• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
How2forU

How2forU

easy answers for you and me

  • Laptop & PC
  • Smartphone & Tablet
  • Office
  • Apps & Software
  • Glossary
  • Blog
  • Hobby
Home » How to change app icons on your Smartphone

How to change app icons on your Smartphone

12/11/2020 by Sandra Sporer

Advertisement: Article contains Affiliate Links marked with “*”

Changing the app icons on your smartphone is a great way to give your phone a little personality boost. And the best part: it’s easy. We show you which options you have and provide step-by-step instructions.

Explore this article: 💡 hide
1 Change app icons on Android: How do you change the look of your apps
1.1 Change app icons via custom launcher
2 iOS14: How to change app icons on your iPhone
2.1 How to change app icons on iphone with shortcut
2.2 How to change app icons to pictures on iOS14

Change app icons on Android: How do you change the look of your apps

Changing individual icons on your Android smartphone* is fairly easy.

  • Search the app icon you want to change. Press and hold the app icon until a popup appears.
  • Select “Edit”.
  • The following popup window shows you the app icon as well as the application’s name (which you can also change here).
  • To choose a different icon, tap on the app icon. Now you can choose a different one from the available selection.
  • If you don’t like the default choices, you can always download an icon pack from the playstore.
Screenshot of the Google Play Store for the search result icon pack (c) Screenshot

Change app icons via custom launcher

Time needed: 3 minutes.

The second option you have is to use a launcher which allows you many more options to customize your phone’s home screen. There are a wide variety of launchers that each work somewhat differently. In the following, we will describe how to set up the Nova Launcher (for Android) and how to change your phone icons with it.

  1. Download a custom luncher

    For Android devices you could download the Nova LauncherScreenshot of the Nova Launcher in the App Store

  2. Follow on-screen setup instructions

    After downloading the launcher, open the Nova Launcher app and follow the on-screen setup instructions.

  3. Return to the home screen

    Once this is done, return to the home screen. Either this will automatically prompt your phone to ask you if you want to switch to the Nova Launcher home screen or you need to tap the app icon again to make the switch.Screenshot of the first step of how to change app icons with the Nova Launcher

  4. Tap the “Nova Settings” icon

    To change your app icons, tap the “Nova Settings” icon to open them.Screenshot of the second step of how to change app icons with the Nova Launcher

  5. Select “Look & Feel” and, on the following menu screen “Icon Style”

    Screenshot of the third and fourth step of how to change app icons with the Nova Launcher

  6. Tap on “Icon Theme”

    Tap on “Icon Theme” to switch between the different themes installed on your phone. Nova Launcher doesn’t come with its own set of custom icons, so you have to download icon packs from the app store.Screenshots of the final steps of how to change app icons with the Nova Launcher

  7. Tip: Preview

    Tip: The preview in the upper third of the screen shows you how the icons will look, so you can make sure they work with your current background.

💡

Did you ever wonder how to customize your iOS 14 iPhone? ▻Then make sure to check out our article how to add a widget on your iOS 14 iPhone!

iOS14: How to change app icons on your iPhone

Under Apple’s iOS, you can change the icons of your apps to create a customized home screen on your iPhone and iPad. Apple allows you to create Shortcuts or Bookmarks you can customize for free. With the new iOS14 you can create individualized home screens with customized app icons and widgets.

How to change app icons on iphone with shortcut

  • Open the app “Shortcuts” on your iPhone.
  • Select the library tab (the icon shows four squares forming a larger square).
  • Tap the plus icon in the upper right corner to create a new shortcut.
  • Search or select the actions the shortcut should perform. To add an action to the shortcut, simply tap on it.
  • The backwards- and forwards-pointing arrows in the upper left allow you to undo or redo your last few actions.
  • Should you merely want to change the order of the individual actions, you can simply tap and hold the action whose position you want to switch and then drag it to the right place.
  • You can test your shortcut by pressing the play button (upper middle of the screen). 
  • Finally, you can name your shortcut by tapping on the symbol with the two toggle switches in the upper right.
  • Once you’re done creating your shortcut, confirm by tapping “Done“
  • To customize your shortcut, find it in the library tab. Access the settings by tapping on the symbol in the upper right corner of the shortcut (three dots in a gray circle).
  • Then tap again on the settings icon in the upper right corner of the current screen.
  • Tap on the icon to select a different one. You can select a glyph and the background color of the app icon individually.

How to change app icons to pictures on iOS14

  • You can also choose a photo for your app icon by selecting “Choose Photo“. Select the photo you want to use as the app icon and adjust it to your liking by zooming in or out. When you’re done select “Choose“.
  • To display the shortcut on the home screen, tap “Add to Home Screen“. Confirm by selecting “Add” in the upper right-hand corner.
  • Tip: If you tap the app icon in this screen, you can instead choose to select an image from your camera roll as app icon.
  • Now the shortcut appears on your home screen.
Three Screenshots showing how to create a new Shortcut with the Apple “Shortcuts” app. (c) Screenshots
Three screenshots of the Apple “Shortcuts” app showing how to setup a shortcut. (c) Screenshots
Three Screenshots showing how to customise the shortcut’s icon and add it to the homescreen. (c) Screenshots

Sandra Sporer
Sandra Sporer

My name is Sandra Sporer. I’m a 27-year-old English Literature student with an interest in gaming, art, books (of course), cinema and history. My love for writing sparked my interest in journalism and I completed a one-year-internship at my local newspaper right after school. From 2018 onward I have been writing articles for CHIP, Focus, How2ForU and other websites.

