To change the apps in the iPad Dock, go to the Home Screen, touch and hold the background until the icons jiggle, drag an app into or out of the Dock, then tap Done. The Dock is the row of icons at the bottom of the screen. Apps you place there sit on the left side, and apps the iPad suggests appear on the right. If the icons themselves look too small, see how to make app icons and text bigger on an iPad.
These steps follow the iPad User Guide for iPadOS 27, the current version when this was updated in October 2026. Apple documents the drag method in Move apps and widgets on the iPad Home Screen and describes the Dock layout in Switch between apps on iPad. Older versions of iPadOS use the same drag method, but some menu names differ.
What You Need Before You Start
- An iPad you can unlock. No account sign-in or extra app is needed.
- The app you want must already be installed. If it is not on a Home Screen page, you can find it in App Library, the screen that lists every installed app.
- Room in the Dock. Apple does not publish a maximum number of Dock apps, and the amount of space is reported to vary by iPad model. If the Dock will not take another app, drag one out first.
How to Add an App to the iPad Dock
- Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to go to the Home Screen.
- Touch and hold an empty part of the Home Screen background until the icons begin to jiggle. This is edit mode.
- Find the app you want. Swipe left or right if it is on another Home Screen page.
- Drag the app down to the Dock at the bottom of the screen and move it to the spot you want on the left side. Lift your finger to drop it.
- Tap Done at the top right.
The icons stop jiggling and the app stays in the Dock on every Home Screen page. If you touch and hold an app icon instead of the background, a menu may appear first. On recent versions that menu is reported to include Edit Home Screen, which starts the same edit mode.
How to Remove an App From the Dock
- Go to the Home Screen.
- Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the icons jiggle.
- Drag the app up out of the Dock and drop it on a Home Screen page.
- Tap Done.
The app is still installed. It now sits on the Home Screen page where you dropped it, with all of its data in place.
Be careful with the Remove App menu. If you touch and hold an app and tap Remove App, Apple gives two different choices. Remove from Home Screen moves the app to App Library and keeps it on the iPad. Delete App removes the app and its data from the iPad. Choose Delete App only when you mean to uninstall. Our guide on how to delete apps on an iPad covers that process.
How to Rearrange the Apps in the Dock
Use the same edit mode. Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the icons jiggle, drag a Dock app left or right to a new position, then tap Done. The other icons slide over to make room.
Take care not to drop one app directly on top of another. Apple says that dragging an app onto another app creates a folder. If that happens by accident, open the folder and drag the apps back out. An empty folder is deleted automatically.
How the iPad Dock Is Laid Out
Apple splits the Dock into two parts. Favorite apps, meaning the ones you place there, are on the left. Suggested apps appear to the right. Apple describes these as apps you opened recently on the iPad and apps that are open on your nearby iPhone or Mac. The rightmost icon opens App Library, where you can search for any app or scroll an alphabetical list.
You control only the left side by dragging. The right side changes on its own as you use different apps.
How to Hide Suggested and Recent Apps in the Dock
If you want the Dock to show only the apps you picked, look for a switch in Settings.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Home Screen & App Library.
- Look for Show Suggested and Recent Apps in Dock and turn it off.
The same screen is widely reported to include Show App Library in Dock, which controls the rightmost icon. Apple confirms the Home Screen & App Library menu exists in Settings, but the iPad User Guide pages we checked do not list these two switches, so the names may differ on your version. To undo the change, turn the switch back on.
How to Add a Files Folder to the Dock
The Dock can also hold a folder of documents from the Files app. Apple gives these steps:
- Open the Files app.
- Touch and hold the folder you want until a menu opens.
- Tap Add To, then tap Dock.
Tap the folder in the Dock to expand it and see its files. Apple notes you can drag a file from that folder onto an app in the Dock, or straight into an open app window, such as a Messages conversation. The steps are in Apple’s Modify files and folders in Files guide. This is a different thing from an app folder, which is a group of apps made on the Home Screen. Several guides report that an app folder can be dragged into the Dock like a single app, though Apple’s guide does not spell that out.
How to Open the Dock While Using an App
The Dock is always visible on the Home Screen. Inside an app it is hidden until you ask for it.
- Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen just far enough to reveal the Dock, then pause.
- Tap the app you want to open.
Keep the swipe short. Swiping all the way up returns you to the Home Screen instead. The Dock is also the starting point for multitasking, which is covered in our guide to using two apps side by side on iPad.
How to Reset the Dock and Home Screen
Warning: this reset affects every Home Screen page, not just the Dock. Apple says any folders you created are removed, and downloaded apps are arranged alphabetically after the apps that came with the iPad. No apps or data are deleted, but there is no undo, so you would need to rebuild your layout by hand.
- Open Settings and tap General.
- Tap Transfer or Reset iPad.
- Tap Reset, then tap Reset Home Screen Layout.
Do not pick any other option on the Reset menu for this purpose. The other choices change unrelated settings.
Troubleshooting Dock Changes
- The icons will not jiggle. Touch and hold an empty area of the background, not an app or widget. Holding a widget opens a Quick Actions menu instead.
- The app went into a folder. It was dropped on another icon. Open the folder in edit mode and drag the apps out.
- An app is missing from the Dock and the Home Screen. It was probably removed from the Home Screen, which moves it to App Library. Tap the rightmost Dock icon, search for the app, then touch and hold it until it moves to the Home Screen.
- An app keeps appearing on the right side. That is a suggested app. It leaves when the iPad suggests something else, or when you turn off the setting described above.
- The Dock does not show inside an app. Use a shorter, slower swipe from the very bottom edge and pause.
- Nothing will move at all. An iPad managed by a school or employer may have a locked layout. This is not confirmed in the Apple pages we checked, so ask the administrator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does removing an app from the iPad Dock delete it?
No. Dragging an app out of the Dock only moves its icon to a Home Screen page. An app is deleted only when you choose Remove App, then Delete App, then Delete.
Why are there apps in my iPad Dock that I did not add?
Those are suggested apps. Apple says the right side of the Dock shows apps you opened recently on the iPad and apps open on your nearby iPhone or Mac.
How many apps can the iPad Dock hold?
Apple’s iPad User Guide does not give a number. Published figures vary by model and iPadOS version, so the practical test is whether the Dock accepts another icon when you drag it in.
Can I put the same app in the Dock and on the Home Screen?
Apple’s guide describes dragging an app to the Dock as moving it, so expect the icon to leave its old spot. The app remains available in App Library either way.
Can I change how the Dock icons look?
Apple documents a Customize option in Home Screen edit mode that makes app icons larger, dark, clear, or tinted. The guide describes it for Home Screen icons and widgets and does not say separately how it affects the Dock.
Next Steps
Once the Dock holds the apps you open most, tidy the rest of the iPad with these guides.
- How to close apps on iPad
- How to add a website link to your iPad Home Screen
- How to change the Background App Refresh setting on iPad
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.