You can finally customize your iPhone's home screen in iOS 14 — and people are flocking to Pinterest for ideas

• People have been flocking to Pinterest to discover new ideas for how to customize their iPhone's home screen in iOS 14.
• Data from app analytics firms like Sensor Tower, App Annie, and Apptopia noted a surge in global downloads between September 19 and 21, TechCrunch reported.
• Apple's iOS 14 update finally lets you update the iPhone's home screen with customizable widgets, which are essentially app icons that can show information like the weather, photos, and more.
• It's the biggest update Apple has made to the iPhone in years, coming after Android has offered home screen customizations for years.

Apple's iOS 14 update finally lets iPhone owners personalize that static grid of icons on their smartphone's home screen with customizable widgets. And iPhone users have wasted no time seeking inspiration on Pinterest, as data from app analytics firms has shown in recent days.

Pinterest broke its daily download records on September 21 — five days after iOS 14 launched — with 616,000 installs, app tracker Apptopia reported according to TechCrunch. Sensor Tower also showed a spike in Pinterest downloads, saying that the app surpassed its record on September 20 with about 800,000 installs worldwide on iOS and Android, the TechCrunch report says.

Data from App Annie, another app analytics firm, also indicates that Pinterest rose to the top of the iOS App Store charts around that time. Its findings show that Pinterest moved from the 43rd spot in Apple's App Store rankings on September 17 to 29th on September 18, before jumping to the 7th spot on September 19.

Pinterest now ranks 8th when it comes to free apps in the iOS App Store, according to App Annie. The No. 1 spot is occupied by Widgetsmith, an app that offers widgets for iOS 14.

Pinterest also confirmed to TechCrunch that the surge hasn't been caused by a paid campaign. It told the outlet that the app is experiencing organic boosts in both downloads and iOS 14 related searches.

Since iOS 14 launched on September 16, iPhone owners have been sharing their revamped home screens.

Widgets are essentially dynamic app icons that show information like the weather, upcoming calendar events, progress toward your activity goals, photos from your image library, and more. Android has offered widgets for years, but Apple only previously offered widgets on the iPhone's "Today" view, which can be accessed by swiping to the left of the home screen.

Apple's iOS 14 update represents the first time users can add widgets to their iPhone's main home screen, finally enabling iPhone owners to customize what they see on that primary section of the iPhone's user interface.

Widgets have also gotten a makeover in iOS 14, enabling them to show more information at a glance and allow for additional tweaks when it comes to their size, shape, and appearance.

But that's not the only way Apple is changing the home screen in iOS 14. The company also introduced the App Library, a screen that includes curated folders organizing all of your apps by category.

Apple unveiled iOS 14 at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June before officially launching the update on September 16. To update to iOS 14, back up your iPhone, open the Settings menu, tap "General," and choose "Software Update."