5 Steps to Declutter Your Phone Using the KonMari Method

by Megan Arimanda

Marie Kondo has inspired millions of people like us to declutter our homes and physical belongings, but what about our phones? According to Zippia.com, as of 2022, the average American adult spends almost 5 and a half hours on their mobile device everyday! For such a frequently used and powerful tool in our hands, our phones should (and have the ability!) to reflect the same simplicity and organization that we desire in our homes. 

Smartphones were created to make our lives easier with every app and tool at our fingertips. However, with new information coming in every second, it can be overwhelming to navigate. Just like in our homes, decluttering your phone can help you focus by limiting distractions and making it easy to find the information you need. Similar to Marie Kondo’s home tidying advice, the first step before taking on organizing your phone is to picture your ideal phone and usage behavior. Ask yourself what essential tasks you want your phone to do (take pictures, check weather, text, etc). Once you know this, you can commit to letting go of apps that don’t serve you anymore and creating a more visually-pleasing screen. 

5 Steps to KonMari Your iPhone

1. Finish Discarding First

The first step is to view all of your apps so that you can thoroughly “discard” what you no longer need. Move all of your apps out of their folders and check your App Library for apps that are hidden from the home screen (swipe left on iPhone or swipe up on Android). Go through each app and delete any app that you don’t use, don’t recall using in the past few months, or doesn’t “spark joy.” Consider which apps were “one-time use”, such as for a concert ticket or shopping coupon.

2. Organize By Category

Now that you are left with all of the apps you want, it’s time to categorize them into folders. Don’t worry about apps that you want to leave out of folders, we will get to that in the next step. Although the names and number of folders you end up with is up to personal preference and your lifestyle, I suggest doing one category at a time with these titles:

• Utilities

• Social

• Work

• Productivity

• Navigation

• Entertainment

• Reading

• News

• Health & Fitness

• Games

• Shopping

• Food

• Finance

• Other

3. Store Everything in its Place

First, move your 4 most used apps to the bottom app menu and move 4-6 frequently used apps out of their folders. Next, adjust the placement of each app within each folder with the most frequently used on the folder’s first page.

Finally, move your less used apps and folders to the second home page OR hide them from the home screen. I suggest having no more than two home pages because you can now search for an app by swiping down or in the app library. I also recommend hiding any apps that you want to spend less time on (I choose to hide my social media and game apps). 

4. Rearrange and Add Widgets

Now it’s time for the fun part- designing your home screen! While in edit mode, check out your available widgets by clicking on the plus icon in the upper left corner. Widgets are big icons for apps that show you current information at a glance. It’s an amazing feature because it saves you time from opening the app! They also can act as a spacer between apps and help to reduce visual clutter. My personal favorite widgets are for the calendar, weather, notes, and news. I also love the featured photos widget because it’s a reminder of my favorite memories and people.

After choosing which apps you’d like to replace with its widget, arrange the remaining apps and folders to your liking. 

5. Clear Up Notifications

The final step is to declutter text conversations and clear app notification bubbles. I suggest deleting message conversations that aren’t ongoing- if you’re keeping a conversation because there is written information you need, take a screenshot of it and create a “text screenshot” folder in your photos app. This is also a great time to reevaluate which app’s notifications are unnecessary, contributing to visual clutter, and/or distracting from important notifications.

Final Home Screens:

Now you’re left with a simple home screen that displays what you really need! I hope that these steps help you take charge of the role your phone plays in your life, and that it leads to a more calm and streamlined phone experience.