How to Customize the Windows Phone 8 Start Screen

When it comes to users looking for customization, Windows Phone’s plain Metro design language doesn’t do it any favors. Their solid blacks and limited use of gradients are seen by many as boring and too much straitjacket for those who want to bring their personality to their phones. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to customize the Windows Phone 8 Start Screen to better reflect who you are and your interests.

Remove Tiles

Press and hold Select the live tile you want to move.

Your chosen tile will float when selected. Tap now uninstall icon Click in the upper right corner of the floating live tile to remove it.

Resize Tiles

Press and hold Select the live tile you want to resize. On Windows Phone 7, users cannot manually resize live tiles. But on Windows Phone 8, live tile sizes include: large, medium and small.

tap the arrow with a circle around the lower right corner. keep touching until that icon is the size tile you’re looking for.

Add Tiles

From the Start Screen swipe right to left to get the full list of apps installed on your device.

Press and hold In the app you want to pin to your Start Screen. In our example, we add a Nextgen reader.

Faucet pin to start from the drop-down menu.

Windows Phone will now add the live tile for that app to your Start Screen.

Change Live Tile Colors

Turn on your Windows Phone Settings application.

Faucet Theme From the System Settings Menu.

choose yours background and color combination by tapping each menu. Backgrounds can only be Black or White. Users can choose from twenty different vibrant tile colors. tap on custom color to make your own. In our example, we chose emerald.

Tap house Press the button to take a look at your new live tile color.

With these options, you can totally choose the vibrant tile design and color that works for you. Conventional wisdom is to give larger live tiles to more frequently used apps, but some users prefer to reserve the larger live tiles for apps that support them.

With these tips, you’ll have a customized start screen on your Windows Phone that instantly represents your usage status and personal preferences.