How to Change iPhone App Icons as a Pro Using Apple Shortcuts

Although Apple is not very fond of customizing the iPhone, there is a trick to change the application icons for those we like. We can put any icon to any app, we simply have to download it on the iPhone and follow the steps that we show you a little further down.

Since iOS 13 Apple allows a small trick to "change" the icon of the applications on the iPhone or iPad. This trick uses the Shortcuts application to create a simple shortcut that opens the app, and put this the icon we want. And since iOS 14 customization is completed thanks to widgets, and coupled with this trick to change the icons, it leaves us more personal home screens than ever before on iOS.

How to change the icon of an app on iPhone with shortcuts

As we have mentioned, you mainly need the Shortcuts app to change the icons on your iPhone. It is normal that you already have it installed on your iPhone, as it comes standard with the latest versions of iOS. If you deleted it, you can download it from the App Store.

First of all we warn you that it is a long job, we have to create a shortcut for each of the apps that we want to change the icon. Remember that you must have downloaded on your iPhone the icons you want to use as images, once you have them:

1. Open the Shortcuts app and click on the "+" at the top right.
2. Click on Add action.
3. In the search bar type "Open app" and click on this action.
4. Now click on Select and choose the app to which you want to change the icon.
5. Click on Next and name it the same name as the app.
6. Now locate the shortcut you have created and click on the 3 dots at the top right of the shortcut.
7. Once inside the shortcut click again on the 3 points at the top right.
8. Now click on Add to home screen.
9. Click on the icon at the bottom and click on Select photo.
10. Select the image of the icon you downloaded earlier.
11. Click on Add.
12. Again, you must repeat the process with each app to which you want to change the icon.

The icon will appear on the home screen of your iPhone and you will be able to use it. Now just go to the original app, tap and hold on it and tap Delete app > Move to app library. This way the icon will be hidden and will not appear on the home screen.

A simple but effective trick

Admittedly, this is not an icon change, we are simply creating access to the app via a shortcut. This means that there are several things to keep in mind:

• The opening of the application may be slower.
• Notification balloons will not appear over these icons.
• We lose all Haptic Touch functions that appear when holding down an icon.