How to Change App Icons on iOS 14

Wondering how you can change your app icons with shortcuts on iOS 14?

We’ve all seen those aesthetic iPhone home screens on Twitter and wondered how it works. iOS 14 came with a lot of new features for us Apple users to play around with, and one of them is the Shortcuts app.

The Shortcut app lets you create custom shortcuts that access and open different parts of your iPhone. At the same time, these shortcuts can have customizable icons, which is what you see on those #ios14homescreen hashtag Twitter threads.

But how can you do this? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to make a shortcut appear as an app icon on your home screen.

Let’s get started!

 

1. Download The App Icons Beforehand.

This is often skipped by a lot of users, but downloading your app icons beforehand can save you a ton of time! Additionally, since all your necessary app icons are already in your storage, you won’t keep switching from Safari to save new images.

Now that you can customize your app icons, have fun and pick a theme! A great place for inspiration, among many other websites, is on Twitter and Reddit. You can also browse through Pinterest for a ton of ideas.

reduce reddit app storage size on iphone

Once you pick a solid theme, you can easily just search for these on Google and save the pictures from there. When you change the cover photo of your shortcuts later on, these pictures will automatically be included in the gallery.

 

2. Add Your Home Screen App Shortcuts.

Now for the exciting stuff! Adding shortcuts to your app is simply another way of running a macro that opens the application it’s representing. At the same time, what makes this feature so special is the option of being able to change the preview image of your shortcut.

With this, the transformation on your screen is all up to your imagination. A lot of users have made a ton of creative home screens already, and perhaps yours will be another addition to the recent craze.

Without further ado, here’s how you can add shortcuts as home screen apps:

  1. First, open up the Shortcuts app on your home screen. If this is your first time, don’t be intimated! The steps are long, but they’re pretty simple. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be making shortcuts in a breeze.
  2. Next, on the top-right corner, click on the Plus icon (+) to proceed to the next window.

  1. Once you’re there, tap on Add Action.
  2. A list of numerous actions that you can map to your shortcuts should be displayed on your screen. For the purposes of this tutorial, just look for and tap on Open App.
  3. Then, tap on the Choose button right next to Open.

  1. Here, you can select on the application that you want to hook this shortcut to. You can either scroll through the list or search for it through the search bar at the top of your screen. When you find the desired app, just tap on it to attach it to the shortcut.
  2. You should be brought back to the screen you were previously at. On the top-right corner of your screen, tap on the triple dots to open up the shortcut’s options.
  3. Proceed by selecting Add to Home Screen.
  4. On the following page, tap on the shortcut’s preview image at the right side of your device. This should open a quick actions menu. If you’ve saved your pictures beforehand, just tap on Choose Photo.

  1. You should be directed to either the Photos app by default. Browse for the picture appropriate for this application and tap on it to select. A prompt will enable you to crop the picture to your liking.
  2. Don’t worry, as we’re almost done! With the preview image of your shortcut chosen, tap on the text that says New Shortcut. Doing so will open up a prompt that will allow you to rename the shortcut.
  3. Finally, once your shortcut is named go ahead and tap on the Add button at the top-right corner of your screen!

Congratulations! You’ve successfully made a shortcut open an application, and furthermore changed that shortcut’s image and name to your desired settings. Now go ahead and do this for all the other applications you want to make shortcuts for!

Whenever you use these shortcuts, you might see the Shortcuts app open very briefly. Unfortunately, there is no workaround for this issue. Hopefully, with Apple’s next iOS update, this will no longer happen. Furthermore, these shortcuts are a teeny bit slow, but it should be fast enough to be negligible.

 

3. Hide The Original Apps in The App Library.

But wait, don’t go yet! The original applications are still on your home screen. On older iOS versions, you might be forced to make a folder to hide all these apps, but not for iOS 14.

Although this was a controversial change, adding the App Library to iOS 14 was a good decision by Apple for shortcuts. Since all your applications can be found on the App Library, you can transfer unnecessary applications from your home screen to the App Library to hide them.

This way, your original applications won’t coincide or duplicate on your home screen.

Here’s how you can hide the original apps in the App Library:

  1. Go ahead and look for the original app on your home screen. Tap and hold on the app until a quick actions menu appears on your screen.
  2. Now, select Remove App.
  3. You should be asked between deleting this app or moving it to your App Library. Quickly tap on Move to App Library.

Voila! Now all the apps on your home screen should just be the shortcuts you made a while ago. Congratulations and hopefully it ended up a success.

Now that you’ve reached the end of this article, we hope to have helped you change your app icons with shortcuts on iOS 14. Furthermore, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them down below! You can also discuss your sentiments with our other readers in the comment section.

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • Mako Young

    Mako is a staff writer at Saint. He's been writing about tech for more than a decade. When he isn't reading about the latest news on Apple, he's busy studying cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, cloud computing, and other IT-related sectors. His exceptional work graces technology and Apple-related blogs like How-To Geek, VEED.io, Macgasm, onMac, PhotoWorkout, GameRant, and many more. He also has a Bachelors in Computer Science and has been writing since 2018, with over 400 posts published. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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