In iOS 16, Apple is breathing new life into the Home app. A single-page overview lets you see all of your HomeKit accessories in one place. To further help you customize the layout, you can resize the tiles for your smart home accessories.
Rearranging and Resizing Your HomeKit Accessory Tiles
By default, your various smart home devices will be equally sized and arranged pretty much in order of installation. You’re not stuck with that arrangement, though. As spotted by Redditor epmuscle, you can rearrange and even resize the tiles.
To change things around, all you need to do is launch the Home app and tap the circle with three dots inside it. You can reorder sections easily, as well as edit the Home View. When you tap Edit Home View, all your tiles will start jiggling.
Now you can move the different tiles around, arranging them how you like. Also, if you just tap on one of the tiles, inward- or outward-facing arrows appear. This button allows you to resize the accessory tile on the Home View. Once you’ve got things how you want them, just tap Done.
Limited Functionality, At Least For Now
You only have two size choices, at least for now. You can have what’s basically a single-row rectangle, or one that’s two rows tall and more squarish. The icon within the tile that allows you to switch the accessory on or off remains the same size.
So, what’s the purpose of resizing these tiles? It does allow you more screen real estate to tap when you want to get to the accessory’s settings, for one. This could be especially helpful for things like HomePod speakers or multi-color LED light strips. You can get to the accessory details pane easier, to choose music or the color.
Then, of course, there’s aesthetics. Some folks (like me) don’t really like having empty space when there are an odd number of accessories in a room or scene. By resizing the odd tile, it will fill that space.
As of the second iOS 16 developer beta, there’s also no way to resize tiles in the Favorites section, or the quick-action tiles to adjust all lights or all speakers and TVs at once. Perhaps that will change as we see future betas released.