Teach you how to customize iOS 14 APP icons

Since the release of iOS 14, desktop widgets and shortcuts have once again sparked a DIY desktop craze. Today I will teach you how to change the desktop picture icon.

Similarly, this tutorial on changing icons is based on Apple’s official Shortcuts app. If you don’t have this app yet, go to the App Store and search for it to download it for free.

In earlier versions of iOS 14, when opening an app through shortcuts, you need to jump in the Shortcuts app before you can open it. Although there will be no loss of functional integrity, jumping the screen in the middle will inevitably cause a huge sense of disconnection.

Fortunately, this jump process has been cancelled in the latest iOS 14 version. Now you can open the app directly through shortcut commands without jumping, which is almost the same as the experience of the native app.

Shortcut command icon change

1. Get the app icon file

First, download your favorite icons from the Internet or make them yourself using image editing software. We recommend that you search on free and high-quality websites such as Pinterest, Canva, and icons8.

If you have friends who like macOS Big Sur style icons, I recommend an open source macOS Big Sur style icon site macosicons.com. This website provides many user-made Big Sur style icons, which can be used for macOS and iOS for free.

2. Create shortcuts

Create a new item in the shortcut command, search for "Open" in the search box below, find "Open App" and add it to the shortcut command, then select the app to open in the item properties. Then give this command a name and save it to complete the creation.

3. Add to Home Screen

Select the "Share" button below this shortcut, then select "Add to Home Screen", then name the App (or leave it blank), then click the image on the left and replace it with your favorite icon, then click "Add".

Go back to the home screen and compare the original icon and the one you modified. The opening experience is exactly the same. Then move the native app to the App Library and hide it.

Another way to change the icon

If you think it is too troublesome to change icons one by one, you can also use a third-party software "moloko" to change icons of different styles with one click.

* moloko requires a scientific Internet connection to access properly.

Moloko is a completely free software that can download iOS icons and replace them directly with one click, which is much faster than using shortcuts to replace them one by one. Currently, there are more than 40 styles in moloko, and it is still being updated.

Select a style you like in moloko. moloko provides two options: replacing system apps and third-party apps. You can choose the option you like and click "Download".

The system will then automatically install a description file. Follow the prompts to install the description file to complete the one-click replacement of the icon. The icon replaced from moloko will not jump and can be opened directly. Similarly, finally move the native app to the App Resource Library to hide it.

Unlike shortcuts, which can change icons and names at will, moloko cannot customize the name of the icon, nor can it change the icon of a single app.

Do you want to delete the moloko icon or change the style? Simply delete the installed description file to restore the default icon.