Customise iPhone Residence Display: Make your gadget aesthetic!

You’ve in all probability seen some lovely customized iPhone Residence Screens on social media. Some folks go to nice lengths to creatively customise their Residence Display. You possibly can go for a particular theme and aesthetic utilizing customized icon colours and widgets.

Why spend a lot effort and time? For one factor, you seemingly take a look at your Residence Display dozens (and even lots of) of occasions each single day. A customized Residence Display that matches your model can carry a bit of spark of pleasure to your each day life each time you whip out your iPhone. And iOS makes Residence Display customization simpler than ever.

Hold studying (or watch our video) for a fast introduction into the world of customized iPhone Residence Screens. You’ll discover out about new options in iOS 26, tips on how to go above and past utilizing Shortcuts, and how one can high off your iPhone aesthetic with widgets. I’ve scoured the web (Reddit, largely) to seek out the best examples.

Customise your iPhone Residence Display: Structure, theme, icons and widgets

Ever since computer systems first adopted visible consumer interfaces, folks have been customizing them to their very own private style. Traditional Mac OS had a sturdy theme system inbuilt, with 1000’s of inventive types made  by customers over time. (I used to be as soon as the form of one who put in every kind of loopy WindowBlinds themes on Home windows XP.)

Prior to now, Apple saved iOS extra locked-down than macOS and Home windows. However in recent times, Cupertino loosened its grip on iPhone aesthetics. You possibly can customise icon colours, go all-in on a customized icon theme, and full the look with trendy widgets. Right here’s how.

Desk of contents: How one can customise your iPhone’s Residence Display

1. Change the icon shade
2. Go all-in on absolutely customized icons
3. Customise your Residence Display with widgets
4. Extra each day inspiration
5. Extra methods to customise your iPhone

1. Change the icon shade

In iOS 26, you’ll be able to set your iPhone’s Residence Display to make use of Darkish icons or Tinted icons with any shade you need. Simply faucet and maintain in your Residence Display to enter “jiggle mode.” Then faucet Edit within the higher left, then faucet Customise.

• Default and Darkish use full-color variations of every icon, in a lightweight or darkish shade scheme. 
• Clear is a brand new possibility added in iOS 26. It makes use of a translucent glass look because the icon background, with a single-color glyph on high. You possibly can select both a lightweight or darkish look. 
• Tinted helps you to make all of the icons the identical shade of your selecting. You possibly can decide a shade utilizing the sliders, or you’ll be able to faucet the eyedropper button to drag one out of your wallpaper.

You can also faucet the Dim Wallpaper button within the higher left of the panel (with the solar icon) to darken your wallpaper a bit. And if you happen to don’t need the distracting textual content below each, faucet Massive App Icons within the higher proper. And, as of iOS 18, in order for you an excellent, unobstructed view of your wallpaper, you’ll be able to transfer app icons and folders to the underside of your display.

2. Go all-in on absolutely customized icons

Apple’s choices to customise your iPhone’s Residence Display are straightforward to arrange, however considerably restricted. For one, all you’ll be able to change is the icon shade. If you need a completely completely different model, it is advisable to add customized app icons.

Ever since customized Residence Screens went viral in 2020, icon packs for iPhone have been straightforward to seek out. You possibly can find customized icon packs from web sites like Icons8. Click on on a set, then seek for an icon inside that assortment (like YouTube, Instagram, Mail, and so on.) and obtain the photographs. You need to find yourself with a sequence of icons in your picture library.

Customized icons don’t should be all about altering your iPhone’s shade scheme. The icon set above seems to be simply as colourful because the inventory icons, but it surely adjustments the aesthetic to mild colours and comfortable shadows.

Create customized icons

To swap out your apps’ outdated icons for the brand new ones, you’ll have to arrange a bunch of shortcuts. Open the Shortcuts app, faucet + within the upper-right nook, then faucet Open App. Faucet App, then choose the app you need to add. That’s all of the shortcut must do. Hit the Share button within the backside toolbar and choose Add to Residence Display.

