home screen

noun

1

: television sense 2

… it's the kind of movie that plays better on the home screen, where you're less likely to miss any of the fiendishly witty lines of the screenplay … and can replay some of the stunning special effects.

—Molly Haskell

TV viewers soon may be seeing some of their black-and-white film favorites blushing with new color on the home screen.

—Ron Miller

2

: the graphical user interface that is displayed by default by an electronic device (such as a smartphone or computer) or software application and that provides quick access to commonly used functions, settings, etc.

[Journalist Catherine] Price's suggestions range from the extreme, such as a "digital sabbath" during which you turn your phone off for 24 hours, to the seemingly slight, such as reorganising your phone's home screen so you can't see the bright, tempting colours of your favourite apps the second you turn it on.

—Caroline Crampton

The Netflix interface—the home screen that greets users when they open the app—is constantly evolving.

—James Titcomb

Examples of home screen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead of tucking away icons under menus, those icons are all visible from the home screen. —PC Magazine, 19 May 2025

Swipe down on the home screen to bring up a settings menu, swipe up to scroll through an app drawer, swipe right for notifications, and swipe left to scroll through a customizable list of interactable information tiles. —PCMAG, 11 Feb. 2025

Swiping up on the home screen brings up all the phone's apps. —PC Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025

For example, Android has a consistent way to move back either within an app or from an app to the home screen by swiping to the right. —Larry Magid, The Mercury News, 21 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for home screen

• acrolein
• adenine
• alkylene
• aniline
• anthracene
• aquiline
• asphaltene
• atlantean
• atrazine
• butadiene
• butylene
• caesarean

Kids Definition

home screen

noun

1

: television

2

: the graphical user interface that is displayed by default by an electronic device (as a smartphone or computer) or software application and that provides quick access to commonly used functions and settings