Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Home Screen Guide: Customize and Manage Screens

This content is primarily intended for those who want to personalize screens on their new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (#Samsung #GalaxyNote5) phablet and need help doing so. If you are one of our audiences, then you may utilize this material and learn how to customize everything with a new theme, set the wallpaper, and add/delete widgets, shortcuts, and folders on the home screen.

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The Galaxy Note 5 is designed with a home screen that extends beyond the initial screen. Try swiping the screen left or right and you should see additional screens. The default Home screen usually contains the apps icons, apps list, notifications area, primary shortcuts, status area, status bar, and widgets. In addition to the default (main) home screen, your phone also sports extended home screens where you can add more icons, widgets, and other shortcut items. To move from the main screen to an extended screen, simply drag across the current screen.

To perform any of the aforementioned operations, you would need to access the home screen menu options including wallpapers, widgets, themes, and screen grid beforehand. To access these menu options, simply touch and hold and empty space from the Home screen until the Home screen menu appears. By then you can start selecting options to customize the home screen according to your preference.

If you found this page because you were looking for a solution to your problem, then I suggest you visit the troubleshooting page we setup for Galaxy Note 5. It contains a list of problems we already addressed. Find a problem related to yours and try the solutions we provided. If they didn’t work, then you may contact us but please provide more information about your problem.

Changing the Theme for Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Themes are becoming the new trend in mobile software, to date. Seeing this as significant variable, manufacturers have designed their new products in such a way that users would be able to easily customize every inch of them. And this is one of the many things that make Android devices so great. For instance, the ability to choose themes on the new Galaxy Note 5 device, allowing you to select and change wallpaper, icons, sounds, as well as some system apps and user interface as you desire.

Samsung has embedded a few themes you can use on your Note 5 device. But if you don’t like any of the pre-installed themes, you can visit the Play Store and download the themes you want.

Here’s how to change the theme on your Galaxy Note 5:

  1. Touch and hold an empty space from the Home screen.
  2. Tap Themes to continue.
  3. Select any of the preloaded themes available. Alternatively, tap Theme Store to download more themes to use.
  4. Select a theme you like.
  5. Tap Download to start downloading and installation of the selected theme.
  6. When your download is finished, tap Apply to use it as a current theme.
  7. Tap Apply again to confirm.

How to Change the Wallpaper

The Galaxy Note 5 is preloaded with a number of images you can use and set as background wallpaper. If you want to give it a try, just follow these steps:

  1. Touch and hold and empty space from the Home screen. You can swipe to a Home screen with less content if your default Home screen is already full.
  • Alternatively, you can quickly access the edit mode by making a pinching motion using your two fingers on any Home screen.
  1. Tap Wallpapers.
  • Another way to access the wallpaper menu on the Note 5 is through Settings. Just tap Apps from Home, go to Settings, and finally, select Wallpaper from the given options (under Personal).
  1. Tap the dropdown box in the upper left corner and select Home screen, if necessary. This is to ensure the selected wallpaper is set for the Home screen.
  2. Tap the image you want to use as wallpaper.
  • To view more available wallpapers for the Home screen, swipe to the left, and then tap the picture you want to use.
  1. Tap Set As Wallpaper to apply your selection.

Note:

In case the image won’t show, you can access your phone’s Gallery instead. To do so, tap Gallery, select the desired image, and then tap Set As Wallpaper. Or you can also use any of your favorite pictures for your phone’s background wallpaper.

The Galaxy Note 5 also features a Wallpaper motion effect, which you can turn on and off. To enable this feature, simply tap the On/Off slider next to the Wallpaper motion effect. When enabled, the wallpaper will shift slightly as you move your device, creating a 3D effect. You can give it a try this time, if you want to see how it actually works. Anyway, you can always turn it off if you don’t like it.

How to change the Lock Screen Wallpaper

Your device also allows you to change the lock screen wallpaper picture as you desire. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Touch and hold an empty space on any Home screen.
  2. Tap Wallpapers.
  3. Tap the dropdown box in the upper left corner and select Lock Screen, if necessary. Usually, the dropdown selection is set to Home screen.
  4. Tap to select the image you’d like to use.
  5. Tap Set as Wallpaper.

If the image won’t display, you can use this method instead:

  1. Tap Gallery.
  2. Tap the image you’d like to use.
  3. Tap Set as Wallpaper to apply changes to your lock screen background wallpaper.

