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iOS 18 lets you make your iPhone home screen ugly, but this is exactly what you might want

By Victor Hristov

Updated: Sep 20, 2024, 10:22 AM

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This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

iOS 18 lets you make your iPhone home screen ugly, but this is exactly what you might want

iOS 18 is here and while it does not yet bring the awaited Apple Intelligence, it does have one other particularly controversial feature: you can now "uglify" your iPhone.

Okay, technically Apple calls this feature "tinting" your icons and it turns ALL of your icons in the same monochrome tonality.

Depending on the intensity of the color, this can look anywhere from "meh" to, let's be frank, downright ugly.

But this was actually the one iOS 18 feature I was most excited to try and after using this now for a day, I have a confession: I love it.

But first, here is how to customize icons in iOS 18 and get those tinted icons.

iOS 18 Tinted Icons How-to Guide:

1. Long press on an icon to enter jiggle mode

2. Tap the "Edit" button in the top left corner

3. Tap on "Customize"

4. In the menu that pops up at the bottom, select the "Tinted" option and pick your color using the color sliders below

5. And voila, you are done!

My iOS 18 homescreen with tinted icons. It's not the prettiest view.

This is what my home screen looks like right now. No, it does not look pretty, and yes, how the heck can you find the icon you are looking for when they all look the same.

Well, this might be exactly how you'd want your iPhone to look.

This uninspiring home screen achieves one purpose: no single icon stands out.

If, like me, you often find yourself opening your phone to do that one quick check and then thirty minutes later you are on Instagram/TikTok and you cannot put your phone down, you want to try these new icons.

I don't have the scientific proof, but it seems that our brain associates the dopamine hit we get from social media and it gets quickly addicted to those apps. More than that, it seems that just seeing the colorful, distinct icon of an app you are addicted to kind of pushes your brain to press it. Even when you never intended to open this app in that particular session!

Monochrome icons on Android

Of course, you can kind of have monochrome icons on Android too, and many Android phone users will be quick to point out that Google's platform had this option much earlier and various icon packs have been available for ages.

Companies like Nothing have also made a big point of monochrome icons specifically, as one of the main features of their custom interface is a grayscale icon pack that helps you fight smartphone addiction with... dull colors.

You can actually download Nothing's Icon Pack right now for any Android phone on the Google Play Store.

The problem with these icon packs, however, is that they are still quite limited. Many popular apps have not been converted to the graphic style of the icon pack, so you end up having a bit of a mess, with some new and some old-style icons.

It will be fascinating if someone actually does a scientific study on the effect of these dull colors on your smartphone addiction, but we don't think any of the smartphone makers will be keen on conducting that.

In either case, with scientific backing or without it, I urge you to try this if you find yourself wasting too much time on social media and being addicted to some apps. This might just be the surprise fix you needed.

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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.