How to create your widgets and change icons in iOS?

Apple widgets and icons have become a kind of reference design solution: clean lines, streamlined shapes, and colorful and easily understandable icons.

But still, the standard look of icons and widgets became familiar to many. For some visual experts, it is full of eyes – they want aesthetics, harmony, and a single style.

Therefore, today we will show you how to beautifully and logically organize the workspace on your smartphone in a few simple steps.

On a note

Before experimenting with your device, look for inspiration on Pinterest. There are many interesting ideas and ready-made icons for home screen decoration, which you can download for free. Create a separate board for them – and then get quick access to all the developments.

To save time looking for images, use our search suggestions: iPhone desktop, iPhone icons, ios icon aesthetic, app store icon aesthetic, and the like. Also in the request, you can specify the color that will be accented in the image: for example, the youtube icon aesthetic green. After all, if all the icons are in the same style, the desktop will look more harmonious.

The division into blocks will help to avoid chaos and disorder in the workspace. For example, on the first table, it would be logical to keep the icons of frequently used applications and delimit them thematically: for example, you can combine books, notes, and a task planner; podcasts, music, and movies; photos, video, editing, and processing; taxi, navigation, and search engine, etc. And everything that does not require quick access can be placed on the following desktops or even left in the Application Library.

By the way, when choosing images, do not forget about the logic and associations with these applications. This will help you get used to them faster. For example, a taxi service is perfectly illustrated by a car, a navigator is a map or footprints, and a bank is a shopping cart or a wallet.

After selecting the most suitable icons, stickers, and photos, upload them to your iPhone gallery and get ready to change your desktop beyond recognition!

On the left are standard iOS widgets and icons. In the center and on the right – adapted. Would you like us to show you how to do the same?

How to change any app icon on iPhone?

To do this, you do not need to download anything additional. You will need the built-in Shortcuts app, as well as pre-selected pictures for each app, and a little patience.

• 1) In your iPhone’s Library, find the built-in Shortcuts app. Click the blue plus icon in the upper right corner or to the right of the “Initial Shortcuts” menu – there will be no difference.

• 2) You will see a menu for creating a “New Shortcut”. Select the “Open App” action. In the next window, you need to select the desired application and name the Shortcut in the same way.

• 3) Next, click on the “Share” icon at the bottom right of the screen and select the “Add to Home Screen” action. Rename the line to the name of the desired application (In our case, it is Instagram). But do not rush to click “Add”, otherwise your Shortcut will be displayed on the desktop without an icon.

• 4) It remains to assign a new image to the Shortcut. Click on the icon to the left of the name: from the suggested actions, tap “Select Photo”. Find a suitable image in the gallery from those that you downloaded in advance, and crop it exactly along the edges of the square. Click “Add” and “Done”.

In this not the most obvious way, you can replace the standard application icons with your own. It can be any image, even your selfie. The disadvantage of this method is only one: when you click on such an icon at the top of the screen, a two-second push notification will pop up about the launch of the application. This is since in this way you do not change the original application icon, but only create a copy of it with a link to the current application. Perhaps in future versions of iOS, Apple developers will remove this restriction.

To create your unique workspace, apply the same mechanism to other applications that you use most often.

Don’t forget to choose a wallpaper for your desktop as well: your new icons will be placed on it. You probably know how to do this, but we still remind you: go to “Settings” – “Wallpaper”, there you can choose a background for the home screen.

How to create custom widgets on iPhone?

In addition to icons, widgets can also be placed on the screen – Information windows that provide access to some applications: Calendar, Mail, Notes, Weather, Music, etc.

Today we are talking about creating your own in the popular Widgetsmith application among users.

• 1) First, you need to select the size of the widget you would like to create: click on it to set the settings. Three sizes are available to Widgetsmith users: small, medium, and large.

• 2) Next, select the widget type: photo, album, calendar, etc. We want to create a medium-sized calendar (Medium). We find it in the list in the Widget section and proceed to set the font, color, background, etc. When finished, save the data.

• 3) In the same way, you can create a small widget from any image in your gallery (Small). Select the widget size, type Photo, and upload a photo from the library. Save. The newly created widget will be displayed along with other widgets you have created.

• 4) To add a widget to your iPhone desktop, exit the Widgetsmith app and return to the home screen. Hold your finger on the screen for a few seconds, and then click on the plus sign in the upper left corner. Look in the list of available applications that can be added to your desktop as a widget, Widgetsmith. Select it, and find the one you created.

The only caveat is that under such widgets the name of the application in which they are made will always be displayed. But you must agree: this is not a big price to pay for the opportunities that Widgetsmith provides users.

Ideas for your inspiration