  • Sandra Sporer
    #molongui-disabled-link
    What is a hashtag used for (#)? Simple explanation of meaning and use
  • Sandra Sporer
    #molongui-disabled-link
    Claudia Conway: 5 facts about Kallyanne's rebelling daughter
  • Sandra Sporer
    #molongui-disabled-link
    How to add a widget
  • Sandra Sporer
    #molongui-disabled-link
    How to change app icons on your iPhone

💡 Related Posts:

  • How to change app icons on your iPhone
    How to change app icons on your iPhone
  • Using a smartphone as a webcam - this is how it works
    Using a smartphone as a webcam - this is how it works
  • Instagram: How to change your username
    Instagram: How to change your username
  • Windows 10: How to change your computer name
    Windows 10: How to change your computer name
  • Excel: How to change the background color based on the cell value
    Excel: How to change the background color based on the cell…
  • Netflix: How to change the language
    Netflix: How to change the language
  • How to change line spacing in Word
    How to change line spacing in Word
  • Corona-Warn-App Germany: How it works and what you need to know
    Corona-Warn-App Germany: How it works and what you need to…
  • What is Clubhouse? All you need to know about the new social app
    What is Clubhouse? All you need to know about the new social…
  • Clubhouse App Icon - Meaning and Changes
    Clubhouse App Icon - Meaning and Changes

Filed Under: Smartphone & Tablet Tagged With: Android, iOS, smartphone

Tags

Alexa Android app app icon Apple Covid-19 definition DIY documents e-mail Excel Facebook food Google Halloween health Holidays Instagram iOS iPad iPhone kik Mac messages messenger Microsoft Office music Netflix network Outlook Samsung screenshot shortcuts Signal Smart Home smartphone social media Spotify Telegram video call WhatsApp WiFi Windows10 Word Zoom

Primary Sidebar

Browse our How Tos

Browse by category

  • Glossary
  • Smartphone & Tablet
  • Laptop & PC
  • Hobby
  • Office
  • Apps & Software
Teaser image for the article "USB: Difference between charging and data cable"

USB: This is the difference between charging and data cable

05/12/2021 By Jennifer Fritsch

The difference between a USB data cable and a USB charging cable is not obvious to everyone at first glance. We explain the differences between the two and how to tell them apart.

A smart home speaker placed on top of a laptop with a textbox superimposed on it reading "Alexa: How to activate and set up Drop in"

How to activate Alexa Drop In

03/25/2021 By Nadine Noppinger

You can activate and set up Alexa Drop in to use your echo devices as a hands-free kit. To do so, simply follow our step-by-step guide.

mac

How to take a screenshot on your MacBook

04/08/2021 By How2forU

If you’d like to take a screenshot you’ll just need to know simple key combinations. We’ll show you how to take a screenshot.

How to play Skip-Bo

How to play Skip-Bo: Short description of rules

02/02/2022 By Nadine Noppinger

Skip-Bo is a card game for 2-6 people with set rules. The player who gets rid of all the cards the fastest wins. How to prepare and play the game and what the rules are, you can read in this practice tip. Rules of Skip-Bo Skip-Bo has many decks of cards, which makes the game […]

pages

Word: How to start page numbering on page 3

03/01/2021 By Sarah Winter

It´s easy to start page numbering on page 3 of a Microsoft Office Word document. Even if numbering should start with 1 instead of 3.

How to animate on Procreate

How to animate on Procreate

01/31/2022 By Anita Sommer

With Procreate you can animate drawings on your iPad. You can export your animation as a mp4 video or as a GIF. We will show you how it works.

Categories

  • 💡 Laptop & PC
  • 💡 Smartphone & Tablet
  • 💡 Office
  • 💡 Apps & Software
  • 💡 Glossary
  • 💡 Hobby

Smartphone & Tablet

How to change app icons on Android & iOS14💡 iPhone: How to recover deleted text messages💡How to share your iPhone calendar💡Sidecar: How to turn an iPad into a secondary Mac display 💡Huawei: How to take a Screenshot 💡 Samsung Galaxy S8: How to take a screenshot 💡 How to find your IMEI number 💡 iPad: How to take a screenshot

Laptop & PC

How to check your CPU temperature 💡 Is there a snipping tool for Mac? 💡 How to take a screenshot on your MacBook 💡 How to connect laptop to monitor

Office

How to fix slow running Windows 10 💡 How to use emojis in Microsoft Outlook 💡 How to password protect a folder in Windows 10 💡Excel: How to change the background color based on the cell value 💡 How to disable startup programs in Windows 10 💡 Word: How to start page numbering on page 3 💡 How to take screenshots on Windows 10

Apps & Software

How to start a video call on viber 💡 Funny questions you can ask Alexa💡Alexa glows green 💡 How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages 💡 Alexa glows yellow 💡 How to delete your Snapchat account 💡 How to merge several PDF files 💡 How to edit PDF files 💡 How to create a Gmail account 💡 Spotify Family: How to share an account 💡 Spotify costs: Free Account vs. Premium

Hobby

How to make homemade hand sanitizer 💡 What to eat after a colonoscopy 💡 How to keep chickens 

Glossary

What is 5G? 💡 What is 4G and 4G+? 💡 What’s Bixby? 💡 What is a VPN connection? 💡 What is the WPS button and where can I find it? 💡 “Thug life”: What does that mean? 💡What is a hashtag? 💡 What is SSID?

Footer

Pages

  • Blog
  • How2forU
  • Imprint
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in