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How to change app icons on iPhone Duo

Updated: September 24, 2026

Written before general availability. The display figures on this page come from Apple's published iPhone Duo technical specifications. iPhone Duo goes on sale 23 October 2026; the on-device steps below follow how iOS has worked on existing iPhones, and we will re-check every step against a shipping device and update this page.

No app can change another app's icon on iOS. Apple does not provide an API for it, and any app that claims otherwise is doing what everyone else does: creating a Shortcut that opens the target app, and giving that Shortcut a custom image. iPhone Duo is no different.

The method

  1. Create or download the icon image you want and save it to Photos.
  2. Open the Shortcuts app and create a new shortcut.
  3. Add the Open App action and choose the app you are replacing.
  4. Open the shortcut's details, choose Add to Home Screen.
  5. Tap the icon thumbnail, choose Choose Photo, pick your image, name it and tap Add.
  6. Move the original app into the App Library or another page so only your version is on the Home Screen.

The two drawbacks, honestly

It is a shortcut, not the app. Tapping it runs Shortcuts, which then opens the real app. Recent iOS versions have made this nearly instant, but it is still a redirection, and notification badges do not carry over to the custom icon.

It is manual. Every app is its own shortcut. Theming a full Home Screen is twenty minutes of work, and you will do it again next time you reset your layout.

Anyone promising one-tap icon theming is either using this same method behind a nicer wrapper or is not telling you the truth.

What is different on a folding phone

Nothing mechanically — the Shortcuts route is identical. What changes is that you now have two Home Screens to keep consistent. If you theme the inner screen and not the cover screen, the inconsistency is obvious every time you fold the phone.

Two practical notes:

  • Export icons at 1024 × 1024. iOS downsamples for each screen, and the cover screen's higher pixel density (460 ppi) will show softness in anything smaller.
  • Keep the icon's subject well inside the frame. iOS applies its own corner rounding, and the cover screen's smaller icons crop more aggressively in appearance than you expect.

Making the icons

Duo Themes includes an icon studio: pick a symbol, a shape and a palette, save the image to Photos, and the app walks you through the Shortcuts steps above. It is free and it does not pretend to do anything iOS does not allow.

Download free on the App Store

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