iOS 16 Home app: How to reorder rooms and sections for a custom layout

The Home app has gotten some great updates in iOS 16 with an overhauled design. Specific changes include a new UI and iconography, fresh wallpapers, improved customizability, and more. Let’s look at how to reorder Home app rooms and sections for a custom layout.

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The Home app has been ripe for improvements and this year with iOS 16, Apple has delivered a major update for the HomeKit experience.

Below we’ll focus on how to reorder Home app rooms and other sections, but for a full rundown of everything new with the iOS 16 Home app, check out our full guide:

• iOS 16 Home app: Hands-on with the overhauled HomeKit experience [Video]

How to reorder Home app rooms in iOS 16

1. In iOS 16, open the Home app
2. Tap the three-dot circle icon in the top right corner
3. A few down from the top, choose Reorder Sections
4. Now you can see all your rooms and other sections, tap and drag on the three-line icon beside one to move them up or down
5. Tap Done in the top right corner

Here’s how the process looks to reorder Home app rooms and sections:

Changes to Home app buttons

Another interesting change in the Home app is how buttons work to control HomeKit devices.

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In iOS 15 and earlier, you would tap a device tile to turn it on or off and long-press to get the more detailed control UI with things like colors, sliders, etc. for fine-grain control.

Now in the iOS 16 Home app buttons behave like this:

• Tap on the far left (circle icon) to turn devices on and off
• Tap on the middle or right side of a button to see the detailed control UI
• Long-press to see edit/customizability options and device details

Check out our full iOS 16 Home app walkthrough for more details on the new iconography, wallpapers, improved settings, and other tidbits.

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