It's the second day of Changing Your Habits week here at Double Arrow Metabolism. This post is late because I was too busy yesterday, on the real day nine. But that doesn't mean I'm not enthusiastic for launching headlong into the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Apps. I've really been looking forward to this one. As you read at the beginning of this project, I've long had an overly-complicated system for sorting apps into a single screen and into a "Misc" folder. The use of an app over a period of time determines its promotion or demotion (or even deletion altogether).

My new life coach Catherine Price tells me to sort my apps based on 1) their potential to steal my attention, and 2) their potential to make my life better:

1. Tools, like maps, my password manager, my banking apps, and the phone itself, are the only apps allowed on my home screen. 

2. "Junk food" apps, like Safari, email, and shopping apps, go on page 2. 

3. "Slot machine" apps, like social media, games and shopping apps, are to be deleted. This is confusing, since shopping apps were slotted (see what I did there?) for page 2. I decide to keep the Amazon app on page 2. I don't really have any other slot machine apps to deal with. 

4. Clutter is to be deleted, since that's how I tend to manage clutter in real life. So long, QR reader I haven't used in years. Goodbye, system-delivered Apple apps like Home and iTunesU.

5. Utility apps, like Find iPhone, go to the third page. So do Dropbox, Garmin Connect, and ride-sharing apps. 

6. The undeleteables, that collection of system-delivered apps like Clock, Wallet, and Health, go to a Folder of Shame on page 3. 

Meh. I don't know about this. My device is far, far more cluttered than I would like for it to be. But I want to be coachable, so I'm going along with it. Luckily, Catherine throws me a bone here. She labels folders "a force for good," and I agree. They change the opening of an app from a reflex to an activity. You have to seek out the app to open it if it's buried in a folder. So I decided to replace page 3 with a folder that can go back to page 2:

That took forever.

Finally, Catherine recommends curating my menu bar to the utility apps I use most often. Done. Then the big one: Grayscale. I'd show you a picture, but even a screenshot of my phone comes through as color when I send it to another device. But here's an example from the web:

I have some anxiety about being able to take pics or look at pics in grayscale, so I decided to defy Catherine a little and set up a triple tap to toggle back and forth between grayscale and color. I found the instructions here. Now, by simply tapping the home button three times, I can toggle back and forth. This feels good.