Source: How to customise your iPhone home screen with shortcuts and widgets
(Pocket-lint) – Let’s say there’s a holiday coming up – like Halloween or Christmas – and you want your iPhone to look spooky or festive. Did you know that you can do more than turn your wallpaper into a ghost or a witch or Santa Claus and his reindeer?
There was a time when Apple didn’t allow its users to customize the home screen. But the company is much more forgiving these days. You can completely control the aesthetics of an iPhone by customizing your home screen app icons and using widgets. If you want to go super sharp, you can even add a video clip of something to your lock screen. It’s easy to do.
Of course, to get started you’ll need an iPhone running at least iOS 14 (although the latest version of iOS is always best).
How to create custom app icons and add them to your iPhone home screen
Put on your thinking cap – because this one requires some creativity.
1. Trim your apps
Before you start, reduce the number of apps on your home screen. Too many apps can look cluttered. Additionally, if you want to change the icon for each app on your home screen, it will take less time if you only have a few. To remove an app, press and hold one, select “Remove app” and confirm. you don’t delete it Just swipe from the right on your home screen to find it in the App Library, or swipe down on the home screen to find it.
Apple has a support page with additional information and tips on how to properly organize your home screen and get the most out of the app library.
2. Find the app icons to use
Once you have a few selected apps on your home screen, find some photos on the web or in your camera gallery that you want to turn into app icons. On Etsy, sellers offer thousands of themed icon packs that you can buy and download online in seconds and at super low prices. There are also apps (like Color Widgets) and websites (like Flaticon) that offer free icons to download and use. Or you can use a photo that you have taken and saved.
If you’re going for an aesthetic, stick to a theme. Those of you who choose Halloween, for example, could try images of bats, witches, etc. as icons.
3. Create app shortcuts
Open Apple’s Shortcuts app. It’s a pre-installed app, so you don’t need to download it.
You’ll use shortcuts to replace the app icons on your home screen with whatever icons and photos you curated in step two above. You just create a shortcut for an app and then add it to your home screen. It will look and function like an app – but it will have the custom icon and name you gave it.
In the Shortcuts app, do the following:
- Tap the + in the corner.
- In the new shortcuts panel, tap Add action.
- In the menu that appears, look for “Open app”.
- In the new shortcuts panel, tap “App” to choose the app you want to open.
- press the options menu in the corner to access the details panel.
- In the details pane, tap Add to home screen.
- In the preview window, tap the shortcut’s name field (below Home screen name and icon).
- Delete “New Shortcut” and enter a new name for the app.
- Maybe use the name of the app you want to open (e.g. “TikTok”).
- Tap the icon next to the shortcut name (under Home screen name and icon).
- From the edit icon menu that appears, select the option Choose a photo.
- Your photo gallery will appear. Choose a photo to use as an icon.
- In the preview area, tap Add to.
- Now exit the shortcuts and look at your home screen to see the result.
- You should see the app shortcut you created with a custom icon and name.
- Remove the original app from your home screen so you don’t see both apps.
Now repeat all the steps above for each app you want to change on your home screen. Again, if you’re going for an aesthetic, stick to a theme.
Note: You can get extra creative with the Shortcuts app. You can create custom shortcuts or use Apple’s launcher shortcuts and save them as “apps” on your home screen – even with their own icons! The idea is that with a quick tap on the app shortcut you’ve created, you can open a specific YouTube video, or message your partner on Snapchat, or launch Shazam. The possibilities are endless. You can really go overboard by creating app shortcuts and icons for anything.
Apple has a support page with additional information and tips on using the Shortcuts app to maximize your iPhone experience.
How to create custom widgets and add them to your iPhone home screen
There are several apps in the Apple App Store that you can use to create a widget and add it to your home screen. Widgetsmith and Color Widgets are popular examples. With them, you can pin a small, medium, or large photo to your home screen. For example, if it’s Halloween, add a pumpkin photo.
For the purposes of this guide, we’ll tell you how to use Color Widgets easily because we think it has a better interface than Widgetsmith.
- Open Color Widgets and go to the Widgets tab.
- Under the top row or the pre-made widgets, tap one to edit it.
- Tap on change widget below
- You can then choose a specific style or choose blank
- Tap on add a photo to change the photo
- In the photo gallery that opens Choose a photo and confirm the harvest.
- On the customization screen, you can add a border color if needed.
- When you’re done customizing, tap Set widget.
- You may be prompted to replace an existing widget or Set as new widget.
- Exit Color Widgets, go to Home Screen and Press down in an empty area.
- Tap the + in the corner.
- Are you looking for “color widgets“Widget.
- When it opens, go to the size widget you want to add and then select it Add widget.
- It will then be added to your home screen.
- You may need to edit your widget to choose the right one
- To edit the widget, hold and tap on it Edit widget.
- Select the widget you wanted to add to your home screen.
Note: There are limitations on widget customization apps. For example, many of them cost money to use after their free trial expires. They also add their name to the widget on your home screen and either don’t allow you to remove the name or they charge you extra to do it. Finally, the widgets themselves are often very limited. They can be a photo opened for the widget customizer app, they can be a clock or a calendar and not much more.
How to create a video wallpaper and add it to your iPhone lock screen
You should probably also change your iPhone’s home screen to complete the aesthetic makeover you’re trying to achieve. Don’t know how? Apple has a support page with more information, but here’s the short version: On your iPhone, go to Settings, tap Wallpaper, and then choose Choose a New Wallpaper. Dead easy.
Those of you who want to take it a step further should also change your lock screen to something more themed. You could even go all out and use a video background image (or “Live Photo” as Apple calls it). These are GIF-like wallpapers that move when you press the screen. Neat, right?
Check out our guide to learn more: How to turn any video into a live wallpaper for your iPhone lock screen
want more help
Pocket-lint also has a roundup of some of the best iPhone wallpapers.
Written by Maggie Tillman. Adaptation by Britta O’Boyle.
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