How to customise your iPhone home screen with shortcuts and widgets

(Pocket-lint) - Let's accidental a vacation is coming up - like, Halloween - and you privation your iPhone to look each spooky and festive. To execute that, did you cognize you tin bash much than alteration your wallpaper to a shade oregon witch?

There was erstwhile a clip erstwhile Apple wouldn't fto its users customise the location screen. But the institution is overmuch much lenient these days. You tin wholly power the aesthetic of an iPhone by changing your location surface app icons to customized ones and by utilizing widgets. If you privation to get ace spicy, you tin adjacent adhd a video clip of thing to your fastener screen. It's elemental to do. 

To get started, you request an iPhone, of course, and it needs to beryllium moving astatine slightest iOS 14 (though the latest mentation of iOS is ever best).

How to marque customized app icons and adhd them to your iPhone location screen

Get your reasoning headdress connected - due to the fact that this 1 requires immoderate creativity.

1. Trim your apps

Before getting started, trim the fig of apps connected your location screen. Too galore apps tin look cluttered. Plus, if you privation to alteration the icon for each app connected your location screen, it'll instrumentality little clip if you lone person a few. To region an app, clasp down connected one, prime "remove from location screen", and confirm. You aren't deleting it. Just swipe from close connected your location surface to find it successful the App Library, oregon you propulsion down connected the location surface to hunt for it.

Apple has a enactment page with other accusation and tips astir however to neatly organise your location surface and marque cleanable usage of the App Library.

2. Find app icons to use

Once you person a prime fewer apps connected your location screen, spell find immoderate photos connected the net oregon successful your camera assemblage that you privation to crook into app icons. On Etsy, sellers connection thousands of themed icon packs you tin bargain and download online successful a substance of seconds and for ace cheap. There are besides apps (like Color Widgets) and websites (like Flaticon) that connection escaped icons for you to download and use. Or, you tin usage a photograph you took and person saved.

If you're going for an aesthetic, instrumentality with a theme. Those of you going with Halloween, for instance, could effort pics of bats, witches, etc, for icons.

3. Make app shortcuts

Open Apple's Shortcuts app. It's a pre-installed app, truthful there's nary request to download it.

You're going to usage Shortcuts to regenerate the app icons connected your location surface with each the icons and photos you curated successful measurement 2 above. You conscionable make a shortcut for an app and past adhd it to your location screen. It volition look similar an app and enactment similar 1 - but it'll person the customized icon and sanction you gave it.

In the Shortcuts app, travel these steps:

1. Tap the + in the corner.
2. On the caller shortcut pane, pat Add Action.
3. In the paper that pops up, hunt for and prime "Open app".
4. On the caller shortcut pane, pat Choose and prime the app you privation to open.
   • For instance: TikTok.
5. Click the ... in the country to entree the details pane.
6. On the details pane, pat Add to Home Screen.
7. On the preview pane, pat the shortcut sanction tract (under Home Screen Name and Icon).
8. Delete "new shortcut" and participate a caller sanction for the app.
   • Perhaps usage the sanction of the app you're trying to unfastened (like "TikTok").
9. Tap the icon adjacent to the shortcut sanction (under Home Screen Name and Icon).
10. In the edit icon paper that pops up, prime Choose photo.
11. Your photograph assemblage volition popular up. Select a photograph you privation to usage arsenic an icon.
12. On the preview pane, pat Add.
13. Now permission Shortcuts and look astatine your location surface to spot the result.
    • You should spot the app shortcut you created with a customized icon and name.
    • Remove the archetypal app from your location surface truthful it doesn't amusement some apps.

Now repetition each the steps supra for each app you privation to alteration connected your location screen. Again, if you're going for an aesthetic, instrumentality with a theme.

Note: With the Shortcuts app, you tin get other creative. You tin marque customized shortcuts oregon usage Apple's starter shortcuts and prevention them arsenic "apps" to your location surface - with their ain icons, too! The thought is, with a speedy pat connected the app shortcut you've made, you tin unfastened a circumstantial YouTube video oregon connection your spouse connected Snapchat oregon motorboat Shazam. The possibilities are endless. You tin truly spell overboard creating app shortcuts and icons for everything.

Apple has a support page with other accusation and tips astir however to usage the Shortcuts app to maximise your iPhone experience.

How to marque customized widgets and adhd them to your iPhone location screen

There are respective apps successful the Apple App Store you tin usage to make a widget and adhd it to your location screen. Widgetsmith and Color Widgets are some fashionable examples. With them, you tin pin a small, medium, oregon ample photograph to your location screen. For instance, if it's Halloween, adhd a pumpkin photo.

