Gurman: iOS 18 Will Allow Users to Recolor App Icons and Place Them Anywhere
iOS 18 Update: Total Home Screen Freedom?
Apple's upcoming iOS 18 update, as reported by Mark Gurman in Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter, will introduce new customization features for the iPhone home screen. Users will be able to recolor app icons and freely place them anywhere on the home screen, enhancing personalization. This update is expected to be previewed at WWDC in June and released in the fall.
What flexibility will iOS 18 offer in terms of app icon placement on the iPhone's home screen?
iOS 18 will significantly enhance the customization of the iPhone's home screen by allowing users to place app icons anywhere on the grid246. This new level of flexibility means that users can arrange their icons in a manner that best suits their preferences, rather than being confined to the automatic grid alignment of previous iOS versions12. Additionally, iOS 18 introduces the ability to recolor app icons, enabling users to customize the appearance of their icons based on categories or personal taste, such as making all social media icons blue or finance-related icons green2. These features represent a substantial shift towards a more personalized and user-friendly interface on Apple devices.
How will the ability to recolor app icons in iOS 18 differ from the current method of customizing icons using single-action shortcuts?
The upcoming iOS 18 update introduces a significant enhancement in home screen customization by allowing users to recolor app icons directly25. Currently, users who want to customize their app icons must use a workaround involving the creation of single-action shortcuts. This method requires each shortcut to be individually set up to launch an app, and users can then customize the icon for each shortcut. This process is not only cumbersome but also clutters the device with numerous shortcuts.
In contrast, iOS 18 will streamline this process by integrating icon recoloring as a native feature. This means users can directly change the color of the app icons through the iOS settings without the need for creating multiple shortcuts5. This new feature will provide a more straightforward and efficient way to personalize the aesthetic of the home screen, enhancing user experience by reducing the complexity and the steps currently required5.