Have you ever wished you could give your iPhone a more personal touch? Well, the good news is, now you can with the IOS 16. And if you want to put your stamp on your device, you can take a step further and change icons for your favorite app, especially if your device is running on IOS 16.
The in-built Apple app Shortcuts makes it possible. You won’t be swapping out the default icons for these apps but rather creating new shortcuts to them. Creating a personalized iPhone home screen is a time-consuming and laborious process, but the end result is worth it.
How to Change App Icons IOS 16: iPhone’s Home Screen
Until iOS 14 introduced widgets and an App Library, the iPhone Home Screen was simply a grid of installed apps. Users can now do much more than just reorganize icons into folders.
App icons, app folders, widgets, and pages make up the Home Screen. An iPhone can have up to six rows of four apps each, as well as a dock.
Apps, widgets, or entire Home Screen pages can be removed.
Getting rid of unnecessary junk is part of managing the Home Screen. To prevent new apps from being installed automatically on the Home Screen, go to the Settings app, select “Home Screen,” and then tap “App Library Only.”
Remove Entire Home Screen Pages at Once and Send All Apps to the App Library
The steps below are required for anyone who hasn’t customized their iPhone since iOS 14. Users who download a large number of apps will most likely have several pages of unorganized app icons, and this method is the quickest way to get rid of them.
To remove unwanted Home Screen pages, follow these steps:
- Hold down an app icon or a blank space on the Home Screen.
- When you press an app, a menu for managing that app appears. Continue to press to enter “wiggle mode” and edit the Home Screen.
- At the bottom of the screen, tap the Home Screen tab indicator. It appears to be a series of dots.
- A list of available Home Screens will be displayed. A check mark indicates that the current Focus mode is set to Home Screen.
- Tap a checkmark to make that Home Screen unavailable for the current Focus. That Home Screen remains available for use with other Focus Modes and is not deleted.
- When a checkmark is removed, a “-” appears in the top left corner of the page. To delete the entire page and its contents, tap the “-” button.
- When you’re finished with the remaining Home Screens, it’s time to clean up anything that wasn’t deleted or disabled.
Send Unwanted Apps to the App Library
The App Library is a searchable repository of all the apps that have been installed on the iPhone. Sending apps here does not delete them from the device; rather, it moves the app icons out of the way and organizes them for later use.
It is no longer necessary to keep each installed app on the Home Screen.
To delete or uninstall apps:
- Hold down an app icon or a blank space on the Home Screen.
- When you press an app, a menu for managing that app appears. Continue to press to enter “wiggle mode” and edit the Home Screen.
- To remove an object from the Home Screen, tap the “-” symbol at the top left of the object.
- A pop-up will appear asking if you want to delete or move this app to the App Library. Select “Remove from Home Screen” to keep the app on your home screen.
- Repeat the process for any other apps that need to be removed.
- These steps also apply to removing Safari bookmarklets or Shortcut bookmarks. Tapping on the “-” prompts the user to delete the bookmark completely, which must be recreated later.
Remove Widgets From the Home Screen of Your iPhone
Apple includes example widgets with the most recent operating system installation, so you may need to remove some unwanted widgets right away. Widgets and widget stacks can be managed in the same way.
To remove a widget, follow these steps:
- Hold your finger down on a widget or a blank space on the Home Screen.
- When you press a widget, a menu with options for managing that widget will appear. Continue to press to enter “wiggle mode” and edit the Home Screen.
- Widgets can be stacked or stand alone on the Home Screen. Tap the “-” symbol to remove a single widget or an entire stack. To manage individual widgets within a stack, tap on it.
- Now that the unnecessary junk has been removed, you can begin customizing the Home Screen.
Choose a Wallpaper for Your Home Screen
The active Home Screen page and Lock Screen wallpaper cannot be used to select the Home Screen wallpaper. The wallpaper will be the same for every active page in Focus Mode, but it can be switched between Focuses based on the user’s preferences.
Skip this section if you’ve already customized your iPhone Home Screen wallpaper based on the previous Lock Screen customization. If you want to change your wallpaper without changing the Lock Screen, follow these steps.
- Launch the Settings app.
- Scroll to the bottom and click “Wallpaper.”
- The Lock Screen wallpaper is on the left, and the Home Screen wallpaper is on the right. To change the Home Screen wallpaper, tap “Customize” on the right.
- Use the same wallpaper as the Lock Screen, a solid color, a gradient, or a new photo from the options at the bottom.
- Turn on or off the blur option for photo backgrounds.
- To finish editing, click “Done” in the upper right corner.
Use this option to create a wallpaper that matches the Home Screen page you’ve chosen. Widgets and app icons can be designed to complement a wallpaper, but users are not limited to a single wallpaper option.