For the purposes of this guide, we volition archer you however to easy usage Color Widgets due to the fact that it has a amended UI than Widgetsmith, successful our opinion.

1. Open Color Widgets and spell to the Widgets pane.
2. Under the Photos row, prime the "Create your ain photograph widget" option.
3. In the photograph assemblage that pops up, select a photo and corroborate the crop.
4. On the customise screen, you tin adhd a borderline colour if you want.
5. When done customising, pat Set Widget.
6. You whitethorn beryllium asked to regenerate an existing widget oregon create a caller one.
7. Leave Color Widgets, spell to the location screen, and press down successful an bare area.
8. Tap the + successful the corner.
9. Search for the "Color Widgets" widget.
10. When it opens, spell to the size widget you privation to adhd and past prime Add Widget.
11. It volition past beryllium added to your location screen.
    1. You whitethorn request to edit your widget to prime the close one
    2. To edit the widget, clasp down and pat Edit Widget.
    3. Select the widget you intended to adhd to your location screen.

Note: There are caveats to widget customisation apps. For instance, galore of them outgo wealth to usage aft their escaped proceedings expires. They besides adhd their sanction to the widget connected your location surface and either don't let you to region the sanction oregon they marque you wage other to bash so. Finally, the widgets themselves are often precise limited. They tin beryllium a photograph that opens to the widget customisation app, they tin beryllium a timepiece oregon calendar, and not overmuch else.

How to marque a video wallpaper and adhd it to your iPhone fastener screen

You should astir apt besides alteration your iPhone's location surface to decorativeness the aesthetic makeover you're trying to achieve. Don't cognize how? Apple has a support page with much information, but here's the speedy version: Go to Settings connected your iPhone, pat Wallpaper, past prime Choose New Wallpaper. Easy peasy.

Those of you who privation to spell a measurement further should besides alteration your fastener surface to thing much connected theme. You could adjacent spell each retired and usage a video wallpaper (or "Live Photo", arsenic Apple calls them). These are GIF-like wallpapers that determination erstwhile you property down connected the screen. Neat, right?

1. Find a video

The archetypal happening you request to bash is find a video clip you similar and prevention it to your camera roll. You tin usage thing you filmed oregon a TikTok you saved. (For instance, for Halloween, we saved this TikTok video and turned it into a video wallpaper for our fastener screen.) Just marque definite your video is short. If you privation to harvest oregon edit the video earlier making it your wallpaper, you don't request a video-editing app; simply deed the Edit fastener connected the video successful your gallery.

2. Make a Live Photo

Now you request to marque your video clip into a video wallpaper (or what Apple calls a "Live Photo" for this concern ). It's fundamentally a GIF - hence wherefore we said drawback a abbreviated video to use. There are respective ways to marque a video wallpaper/Live Photo/GIF from a video, but the easiest is to usage a escaped app similar Giphy.

For the purposes of this guide, we volition archer you however to usage Giphy:

1. Open Giphy and pat Create +.
2. Select the GIF enactment and past spell to your camera rotation to prime a video.
3. Once you got a video, you volition beryllium fixed the enactment to trim it.
   • Hit proceed erstwhile you've trimmed it.
4. Giphy serves up different editing options, similar crop, text, and stickers.
   • When done, deed the arrow button.
5. Now prime Upload to Giphy.
   • You tin acceptable the visibility to nationalist oregon private.
6. Once the GIF uploads, you tin find it nether Uploads connected your illustration successful the app.
7. Tap connected the GIF to unfastened it and past spell to its paper options (three-dot icon).
8. Under the paper options, prime "Conver to Live Photo".
   • You tin take afloat surface oregon acceptable to screen.
9. Now you're acceptable to acceptable your "Live Photo" (or video wallpaper) arsenic your wallpaper.

3. Set your video wallpaper

To acceptable a video wallpaper to your fastener screen, travel these steps:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Wallpaper.
3. Tap Choose a New Wallpaper.
4. Select the Live Photo you created supra successful measurement two.
5. Make definite the Live Photo option is toggled connected (next to scale).
6. You tin besides determination and standard the Live Photo to your liking.
7. Once done, deed Set.

Now spell to your fastener surface and property connected the show to spot your wallpaper travel to life. Amazing! 

Want much help?

Pocket-lint besides has a roundup of immoderate of the champion iPhone wallpapers.

Writing by Maggie Tillman. Originally published connected 21 September 2020.