Add Widgets and Shortcuts to your Home Screen

Widgets pertain to the Home screen apps that offer updated views on significant information including calendar events and weather updates. They also let you perform other usual tasks like dialing contacts or pausing a song on your device. Here’s how to add more widgets on your Note 5 home screen:

  1. Go to the Home screen.
  2. Place your two fingers on the screen and pinch in.
  3. Tap Widgets and then swipe left to the widget you want to add. Touch and hold it until you see the edit screen.
  4. Touch and hold the widget you’d like to add.
  5. Drag the widget to an open area on the Home screen and release to place it on your preferred location.
  • You can also move a widget or app to another Home screen by simply dragging it to the edge of the current screen.
  1. To save your changes, tap outside the widget.
  • Your device will prompt with “No more room on this page” and move the widget to the next available home screen with enough space, if you release the widget on a full Home screen.
  • A frame around the widget is visible if the widget is resizable. To adjust the size of the widget, touch and drag the edge of the frame. When you’re done resizing, release the widget and touch anywhere outside it to exit the edit mode and apply the changes you’ve made.

Removing a Widget

If you think your Home screen is already out of space, you can remove any unnecessary widgets from it. Doing so won’t delete the widget but just removes it from the Home screen. The widget can still be accessed through the Widgets menu. Here’s how to remove a widget from your Home screen:

  1. Swipe to the Home screen where you want to remove a widget from.
  2. Touch and hold the widget until the edit mode screen displays.
  3. Drag the widget to the Remove icon and release to remove it from the Home screen.

Adding Apps Shortcuts

For quick access, you can add an application shortcut and display it to your Home screen. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Swipe to a Home screen where you want the app shortcut to be placed. You can try this on the default Home screen for now.
  2. Next, tap Apps.
  3. Select the desired application.
  4. Touch and hold the app icon. The new shortcut will hover over the Home screen.
  5. Keep holding the shortcut and position it on the screen, then release it.

The new shortcut is now available.

Removing an App from the Home screen

Similar to removing a widget, removing an app from the Home screen also does not delete the application. Only the application shortcut will be removed from the current Home screen while the main application is still accessible in the Apps menu. To remove an app shortcut, follow these steps:

  1. Swipe to the Home screen where you want to remove an app shortcut from.
  2. Touch and hold the app shortcut until the edit screen appears.
  3. Drag the app shortcut to the Remove icon, and release to take it off from the current Home screen.

Adding Folders on the Home screen

For convenient access, you can group home screen shortcuts into folders. Here’s how to do it on your Note 5 phablet:

  1. Go to a Home screen where you want the new folder to be added.
  2. Touch and hold a shortcut you want to place in the folder.
  3. Drag it on top of another shortcut and release it.
  4. Enter a name for the folder.
  • To change the folder name, tap to open the folder from the Home screen, tap the folder name, and then type a new name for it. Tap Done to rename the folder.
  • You can also change the color of a folder for aesthetics and distinction. To change the color of a folder, tap to open the folder from the Home screen, tap the Color Palette icon, and select a color you want.
  1. Tap Done and then tap outside the folder to save your changes.
  • To add more app shortcuts and place them to the new folder, touch and hold each shortcut and then drag it on top of the new folder.
  • To remove unnecessary apps from the folder, simply touch and hold the app icon and then drag it out of the folder.

Adding Home Screens

The Galaxy Note 5 supports multiple Home screens for you to work on. This means you can change your phone’s default Home screen from the Home screen. You can also arrange these screens in any order you want and fill them with apps shortcuts, widgets, and folders. Follow these steps:

  1. Pinch your two fingers on any Home screen to access the Edit mode. Alternatively, touch and hold an empty space of any Home screen. Either way gives you the same output.
  2. Swipe to the left until you reach the Home screen that has the plus (+) icon.
  3. Touch the plus (+) icon and the new Home screen will display.
  4. To rearrange the Home screens, swipe to the Home screen you want to move and change the order.
  5. Touch and hold the Home screen, then drag it to the right or left, either way you want it to display from the rest of your Home screens, and finally, release the Home screen to your preferred location. A new empty home screen will then be added to the far right or left of your screens.
  • To view the default Home screen from any other screen, just press the Home key.

Rearranging Home Screens on the Galaxy Note 5

Aside from changing themes, you can also personalize the home screen by simply moving and deleting widgets and icons on it. Here’s how to:

Move Widgets and Icons

  • Go to the Home screen.
  • Touch and hold any of the available items.
  • Drag the selected item to the desired location.

Delete Widgets and Icons

  • Go to the Home screen.
  • Touch and hold any of the available items.
  • Drag the selected item to Remove (trash bin).

Removing a Home Screen

You can remove any extra Home screens from your device with the following steps:

  1. Pinch your two fingers on any Home screen or touch and hold an empty space of a Home screen.
  2. Swipe to the Home screen you want to delete.
  3. Touch and hold the Home screen, drag it to the Remove icon located on top of the screen, and then release to remove it.

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