Wallpapers chosen for a specific occasion The current Focus Mode is used to save the Lock Screen and Home Screen.
Now that the Home Screen has a nice wallpaper and no unnecessary apps or widgets, it’s time to start adding apps and Shortcuts bookmarks.
Inserting an App Into the Home Screen
Apps from the App Library can be added. The developer has complete control over these app icons. Some third-party apps have alternative icons that allow users to customize their apps without using Shortcuts. There are no alternate icons for Apple apps.
To add an app to the Home Screen, follow these steps:
- When on the Home Screen, swipe to the right until you reach the App Library.
- Find an app to add to your Home Screen. Hold down the app icon until a menu appears.
- Choose “Add to Home Screen.” If there is no space on the current page, the app will be added to an empty slot or a new page will be created.
- To reposition the app, press and hold the app icon and begin dragging. Existing app icons and widgets will be relocated.
- To exit wiggle mode, let go of the app at the desired location and tap “Done” in the top right corner.
Across the operating system, app icons are fixed. Because an app can be added to multiple Home Screen pages that are used across multiple Focuses, changing the app icon changes the app icon everywhere.
Users can use custom bookmarks created in Shortcuts instead of a single icon because a single icon may not work on every custom wallpaper in every Focus. This feature is also beneficial for Apple apps that lack alternate icon options.
How to Change App Icons IOS 16: Add Personalized App Icons to the Home Screen
It is the user’s responsibility to find custom icons for apps. From Gumroad to Reddit, there are numerous websites where you can find new and unique icon packs. Downloading and editing existing icons in an app like Affinity Photo can also be useful (and free).
Once you’ve gathered a collection of custom icons in the Photos app or Files, it’s time to make a Shortcuts bookmark.
- Start the Shortcuts app.
- To make a new Shortcut, press the “+” button.
- Select “add action” and look for “Open App.” Choose “Open App” from the list of options.
- Tap on the word “App” in blue text. Look for the app that is being launched by a custom icon. Choose that app.
- Tap on the menu at the top of the editing screen to rename the Shortcut. While not required, it is necessary to keep track of multiple app launchers’ built-in Shortcuts.
- From the same top menu, choose “Add to Home Screen.”
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- To rename the icon, tap on the text. To select a custom image from Photos or Files, tap the icon next to the text.
- Tap “add” to complete the customization and add the icon to the Home Screen.
- Return to Shortcuts and tap the ellipses on the newly created app launcher shortcut to add another custom icon to the Home Screen for that app. Repeat for each custom page that will be used on different Focuses where that app will be used.
This method enables the use of different custom icons for the same app bookmark across Focuses with different wallpapers and widgets. Make a new Shortcut for each app that requires a customized icon.
The only difference between tapping an app icon from the App Library and tapping an app bookmark with a custom icon is a notification banner. When you tap an app bookmark, it will always show that a Shortcut is running for a brief moment.
Insert Widgets Into the Home Screen
In the App Store, there are dozens of great apps for creating custom widgets. Furthermore, most other apps include a built-in widget for displaying data from that app.
Many users will be pleased with the widgets offered by apps such as Carrot Weather and Fantastical. When more customization is required, make sure to build some custom widgets to match a wallpaper or Focus.
When it’s time to add a Home Screen widget:
- To enter wiggle mode, press and hold a blank space or an app icon on the Home Screen.
- Tap the “+” sign in the upper left corner.
- A list of apps with available widgets is displayed first, followed by a selection of suggested widgets. The “Smart Stack” option creates a widget stack based on app usage.
- Drag a widget onto the Home Screen by pressing and holding it. To add a widget to a stack, move it over to another widget of the same size.
- To edit widgets within a stack, tap on it.
- While in wiggle mode, tap on a widget to edit its contents when available. Change the conditions displayed by the weather app, for example.
- Place a widget, customize its background and data, and choose which apps or bookmarks appear on the page. A single Home Screen page is now complete and ready for use with a specific Focus.
Focus Modes bring it all together
After you’ve created a Lock Screen and a Home Screen page layout, it’s time to link them with a Focus Mode. When a Focus is active, only the Home Screen pages that have a custom wallpaper and a specific Lock Screen are displayed.
To see different customized layouts, switch between Focuses or turn off Focus. Make use of scheduling tools and automation to change things based on context.
Focus Modes are controlled via the Settings app’s “Focus” section. There is a list of existing Focuses with a “+” in the top right corner to add more. Users can have a maximum of ten Focuses.
Apple’s pre-defined Focuses contains various controls. The Driving Focus, for example, does not have a Home Screen page selection option. Explore the default Focuses or create your own custom Focus.
Pre-defined Focuses with default names and icons include Driving, Work, and Personal. When creating or editing a custom Focus, users can choose an icon, color, and name.
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How to Change App Icons IOS 16: References
