iOS App Icon

Getting started

 

Start with digital minimalism in mind

When using a custom icon set for your home screen, no notification badge will be displayed. This is a limitation from Apple that actually benefits our efforts to reduce the distraction caused by those little red dots. The harmonious colors and themed styles of our icon sets will also take away the cognitive overload we usually have with regular app icons which differ greatly in color and style.

 

Below are some tips and initial setup to help you get started with your home screen personalization geared towards digital minimalism:

Update your iPhone to iOS 14

Go to “Settings > General > Software Update”, then make sure that you have iOS 14 installed or tap “Download” if you haven’t. The software update is only available on the iPhone 6S and up.

Tips #1: Tidy up your home screen

Because on iOS 14 you can find all of your apps in the App Library, you might not need as many Home Screen pages for apps. You can hide some Home Screen pages with regular apps by following these steps:

  1. Touch and hold any empty space on the Home Screen until the apps begin to jiggle.
  2. Tap the dots at the bottom of the screen.
  3. To hide pages, tap to remove the checkmarks below the thumbnails of the pages you don’t need.
  4. Tap “Done” twice (on an iPhone with Face ID) or press the Home button twice (on an iPhone with a Home button).

Tips #2: Add widgets to home screen

Choose from built-in widgets by Apple and installed apps by following these steps:

  1. Go to the Home Screen page where you want to add the widget, then touch and hold any empty space until the apps begin to jiggle.
  2. Tap “+” button at the top of the screen.
  3. Find the widget you want, tap it, then select the size that you want.
  4. Tap “Add Widget”, then tap “Done”.

 

Besides using available widgets, you can also download various widget apps like Widgetsmith, Color Widgets, FlipClock, Motivation, Dawn, etc.

Tips #3: Still need notification badges?

You can create one dedicated home page with all apps that still need notification badges, or activate notifications badge for App Library by following these steps:

  1. Open “Settings”, then tap “Home Screen”.
  2. Turn on “Show in App Library”.

Using icon set for aesthetic

Purchase icon set from our collections

Choose and purchase icon set from our collections that best reflects your aesthetic taste and personality. After purchase, extract the zip file and save it to your iCloud Drive or other folders that can be accessed from your iPhone (we don’t recommend downloading them to the photo library because you will lose the ability to search icon by name)

Change wallpaper

Use included wallpaper from our icon set of your choice or download from other sources like the web or wallpaper apps on the App Store.

Set custom icons to open system apps

For system apps, follow these steps:

  1. Launch the Shortcuts app.
  2. Tap the “+” icon on the top-right corner.
  3. Tap “Add Action”.
  4. Tap “Scripting”.
  5. Select “Open App”.
  6. Tap “Choose”.
  7. Select the app you want, then tap “•••” on the top-right corner.
  8. Tap “Add to Home Screen”.
  9. Tap the app icon with blue outline, then select “Choose Photo” or “Choose File”.
  10. Select the icon that you want to use.
  11. In the text field, rename the app or make it blank for minimal look, then tap “Add”.
  12. Done!
  13. Repeat the process for other system apps.

 

🗒 Note:
Everytime you tap a custom icon for system apps, your phone will open Shortcuts app for a split second before the app opens. To smoothen this transition, go to “Settings > Accessibility > Motion”, then turn on “Reduce Motion”.

Set custom icons to open App Store apps

Even though you can set custom icons for App Store apps using the same steps as system apps, we recommend using Fancy Icon Maker because it has 2 major benefits:

  1. Your custom icons will be able to open apps without going to Shortcuts first.
  2. You can set icons for multiple apps at once.

 

Steps to add icons using Fancy Icon Maker:

  1. Open “Settings”, then tap “Shortcuts”.
  2. Turn on “Allow Untrusted Shortcuts”.
  3. Go to the Fancy Icon Maker on RoutineHub website, then tap “Get Shortcuts”.
  4. It will open “Shortcuts” app with Fancy Icon Maker details being viewed.
  5. Scroll to the bottom and tap “Add Untrusted Shortcuts”.
  6. Tap “Skip setup” and it is ready to be used.
  7. Tap “Fancy Icon Maker” and follow the on-screen instructions to add multiple App Store apps that you want.