I’ve seen and tried all kinds of tricks to customize the iPhone home screen since iOS 14 came out. I loved giving my home screen a custom look using various tools. And I guess most of you will be in pretty much the same ballpark, given how big of a trend “iOS 14 home screen customization” has been lately. Although there is no shortage of paid tools, how can you customize the iOS home screen for free like a pro? Well, as long as you’re willing to get a little creative, here are a few cool hacks that will let you decorate your iPhone home screen however you want.
Customize iPhone Home Screen Like a Pro for Free
In my opinion, there are three most important tools for designing a home screen – custom app icons, custom widgets, and a robust wallpaper library. Once you have these components under your radar, all you have to do is give your imagination a long spin. Depending on a particular theme, such as dark, vivid and nature, you can set a suitable wallpaper, place application icons and widgets in perfect harmony with the layout. Now that you have the idea, let’s get going!
Create Custom App Icons
Nothing looks as elegant as custom app icons on the home screen. So, if you want to boost the personalization game, don’t forget to create custom app icons to make your iPhone home screen look more personal.
If you’re wondering how you can create app icons, let me tell you the process is pretty simple. To get started, all you have to do is select the icon, color, badge or glyph you want based on the design theme, and then place the custom icons on the home screen using the Shortcuts app.
Application Icon Changer (free, $9.99/month) and Launch Center Pro (Free, offers in-app purchases) are apps I use to create custom iPhone app icons. Both are available for free and make the task of creating app icons pretty simple.
I will walk you through quick steps using App Icon Change. So, download the app on your device and then open it. After that, tap on Edit Icons tab. Next, select Icon tab and select the icon you want. After that, tap on Color and Background tabs Next, tap on to choose the preferred color and background Download button to save the app to your camera roll.
After saving the app icon in the Photos app, Shortcuts appTap and then “+” button in the upper right corner of the screen. Next, tap on Add Action. After that, search open app action and select the application you want to launch. Next, select the icon you just created from the Photos app.
Finally, add app icon to home screen. Going forward, you can tap this special icon to launch the corresponding app. If you want to follow step-by-step instructions, follow our detailed guide on creating and using custom app icons.
Apart from these applications, icons8 and flat icon two of my favorite platforms that offer lots of app icons. So put these apps and websites to the long test to create tons of custom app icons.
Make Eye-catching Custom Home Screen Widgets
Custom widgets play an important role when it comes to customizing the iPhone home screen. And guess what, there’s a boatload of apps on the App Store that can let you create awesome home screen widgets. Whether it’s a constantly running clock widget, a great weather widget, or a handy utility widget that displays memory and total storage, you can make any widget that lets you decorate your iPhone home screen as you like.
Creating custom widgets is pretty easy, as most widget apps have the same steps. For example, you want to create a nice looking widget using a popular home screen widget app called “Widgetsmith” (Free, $1.99/month). start widget app and then customize the widget by selecting all available tools. After that, touch and hold the blank screen and Press the “+” button to access the widget library.
Next, select widget master. Next, select your preferred size and Add to the main screen.
Create Transparent Widgets
When I go out to customize the iPhone home screen, I want to have the desired freedom to place the icons. While iOS doesn’t offer the flexibility to gape like Android, there are a few third-party apps that fill the gap. So you can create transparent widgets on your iPhone and place them where you want them to be empty. After that, you can place the app icons wherever you want. Take a look at the screenshot below!
In particular, the process of creating invisible widgets for iPhone is almost the same as for regular widgets. All you have to keep in mind is to make sure that the transparent widgets are compatible with the wallpaper so they can easily deceive the eyes.
Here are the apps I would recommend you to create transparent home screen widgets: Yidget (Free) and TWid (Free). They are simple to use and work as expected.
I will show you the quick steps using Yidget. First, capture screenshot Next of the blank screen of your iPhone home screen, Open the Yidget app and then tap on create option. After that, select the screenshot and tweak it using the provided tools.
Then touch and hold the blank screen on your iPhone and “+” button. Next, tap on Yidget and choose right size for the widget.
Make the Most of Stunning Wallpapers
Wallpapers form the basis of attractive home screen designs. So make sure you have the luxury of choosing from a wide variety of backgrounds as they can play a vital role in allowing you to design your iPhone home screen with different themes.
If you want your home screen to look funky or retro or have a sparkly look, there are several top-notch wallpaper apps available for free. Those who always give me good looking wallpapers without having to break the bank – Black Lite (Free) and WallPick (Free).
With a huge library of professionally designed backgrounds and themes, these wallpaper apps ensure you always have something new to try. On the other hand, if you’re into dynamic wallpapers, check out our article on the best live wallpaper apps for iPhone.
If you either don’t want to install wallpaper apps on your device or just want to have more beautiful wallpapers, I recommend you to check out a few well-known websites that offer tons of iPhone wallpapers: remove splash and Wallpaper Safari.
While Unsplash offers a wide variety of natural and abstract wallpapers, Wallpaper Safari has come up with some iconic wallpapers that should resonate with your fanboy image.
Change iPhone Wallpaper Automatically with One Tap
No matter how good a theme looks, it tends to look dull or washed out after a while. Therefore, a well-timed change is inevitable to keep the charming look and feel intact. Apparently, there is a shortcut that can let you automatically change your iPhone wallpaper with just one tap.
The workaround works with a shortcut called “Wallpaper”. Therefore, you must first set it using the wallpapers of your choice. to set off, create album from all your favorite wallpapers and then add wallpaper shortcut to your shortcut library.
And then, allow wallpaper app To use your private photo album using the shortcut app
Once this is done all you have to do to switch between all your favorite wallpapers is simply press the home screen icon.
Follow Great Home Screen Design Ideas
Creating beautiful themes is not a big deal when you have custom app icons, widgets, and matching wallpapers. Depending on different themes such as dark, winter, love and funky, you can design the home screen by placing the icons in a certain order.
Note that there are no rules of thumb for creating a premium theme. Therefore, never stop experimenting and improvising. As I understand after creating plenty of iOS 14 home screen themes, it’s worth fixing every little thing you think could play a vital role in decorating the home screen.
For example, if you want to create a love theme, bring in colorful widgets that showcase a delicate flower with an appropriate message on it. Also, make sure the app icons are perfectly synchronized with the love theme.
A Few Neat Ways to Keep Clutter Out of the Home Screen
A cluttered home screen is never pleasing to the eye. So make sure you keep it clean so that it never seems loaded with too many unnecessary apps. iOS 14 offers a few better ways to keep the home screen clutter-free.
Download Apps Directly to App Library: There’s no point in cluttering the entire home screen with too many apps when you have a carefully designed App Library always ready to keep apps organized and easily accessible. With iOS 14, you can download apps directly to the App Library. That way, your custom theme with a custom app layout will never be ruined. go to: Settings app -> Home Screen. Under the Recently Downloaded Apps section, Application Library Only.
Hide Unwanted Home Screen Pages: If you want better control over the home screen, keep as few home screen pages as possible. Unlike before, you can hide unnecessary home screen pages to keep them out of sight.
Simply hold down a blank screen and press the horizontal dots at the bottom. After that, deselect the page you want to hide and then hit Done in the top right corner to finish. If you want to show the home screen pages, follow the same steps and then select the pages you want to undo.
Pro Tips to Customize iPhone Home Screen
So you can give your iPhone home screen a special look and feel. With so many great ideas, I think customizing the home screen will now be a pleasant experience for you. And that without having to break your bank.
By the way, which of these tips did you find more exciting? Make sure you capture your feedback. Also, tell us a little about any great tips you think are worth mentioning in this guide.
