Change your app icons with iOS 14

Forget what that app was called? Can't read a foreign language? Maybe the default icon doesn't "spark joy" or maybe you want to be a minimalist and remove branding. Well, now you can give yourself a helping hand.

Apple has, perhaps accidentally, provided a new tool for managing your cluttered phone.

With the most recent update and the addition of the App Library, you can now create a shortcut to an app and add a custom picture and name.

An article on CNET describes the procedure, but the basics are:

1. Create a shortcut using Apple's native Shortcuts app.
2. Place the shortcut on your Home Screen. Change the picture and description as you like.
3. Move the original app from your Home Screen to the App Library.

Now, when you click on the icon, it will briefly open up Shortcuts before opening the target application.

In the example above, I renamed the Guangzhou Subway app from its Chinese, 广州地铁, to English. Now I can search for the app without remember its name in Chinese or switching keyboards.

I made the icon image using an app called Phonto, but there are likely hundreds of other apps that will let you make a square pictures with text. That said, you can also just pull from your snapshots if you want to use a picture of a loved one (whether that's a person or a coffee drink).

Android users, I know you've enjoyed these features for a long time. ??

Enjoy!