Did you know that you could create nested folders (folders within folders) in iOS 7.x? And you don’t have to jailbreak your iOS device for that.

Creating nested folders is for people who’ve got a really large list of apps on their iPhones/iPads. For most users, folders at level one are enough but if you really want to buckle up and get a minimalist, highly-organized app view, nested folders might be needed.

Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t really support this feature. I mean, try creating a folder inside a folder? Not possible. When you move an app over another (in an attempt to create a folder), it only moves the existing app away from its place.

 

But with a trick, you can nest folders. It’s a simple one so there’s no fretting about to get it done.

Here’s how we put folders inside folders in iPhone/iPad on iOS 7:

  • Make sure you have a folder, and two apps ready for the experiment. Once again, it’s a folder and a couple of apps.
  • Now, create a normal folder by dragging one app over another. This creates a folder of these two apps but don’t wait too long for step #3.
  • As soon as you drag one app over the other, before the folder is created and zoomed in, tap and hold the existing folder.
  • When the new folder is created and a zoom animation takes you into the folder (with the two apps), leave your finger to let the folder fall into the new folder.
  • You can repeat this process with more folders to create nested levels.

The only problem with the trick is that it works in reverse. You can’t create a folder and then go into the folder to create a new folder.

You have to think of the last-level folder first and create it first on homescreen/springboard. Then, create a folder (which will be the level-before-last) and put the last-level folder into this one. If that’s hard to wrap around, here’s a simpler explanation.

If you want to create 3-level nested folders, create the 3rd-level folder first on the springboard. Then, create a folder (2nd-level folder) and put the 3rd-level folder inside this one. Go back to the springboard and repeat the process to create the first-level folder and put the 2nd-level folder inside this.