Tired of seeing the same old app icons on your iPhone’s Home screen? Yes, this landscape can get boring over time. However, if you want to put up with a few caveats, it’s possible to change the appearance of an app icon with a simple workaround.
If you’re ready to spend a few moments, you can also use this workaround to customize all app icons on a Home screen page. Add a matching wallpaper and a few customizable widgets and the possibilities are endless.
What do you need
To change an app icon on iPhone, you need to use the Shortcuts app. It comes pre-installed on your device. If you can’t find it, go to the App Store, search for ‘shortcuts’ and then download the app.
You should also have some icons you can use while working on the workaround below. Websites like Flaticon, Iconfinder, and Pngtree are great sources for downloading free icons. Save them in the Photos app or the Files app.
How does it work
Using the Shortcuts app, you can create a shortcut to open any app on your iPhone. But this is where it gets interesting – you can also replace the standard shortcut icon with any icon you have on your device. Next, you add the shortcut to the Home screen.
Here are a few things to keep in mind, as you’re not replacing an app’s original icon, but instead creating a custom app icon.
First Launch the Shortcuts App
Tapping a Home screen shortcut with a custom icon displays the Shortcuts app for less than a second before launching the app it’s connected to.
No Contextual Menu Options
Custom app icons don’t display the contextual menu options you get when long-pressing or 3D Touching the original app icons. For example, you can’t directly open a new Private tab or your Reading List with a custom Safari icon.
No Notification Badge
You won’t see any notification badges on custom app icons. However, you will continue to receive notifications as usual.
Steps
Here are the steps you need to follow to change an app icon (or create a custom icon from scratch). Although they seem quite long and complex, you should be able to easily repeat the process after creating a few icons.
Note: The following steps show the Shortcuts app running on iOS 14. If you’re using an older version of iOS, the screenshots may look slightly different.
Stage 1: Open the Shortcuts app. Next, tap the + icon in the upper-right corner of the screen – if you don’t see this icon, make sure the My Shortcuts tab is selected from the bottom row.
Step 2: Tap the search bar at the bottom of the screen and type ‘open apps’. Select the option labeled Open Apps from the search results.
Stage 3: Tap the Select field and then choose an app. Let’s choose Safari as an example.
Step 4: Tap the three-dot icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Step 5: Tap the default shortcut icon and choose a color. If you add an icon in PNG format (with transparency), consider choosing a color that matches your iPhone’s background wallpaper. Tap Done to continue.
Step 6: Replace the New Shortcut label with the name of the app. Then tap Add to Home Screen.
Step 7: Tap the shortcut icon under the ‘Home Screen Name and Icon’ section. Then tap Select Photo to choose a photo from your iPhone’s Photos app or choose Choose File to choose a photo via the Files app.
Step 8: Replace the New Shortcut label with the name of the app. Tap Add to continue.
Step 9: Tap Done, then tap Done again.
You can now exit the Shortcuts app.
Hide Original App Icon
Back on the home screen, you should see your custom app icon listed in it. You can tap it to open the app. But you will still see the Shortcuts app for a short while before the app opens.
If everything looks fine, you can go ahead and hide the original app icon. If you’re using iOS 14 or later, the easiest way to do this is to store it in the App Library. To do this, long press or 3D Touch the app icon and then tap Uninstall App. Follow up by tapping Remove from Home Screen or Hide in App Library.
If you’re using iOS 13 or earlier, you should hide it inside a folder instead. If you don’t see a folder on the home screen, you can create one from scratch. To do this, drag the icon over the other.
Start Construction
Repeat the above steps to create as many app icons as you want. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, check out Pinterest. It will give you all sorts of weird Home screen design concepts to apply to your iPhone.
Next: Did you know you can stack your widgets on iPhone? Click on the next link to learn how to do this.
