How to customize your iPhone’s app icons

Sometimes an app’s icon just doesn’t look right on your homescreen. For example, let’s say — just for the sake of argument — that the icon for a social networking app was switched from a pretty blue bird to a rather stark “X.” Could you change that icon?

The answer is yes — it’s doable using Apple’s built-in Shortcuts app. You actually won’t be replacing the app’s official icon. Rather, you’ll be creating a separate shortcut that leads to the app. It’s a tedious and time-consuming process, but in the end, you can have a fully customized iPhone homescreen.

You can also hide the original app icon so you’ll just have the new one visible. (You don’t want to delete it completely, of course; that would delete the app.)

One note: when you use your new icon to go to the app, you will occasionally get a small drop-down notice that tells you what the original app is called and reminds you of the fact that it is a shortcut. But the drop-down will only last for a second or two, so it shouldn’t be much of a bother.

Update July 31st, 2023, 3:02PM ET: This article was originally published on June 13th, 2021; it has been updated to accommodate changes in iOS 16 and the iOS 17 public beta.