How to change the appearance of app icons on your iPhone
Can I go out now please?
This is a slightly silly tip, but should be good if you have time to kill: A little-known workaround buried deeply in the basement of iOS 14.3 (sort of) lets you make a custom icon for any app on your iPhone, and it’s quite easy to do.
How to change the appearance of app icons on your iPhone
This is very easy and requires you use the Shortcuts app on your iPhone, which should already be on your device. Find an image you want to use as your icon and save it to your Photos library first.
Now follow these steps:
- Open Shortcuts and tap the Plus icon at the top right corner.
- Choose Add Action.
- You will see a search bar in which you should type Open App. You may find yourself at a list of options screen, in which case tap the X at the top right. You’ll then be able to access the search function.
- Choose the Open App option when it appears.
- In the next screen, tap choose and then select the app you want to change the icon for.
Also read: How iOS 14.5 lets masked Apple Watch users unlock Face ID iPhones
- Once selected tap the three dots in the upper right, name the shortcut (eg, ‘Safari2’) and tap Add to Home Screen.
- You name the shortcut by tapping Home Screen Name on the next page.
- Once you save that you’ll be on a Details page. Here you can change the image – tap the icon and choose Photo and select the image you placed earlier.
- Tap Choose to place it. You can also zoom in and out on that image.
- Tap Add.
You have now created an app that directs to one of your existing apps and has a different icon. This should help you while away a lockdown Sunday afternoon.
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