • Apps still on the Shelf. They'll go onto a new last page.

It also refuses to send a layout that would go wrong:

  • Too many items in the Dock. Arrange stops and asks you to move some out. Nothing is sent.
  • Apps would vanish. If a layout would lose any app, a safety check stops the Apply. Nothing is sent.

What happens when you apply

  1. Arrange saves a backup of the layout currently on your device. See Backups and restore.
  2. It sends your new layout.
  3. It reads the layout back from the device and checks it was kept.
  4. It reloads, so the screen shows exactly what's now on your device.

If everything matches, you'll see "Done! Your iPad now has the new layout."

If your device adjusted the layout

Sometimes iOS or iPadOS re-flows a layout after receiving it, usually because a page was overfull. Arrange then tells you how many items landed exactly where you put them, and reloads to show what the device kept. Make any fixes and apply again.

Keep the device plugged in and unlocked until Arrange says it's done.

Back up your device too

Arrange's backups cover your Home Screen layout only, not your apps, data, or settings. Before a big change, it's a good idea to back up your device as usual with iCloud or Finder.