Revive the
glorious days of custom system software!

In the epic debate of ‘who’s better’’ between Android and iOS users, the apparent freedom of customization to android users
always takes the lead!

Google’s mobile OS provides more command to users
over how the software feels and looks, while Apple restricts these
customization options for the sake of usability and consistency. But with the
latest iOS 14 release, things have started moving to a different direction.
iPhone and iPad users have started figuring out the option of personalization
in their mobile phones.

The two popular twitter hashtags “#ios14homescreen or #ios14” give plenty of ideas about themed layouts that connect wallpaper, custom
app icons, and widgets. In fact, people are quite enjoying that! All
over Youtube and TikTok apps, people have started demonstrating personalized layouts and homescreens. Cool!

Many of the designs are themed around popular
tastes like Steven Universe, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Harry Potter, and BTS,
while some users emphasized on single aesthetics such as line drawing and neon
icons. This long-lost freedom of altering the display according to your will
reminds us of that beautiful chaos of personalization with Winamp skins or custom PC themes.

You may be wondering why this is happening now.
Well, it’s all because of the launch of iOS 14, which allows users to add
widgets to their home screen. Normally, widgets are supposed to provide
prompt-access to apps in your home screen allowing you to see information related to reminders, weather reports, calendar appointments at one glance. But with iOS
14 release, you can use a widget to display the desired image, which
drives users to enhance their digital front rooms by turning them them into picture frames. 

The good news is you can also customize the
default display of widgets according to your preferences! Here’s how you can do
this:

So let’s state the obvious first: the
customization of the home screen is simple but it consumes a lot of your time, and
the results are incredible! All you need is the real visuals: a custom
wallpaper following an icon pack. You can easily download the set of a
particular theme of your choice from Google.

In order to add a custom widget to your home
screen, you’re required to download the Widgetsmith app. After
downloading this app, you’ll just need to open the app and create your desired widget with a single click. From there, you can customize the default
appearance of iOS widgets such as the clock and calculator with a variety of colors and fonts, or create a new one with a static image.

After creating your widget, move to your home screen, long-press on the screen until the customization option pops up,
then select the ‘+’ sign located at the top left of your screen to add a
widget. You can scroll through the option to find your custom-created widgets.

Once you’re done with
the above steps, the last step requires you to add custom app icons and for
that, you have to download Apple’s ‘Shortcuts app’. After downloading this app,
press the ‘+’ icon in the top right to create a new app. Select go Then go > Add Action >
Scripting > Open App > Choose, and click the app that you want to
personalize. After customizing the app, press “Next” in the top right, type out
the name, and press Done.

Lastly, to
add your custom made icon to the home screen, tap the three-dot menu beside the
shortcut action you just created, then press the three-dot menu again, and then
tap “Add to Home Screen.” After that, click on the icon underneath the “Home
Screen Name and Icon” pane and press and choose the image you want to use from
your camera roll. Ughh, all done!

Congratulations!
You just have an app with a customized icon, but this pleasure comes with pain
too. Each time you click an app it will divert you to the Shortcut apps and
then to your app of choice. It’s quite annoying TBH, but we will tolerate
anything in the name of aesthetics of our choice, right?

If you have
any solutions for that annoying problem, please let us know in the comment box,
and share your creations with us, too!