Back at WWDC24, Apple announced that its upcoming iOS 18 update will finally allow iPhone users to customise their app icons on the Home screen, bringing it one step closer to Android level customisation.
Although iOS 18 is not set to launch until later this year, eager users can already access the beta update via Apple’s Public Beta Program. If you’re curious and want to join the exclusive club, we cover how to install the iOS 18 public beta separately.
So whether you’re one of the users already sporting iOS 18 or you’re just planning ahead, here’s how to change the colour of your app icons icons in iOS 18.
What you’ll need:
- An iPhone running the iOS 18 beta
The short version:
- Tap and hold on an empty area on the Home Screen.
- Tap Edit.
- Tap Customise.
- Choose your new colour theme.
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Step
1Tap and hold on an empty area on the Home Screen
Tapping and holding on an empty area will allow you to customise your Home screen. This includes rearranging app icons, adding widgets and, new in iOS 18, the ability to change the look of your app icons.
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Step
2Tap Edit
Tap Edit in the top-left of the screen to access the Edit menu.
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Step
3Tap Customise
Tap Customise from the Edit drop down menu.
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Step
4Choose your new colour theme
A pop up will appear from the bottom of the screen, showing you all the icon customisation options. These customisation options include Automatic, which is based on your iPhone’s Dark Mode settings, Light, Dark or Tinted. The latter allows you to choose both the base colour and its intensity and all options will be applied across every icon.
Troubleshooting
Yes, although there are some icons that may not be optimised for customisation yet. Even so, the system will still paint the icon in the same colour or tint to ensure it matches as closely as possible.
When you select the Tinted option you’ll see two sliders. The top slider changes the colour of your icons while the bottom slider adjusts the intensity of the colour.
