Who doesn't love a little customization on the fly? A way to enhance your day to day dealings with a little “you-ness” that you can take with you wherever you go. Keep reading as we unpack a few quick and efficient ways to customize your iPhone by changing your existing app icons.
How do I change the icons on my home screen?
In a quick-fix, high-velocity society, shortcuts are king. They give you the ability to perform somewhat complicated tasks at the click of a button and customize features to your liking. And, your mobile device should be no different. Use the preinstalled shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad to rename or change your app icons however you like. Here’s what you need to do.
- From your iPhones home screen, swipe right to access the search screen.
- Search for the “Shortcuts” app and tap on it to launch.
- Tap the “+” icon at the top of the screen to create a new shortcut.
- Tap “Add Action” and a new window will pop up.
- Search for and tap the option to “Open App.”
- On the “New Shortcuts Screen,” you’ll see a new “Open App” action has been added.
- Tap “Choose” and select the app you’d like to customize from a list of options.
Can you change icons on iPhone apps?
Without a doubt, you can change almost any app icon using the Shortcuts app using the above steps. However, do keep in mind that some core apps may not recognise the shortcut command and stay hard coded to remain the same. You’ll need to do a little trial and error, but once you get the hang of it, the process is quick, painless and fun, especially once you start changing and stylizing images on screen.
With shortcuts added, you can move your original apps to your Apps library. If you ever want to go back to the original display, you can take them out of the library by following the below steps.
- Open your App Library and hold down on the app you’d like back on the home screen.
- A menu will pop up with the option to “Add to Homescreen.” Tap “Confirm.”
If you’d like to delete a customized app from your shortcuts you'll need to navigate over to the Shortcuts App. From there, tap “My Shortcuts”, find the shortcut you’d like to delete and tap “Confirm.”
How to customize your iPhone's app icons?
At this point, you would have navigated to the Shortcuts tab, created your app shortcut and selected the app you'd like to customize from a dropdown list, i.e Spotify, Tiktok, LinkedIn or anything else. Now it's time to rename and find a unique image for your app icon.
Follow the below steps to get started.
- Tap the “Three Dots” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
- Enter a name for your new App Shortcut and tap “Add to Homescreen.”
- Navigate to the “Homescreen Name and Icon” section and change the app name.
- Tap the App icon to the left of the name to bring up options for “Choose Photo” or “File.”
- Pick the customized image you’d like to use as your new app icon and select “Choose.”
- You’ll then see a preview of your new app icon, which you can go ahead and confirm.
Change your iPhone home screen design using Widgetsmith
You can also change your iPhone home screen design using the Widgetsmith App. WidgetSmith lets you personalize your home screen widgets across any number of different categories including weather, calculator, time/date, photos and more. The app has a bunch of intuitive templates and sizing options that personalize your phone to maximum effect. The app itself is free to download on the App Store, with the option to upgrade to a Pro Plan
Follow the below steps to get started using Widgetsmith.
- Open the Widgetsmith app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Select whether you'd like to make a “small”, “medium” or “large” widget and confirm.
- Rename your widget to store and locate it later.
- Click on the widget icon and customize using different wording, photos etc.
- Then, customize your widgets font, background, style and border.
- Hit “Save” and leave the app.
- Long press your iPhones home screen and hit the “+” at the top to open widgets.
- Select “Add Widget” and select the option you’ve just created. Click “Done.”
Congrats! You’ve got a shiny new widget, ready to simplify your life and keep your information top of mind for when you need it most.
Choose how you want your app icons to appear?
With most of the heavy lifting out the way, you may still want to rearrange your home screen apps to appear in a specific order. Well, this can be done easily.
All you need to do is hold down on any app or widget on your home screen until they all start to jiggle. Start dragging app icons to wherever you'd like them to appear on the screen. You can also hold down and select “Edit Home Screen” and follow the same steps.
Remember if you'd like to hide an app at any point, you can send it over to the app library. Press and hold down on the app icon you’d like to hide. From there, a menu will pop up where you can tap on the “Remove App” icon. A second menu will appear. Tap on “Move to App Library.”