How to Change the Color of Apps on iOS 14

This article covers how to change the color of your app icons using the Shortcuts app on iPhones running iOS 14.

How to Customize Your App Icons on iOS 14

If you want to customize your iPhone Home screen, you can do more than just set a favorite picture as the background image. You can also create custom-colored app icons that display your style. For example, if you're more the minimalist type, then recoloring your app icons to make them match your Home screen will feel like zen. It's easy to do using the Shortcuts app.

1. Open the Shortcut app.

   On newer versions of the iPhone, this app is probably already installed. However, on older iPhones, you may need to download it from the Apple App Store.

2. In the top right corner of the app, tap the Plus (+) sign.

3. On the New Shortcut screen, tap Add Action.

4. Search for Open app and the tap it in the search search results.

5. On the New Shortcut page, tap Choose.

6. On the Choose App page, scroll through and find the app whose icon you want to change. In this example, the app is Photos.

   Alternatively, you can type the app's name in the Search Apps search bar at the top of the page and then choose the app from the list of results.

7. You'll return to the New Shortcut page, and the name of the app will appear in place of where you tapped Choose before. Tap the three-dot menu at the top of the page.

8. On the details page, change the name of the app. Just tap in the Shortcut Name field and type something new.

   Make the new name something you recognize as associated with the app when you select it.

9. Then, tap the icon beside the app name on the Details screen.

10. It opens a selection page to choose the icon you would like to use for the app and the color you would like displayed. First, tap Color and then select the color you would like the icon to be.

11. Then tap Glyph and choose the symbol you would like displayed on your app icon. There is no option to have no glyph displayed, so choose the closest match you can find.

12. When you've made these selections, tap Done.

13. You're returned to the Details page. Tap Add to Home Screen.

14. You'll be taken to a preview page where you can see what your app icon will look like. Tap Add.

15. Then you're returned to the Details page, and brief confirmation will appear on the page. You can exit out of the Shortcuts app now and find your new app icon on your Home Screen.

Now you can repeat this process for all the icons for which you want to create custom colors. Unfortunately, however, you're limited to only the colors that are on the menu. You cannot create custom colors for the icons.