Right here’s the vital half: Sort within the title of the app, choose the icon on the left, and faucet Select Picture. Then, choose the customized icon you added to your picture library. Faucet Add to place it in your Residence Display. (Take away the inventory icon by tapping and holding on the app, tapping Take away App, then tapping Take away from Residence Display.) It may be a tedious course of when you’ve got a whole lot of icons, however the outcomes communicate for themselves.

There may be one vital factor to notice about this type of setup. Whereas Apple’s icon tinting characteristic impacts icons all over the place in your iPhone, together with the App Library, including these shortcuts solely impacts icons in your Residence Display. That’s since you’re not actually altering the icons themselves; you’re creating new ones to place in your Residence Display.

This iPhone customization hack additionally comes with two considerably annoying negative effects. To start with, the customized icon received’t present notification badges. Secondly, whenever you faucet on the icon, you’ll see a banner on the high of the display reminding you that you just simply ran a shortcut. This can’t be disabled, even in iOS 26.

Personally, I’m glad sufficient with the default feel and look of issues. The time it takes to set this up and the downsides aren’t price it for me. However I perceive the will — a few of these types look actually cool.  

3. Customise your Residence Display with widgets

Numerous the widgets that come constructed into the iPhone are practical and utilitarian, however not essentially lovely. In the event you use the Tinted app icons, your widgets will undertake the identical shade scheme, however the outcomes won’t look supreme. Utilizing an app just like the viral sensation Widgetsmith, you’ll be able to add lovely widgets that improve your aesthetic. Within the picture above (and video beneath), you’ll be able to see all of the choices mixed for a very distinctive and customized look. The sky is the restrict.

With Widgetsmith, you’ll be able to add calendar widgets, climate widgets, countdown widgets or easy photographs that do nothing however look beautiful. The choices for customized colours and fonts are assured to match your private model.

Widgetsmith lets customers “extra simply create their very own distinctive aesthetic,” mentioned managing director Stephen Hackett in an e-mail to Cult of Mac.

The folks behind Widgetsmith replace the app very usually. The app adopts all the newest iOS options, like widget interactivity, with contemporary types each few months to encourage you. 

Value: Free with primary options, $1.99 monthly or $19.99 per 12 months for premium options
Obtain from: App Retailer

Extra each day inspiration

If you wish to see extra of what’s doable in terms of customizing your iPhone’s Residence Display, you need to try (and subscribe to!) the Cult of Mac At this time e-newsletter. Each version is delivered to your e-mail inbox with a nifty new wallpaper, along with the day’s high Apple information, critiques, how-tos and offers. Enroll right here for a each day dose of enjoyable and inspiration in your inbox.

Extra methods to customise your iPhone

• Tweak your iPhone’s Management Heart. You possibly can add many extra toggles and buttons, together with these from third-party apps. You possibly can resize some buttons to make them extra distinguished, and you may organize your controls throughout a number of pages. In a single fluid movement, you’ll be able to swipe all the way down to activate Management Heart and proceed swiping all the way down to scroll by way of your pages.
• StandBy mode turns your telephone into a sensible show when it’s sitting in your desk, your nightstand or the kitchen counter.
• Customise your iPhone Lock Display with a bunch of widgets, aesthetics and types. You’ve gotten a great deal of fonts, colours, types and themes out there.
• Change out the Lock Display buttons from the usual Flashlight and Digital camera to no matter you need. There’s a large collection of buttons you’ll be able to swap of their place.
• Create Focus modes to customise notification settings for various occasions of day, like work, trip, driving, private time and extra.

We initially revealed this publish on tips on how to customise the Residence Display on June 22, 2024. We up to date it with the newest info on September 19, 2024, and January 12, 2025. 

D. Griffin Jones is a author, podcaster and video producer for Cult of Mac. Griffin has been a passionate laptop fanatic since 2002, when he obtained his first PC — however since getting a Mac in 2008, he hasn’t turned again. His expertise in graphic and net design, together with video and podcast enhancing, are self-taught over 20+ years. Griffin has a bachelor’s diploma in laptop science and has written a number of (unpublished) apps for Mac and iOS. His assortment of outdated computer systems is made up of 40+ desktops, laptops, PDAs and units, courting again to the early ’80s. He brings all of those inventive and technical expertise, together with a deep data of Apple historical past, into his work for Cult of Mac.