Where are the home screen settings?
The screen you come back to has been called three different things for forty years, and all three are still shipping. We read the settings tree of all 43 systems in the catalogue and recorded where each one keeps it.
What each system calls it
20 of the 43 operating systems in our catalogue have this setting, and between them they use five different labels for it:
| Name on screen | Systems |
|---|---|
| Start | 13 |
| Home screen | 2 |
| Desktop | 2 |
| Home Screen & App Library | 1 |
| Start Menu | 1 |
| Home Screen | 1 |
The most common is Start, on 13 of the 20. If that is not the word on your screen, the table above is the rest of the vocabulary to try.
Some of those rows differ only in capitalisation — 6 spellings for five actual names. We have kept them apart because that is what is printed on the screen, and a settings search that matches case will tell them apart too.
Where it lives on each system
These are the shortest paths from the first settings screen on the newest release of each system. 4 of the 20 are within two taps; the rest sit deeper, and the table shows how much deeper.
| System | Path | Taps |
|---|---|---|
| HyperOS 4.0 | Home screen | 1 |
| iOS 27.0 | Home Screen & App Library | 1 |
| Google TV 14 | Device Preferences › Home screen | 2 |
| Windows 11 | Personalization › Start | 2 |
| ChromeOS 151 | Accounts › Content transfer tool › Start | 3 |
| Fitbit OS OS 5 | Notifications › Sleep mode › Start | 3 |
| HarmonyOS 6.0 | Digital Balance › Wind down › Start | 3 |
| Mac OS 9 9.2 | File Sharing › Start File Sharing › Start | 3 |
| Mac OS X 10.6 | Security › Firewall › Start | 3 |
| Meta Quest v81 | Boundary › Set Up Boundary › Start | 3 |
| One UI 9 | Digital Wellbeing › Bedtime mode › Start | 3 |
| OxygenOS 16 | Battery › Optimized charging › Start | 3 |
| Samsung Tizen TV Tizen 10 | Broadcasting › Auto Program › Start | 3 |
| Windows 98 98 SE | Users › Change Settings › Start Menu | 3 |
| Windows XP SP3 | Appearance and Themes › Display › Desktop | 3 |
| macOS 27 Golden Gate | Desktop & Dock › Hot Corners… › Top Left › Desktop | 4 |
| tvOS 27 | Remotes and Devices › Remote Button Customization › TV Button › Home Screen | 4 |
| Wear OS 7 | Apps & notifications › Do Not Disturb › Schedule › Start | 4 |
| Windows 7 SP1 | Ease of Access › Speech Recognition › Take Speech Tutorial › Start | 4 |
| Xbox 2608 | General › TV & display options › 4K TV details › Help › Start | 5 |
Each system name above opens the real menu in the simulator, so you can walk the path before you touch your own device.
Why the names came out this way
Desktop is the oldest metaphor — a surface you put things on. Start is Microsoft’s answer, a place you begin rather than a place you keep things. Home screen came with phones and won on sheer volume of devices.
The settings behind each are correspondingly different: a desktop screen offers icons and wallpaper, a Start screen offers pinned items and folders, a home screen offers grid size and what the swipe gestures do.
Find it on your own device
If your system is not in the table, or the label on your screen is different again, there are three ways through it:
- Search every system at once for a setting by name — it looks inside all 43 trees, not just the one you are holding.
- Open your own system in the settings simulator and click to the screen without changing anything real.
- Follow the step-by-step guide to switching to dark mode, or see where that setting lives on every system.
Related settings in the same part of the menu:
All of it comes from the same catalogue: 43 systems, 135 versions, published as an open dataset.
Try it yourself, on the real menusOpen any of 43 operating systems in your browser and walk the Settings tree exactly as it appears on the device. No download, no account.Frequently asked questions
Where are the home screen settings on most systems?
On 4 of the 20 systems that have it, within two taps of the first settings screen. The most common label is “Start”, used by 13 of them. The table above gives the exact path for each system.
Why can I not find it by searching my settings?
Because settings search matches the label your system uses, and there are five different labels in use for this one setting. Searching for the word your previous device used is the single most common reason a setting appears to be missing.
How many systems have this setting at all?
20 of the 43 operating systems we catalogue. The rest either have no hardware for it or fold the behaviour into something else, which is why a feature that feels universal often is not.