The home screen is your phone’s front porch. Those little pictures on it are called apps, and each one does a job.

What an app is. An app is just a program for one task. The Phone app makes calls, the Messages app sends texts, the Camera app takes photos, the Weather app shows the forecast. You open one by tapping its picture.

Opening and closing:

• Open: tap the app’s icon once.
• Close or leave: swipe up from the bottom (or press Home) to set it aside. You do not need to “shut down” apps; leaving one open does no harm.
• More pages: swipe left or right to see additional screens of apps.

Can’t find something? Just search. Instead of hunting through screens:

• On iPhone, swipe down from the middle of the home screen to open Search, then type the app or thing you want.
• On Android, swipe up to see all apps, or use the search bar at the top.

This is the single most freeing trick: you never have to memorize where things live. You can search for them.

Getting new apps comes from one trusted place only: the App Store on iPhone or the Google Play Store on Android. Never install an app from a link in a text or ad (more on safety in Lesson 6).

A quick example. You want the weather but do not see the app. You swipe down (iPhone) or up (Android), type “weather,” tap the result, and there is the forecast. You found it without scrolling through everything.

What to do:

• Open and close two apps (like Phone and Camera).
• Practice the search trick to find an app by name.
• Remember: new apps come only from the App Store or Google Play.