How to change icon sizes on iPad with iOS 15

PadOS 15: New “Use-Large-App-Icons” toggle switch to change display size of app and folder icons has serious software malfunction on iPad mini 4

Can any Apple experts please solve the following new iPadOS 15 software problem that I believe is infuriating millions of iPad mini owners who have less than perfect 20/20 eyesight?

After updating the iPadOS 14.8 software on my iPad mini 4 to iPadOS 15 in the UK on the 21st of September 2021 all my app and folder icons were made irreversibly tiny. A new replacement icon enlargement control method now provided in IPadOS 15 is malfunctioning.

My separate stand-alone app symbols are still (just about) identifiable to me on my home screen by their distinctive colours and designs when I squint my eyes and look through my spectacles. But the previously larger printed identifying subtitles underneath all my similar looking folder icons are now too minuscule to read or identify easily at a long distance glance when picking up my iPad - as are all the app symbols these unopened folder icons also display that have now been made microscopically small.

In all older iPad operating systems software up to and including iPadOS 14.8, app and folder icon sizes were controllable at - Settings > Home Screen & Dock > Home Screen > App Icons. This window displayed a twin tick button choice underneath two screen graphics depicting “More” (smaller) icons and “Bigger” (fewer) icons on two simulated Home Screen iPads placed side by side. Choosing the More option allowed 30 smaller icons to be displayed on the Home Screen while choosing the Bigger option allowed 20 larger icons to be displayed.

As explained above, this old icon size control feature has now been replaced in iPadOS 15 at - Settings > Home Screen & Dock > Home Screen with a simple on-off > “Use Large Icons” toggle switch. But operating this switch has no effect whatsoever to either enlarge or reduce the size of the new smaller app and folder icons that remain fixed at their miniature given size.

To be clear, and for the avoidance of any doubt, this is not an issue about zooming controls that severely visually impaired iPad owners may be compelled to use in the Accessibility settings. I do not want, or need, to start faffing about to zoom into part of my home screen and magnify and telescope only a small part of the entire clear screen view that I previously enjoyed.

The fact that the new “Use Large Icons” toggle switch exists and has been incorporated at the same location to replace the previous icon size control method, presumably means senior Apple engineers intended to keep this functionality available to many older iPad mini owners with poorer eyesight.

Accepting a retrograde loss of the key functionality of EFFORTLESSLY seeing my own folder icons on my iPad mini and using the new larger app “organising’ folder icons now provided by Apple in iPadOS 15 is a non-starter for me. The very limited and narrow-minded built-in folders that are offered, such as “Suggestions”?, “Recently Added”?, “Music”, “Games” and “Other”?!?! could not accommodate the wide spectrum of subjects in my easily accessible 20 separate folder icon categories.

My folder icons have distinctive titles such as “On Air” for TV, streaming, YouTube and radio services. “Market Square” is for shops and delivery services. Different folders contain subjects as broad as reference information; rarely used Apple apps; books and libraries; medical apps; hobbies and interests; banking and financial matters; and many, many more distinctive subject areas that means everything on my iPad is easy to find without hardly a microsecond of extra thought. Thus before iPadOS 15: Tap! - I’ve opened cookery recipes for diabetics in my “Bon Appetite” folder; Tap! - apps in my “Way Out” folder show local bus and train times, Tap! - I see event dates from my harmonica interest group and then in the same “Hobby Horse” folder the new parts I need for my old vintage car. Tap! - my “Stop Press” folder opens the newspaper and magazine journals I like. Tap! - my “Fun Fair” folder only has two games, cryptic crosswords and chess. Now after iPadOS 15 I have to waste time squinting to see what I’m doing and to see where I’m going.

Suggestions to solve the issue by buying a bigger iPad with larger icons is also not an option for me as I chose the iPad mini 4 because of its compact size on purpose.

Thank you very much for reading this post. Any help to resolve the issue raised here would be very warmly welcomed indeed.

Kind regards,

seaniconsize

OMG I agree - I am sick sick sick about it. it's so small it's ridiculous! It's like having my iphone view on a bigger mini pad. Ther eis 1 inch of space all aound the edge. WHY?????? I did try zoom in accessibility - it didn't help. I am sick over this with my new iPad mini.

