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

The adjustments make for a good seating position for drivers of all sizes and the body is low enough to make for easy ingress and egress. CHANGE: Touchscreen software The touchscreen is large and colorful, except when on the home screen, which is a sea of same-color icons. —Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024

In an effort to prove that, even two years into the AI revolution, fundamentally very little has been changed for most people, Chesky challenged the room to look at the apps on their phone home screens and think how much any of them have been substantially changed by generative AI. —Marah Eakin, WIRED, 3 Dec. 2024

The home screen shows a control panel of large widget tiles by default, with rotating full-screen content behind it. —PCMAG, 26 Nov. 2024

New category tabs are coming to the Google TV home screen that will suggest recommended Roku content, alongside the ability to jump back into unfinished TV shows and movies from The Roku Channel. —Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 25 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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