Apple might have won the battle when it comes to optimisation, but Android still has an edge when it comes to personalisation options. While Google has streamlined app icon theming with “Material You” to dynamically adjust according to the colour of the wallpaper, there are times when you just want to take over or revamp your phone or tablet’s icon with new icons.
With most Android manufacturers still not offering icon pack support on their custom launchers, here’s how you can quickly change app icons on your Android smartphone.
If your phone’s default launcher doesn’t support custom app icons, head over to the Google Play Store and download ‘Shortcut Maker’ by Rushikesh Kamewar.
As the name suggests the app lets you assign individual icons for both first and third party apps.
1. Now, launch ‘Shortcut Maker’ and tap on ‘Got it’.
2. Find and click on ‘Apps’ and select the app you want to change the icon of.
3. On the page that appears, tap on ‘Icon’ and a new window will pop up where you can choose from available icons or select one from your list of icon packs.
4. Once you set the icon of your choice, press the check mark icon on the top right of the screen and tap on the ‘Create shortcut’ button.
5. The shortcut will now be added to your home screen with the icon of your choice.
One thing to note here is that you might have to do this with all icons, so it might take some time to customize your entire home screen.
If you don’t want to go through the lengthy process of changing icons for every app, try installing a third-party launcher like Nova that supports custom icon packs and can change all your icons at the click of a button.
To apply icon packs to third-party launchers like Nova, just launch the icon pack app and you will find a list of supported launchers in the ‘Apply’ section. Alternatively, you can head over to the launcher settings and change the icon pack from there.