Seriously? Your suggestion is not a solution to this outrageous iOS flaw on all sizes of iPads, not just mini. What was Apple thinking? More importantly, how soon will they fix it? These tiny screen icons are unbelievably unreasonable, impossible and maddening.

I have small icons on the iPad Pro, so I sympathize with you on that case. Turning on larger icons make it looks even worst.

Terrible update, broken iPad Home Screen layout. Haven’t remember so horrid update (even iOS 7 was not so bad).

Wondering how it’s going on the new iPad mini screen…

Apples notion of a large icon is BS. What I WANT is to be able to decide how many icons to display on each screen….which would be a whole lot LESS than Apple’s ideado.

yet another control that they have taken away. Why oh why must Apple be the arbiter of what is done and how the interface must appear??

No one here from Apple.

Cognizant and responsible Apple employees and teams DO NOT read NOR participate in these, largely, Apple product customer/user to user technical support communities.

You are, and everyone else here, in the posting, are just ranting to your fellow users here.

Many, MANY things have changed in iPadOS 15 ( and some things have changed for the worst, hence I never just blindly upgrade/update to a new OS version of anything from Apple, for many years, now )

If you find many of the features and changes in iPadOS 15 to be of issue, you CAN voice these issuers and opinions to Apple via their product feedback portion of their Website.

Tap the link below and let Apple know your iPad/iPadOS 15 issues.

Feedback - iPad - Apple

You can post as much product feedback as you like at this location, at any time.

Nothing will change if no one sends feadback to Apple.

I absolutley hate iPadOS 15, currently, so I am avoiding it, completely, for the time being.

Send Feedback to Apple.

Tap the link below.

Feedback - iPad - Apple

Hello canadianCurrency,

Thank you for reaching out in Apple Support Communities. We understand you'd like to adjust the size of your apps and text. We can help point you in the right direction.

You have the option to adjust the display and text size on an iPad by following the steps outlined in this helpful article: Adjust the display and text size on iPad

If you have an iPad Pro 12.9 inch, you can zoom the display. Here's how: Magnify the iPad screen with Display Zoom

Let us know if that helps.

Best regards.

The new icon size on the iPads in iOS 15 is terrible and there appears to be no way to fix the issue or go back to iOS 14. The only way to get Apples attention to this issue is to complain loudly. I've done that. Here is the link:

Send Feedback to Apple. Tap the link below.

Feedback - iPad - Apple

Dear TonyMan13,

Take a look at the original post: I got my old iPadOS 14 bigger app and folder icon Home Screen back again … just posted a few minutes ago, for mention of a solution to all our problems.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253494911

Yours helpfully,

Jock

Dear ClapH

Take a look at the original post: I got my old iPadOS 14 bigger app and folder icon Home Screen back again … just posted a few minutes ago, for mention of a solution to all our problems.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253494911

Yours helpfully,

Jock

Dear Soapm

Take a look at the original post: I got my old iPadOS 14 bigger app and folder icon Home Screen back again … just posted a few minutes ago, for mention of a solution to all our problems.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253494911

Yours helpfully,

Jock

That post was removed because it offered NO real help, solution or procedures for this issue.

It was largely a very long posting with no real fixes for this issue and of no help to any users that are having difficulties with this issue.

As a result, such useless posts are, usually, removed by the “behind the scenes”, Apple support community moderating staff.

There is NO real fix for this issue.

The best you can do is alert Apple by posting unacknowledged feedback on this issue through Apple's iPad product feedback page.

Tap the link below.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Sorry & Good Luck to You!

Thank you MichelPM, this is helpful. I’m experiencing the same problem on my mid-sized iPad after updating to 15.1. Though I suspect the problem isn’t as severe as with minis, even toggling on the “large” icon choice in Settings leaves icons unnecessarily small, with lots of unused Home Screen acreage surrounding the icons. Attaching screen shot. I will use the link in MichelPM’s note to give feedback to Apple, and encourage others to do the same!

Correction, adding widgets in no way changes the fact that the "Use Large App Icons" setting does nothing to change the appearance of the home screen. Perhaps as you state, a picture will be the thousand words that'll help you understand what we're saying. As you can see, my home screen looks no different with the setting on or off. We're not looking for a work around, we're looking for a fix...