Apple library ate my app folders and I want them back

The way the App Library functions has not changed since that feature was introduced. if you don’t like it, you don’t have to use it.

You’re free to arrange apps on the home screen(s) of your phone however you like.

NewAmsterdam wrote:

Thank you for your comment and reply.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max has been thoroughly inspected, settings reviewed, and the phone has been reset and set up again which caused the issue of App Library taking the 5 pages of app folders for a few days and then dropping all of the folders back to my desktop this morning.

It sounds as if you may have had a Focus enabled that hid some of your home screens.

See the section in this article on connecting home screens to Focus:

Use Focus on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

The underlying issue has been a phenomenon which resembles an old-fashioned “trip-ring” where a caller receives 1 ring and the phone hangs up. In this case it would send the caller directly to messages with a note that the line is busy. After weeks of this issue we have concluded that the issue is in the phone number itself. The trip-ring follows the chip to other phones so it is not the software or hardware, it is the phone line. The next move is to ask my carrier to port the number to another line, as if transporting a number from another carrier, since my ‘port’ seems to be buggy.

I have no idea what any of that means or how it pertains to the issue at hand.

NewAmsterdam wrote:

This was and is yet a complex issue which in the attempt to resolve the issue required a phone reset. My app defaulted to App Library and a day or two later had reorganized into the original folders.

And I explained the most likely reason for that.

The underlying issue is the trip-ring that sends all calls to message after 1 ring with the message “user busy”. Only 1 number was able to consistently call through, my wife.

My carrier has put the issue to top level tech and issues a case number, Apple figures it has to do with the number used on the device.

Since I am asking for assistance from both the carrier and Apple and am not finding a solution it seems I cannot explain the issue further, however these are the parameters of my inquiry.

This seems to be an entirely unrelated issue. I suggest you start a separate thread for it.

The options are, as KiltedTim noted, the same as they have been since Apple first allowed folders:

Move apps and create folders on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support