Find out how to customise your iPhone house display with iOS 26

Apple has steadily expanded home screen customization on the iPhone over the previous few years, and iOS 26 continues that pattern with extra visible management over app icons. Constructing on the modifications launched in iOS 18, the most recent replace helps you to resize icons, take away app labels, apply system-wide colour tints and make icons translucent utilizing Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language.

Most of those choices stay in a single place: the Customise menu, which seems after coming into edit mode on the house display. Whereas iOS nonetheless doesn’t enable complete freeform icon placement or third-party icon packs with out shortcuts, the instruments Apple supplies are actually versatile sufficient to dramatically change how an iPhone appears to be like and feels. This information walks via easy methods to customise app icons and layouts utilizing the choices accessible in iOS 26, with a concentrate on icon measurement, colour, look and association.

Find out how to customise your iPhone house display

All house display customization begins the identical means.

2. Contact and maintain an empty space of the Dwelling Display screen background till the apps start to jiggle.

3. Faucet Edit within the high left nook, then choose Customise from the menu.

A customization panel seems alongside the underside of the display. Modifications made right here apply throughout all house display pages directly, reasonably than on a per-page foundation.

From the Customise menu, you may:

• Change look (e.g., Darkish)

• Make icons translucent with a transparent look

• Add a colour tint to icons and widgets

Find out how to make app icons bigger and take away labels

One of many easiest modifications in iOS 26 can also be probably the most visually impactful. From the Customise menu, faucet the icon exhibiting two app squares of various sizes. This switches the house display to Massive App Icons mode.

When massive icons are enabled, app labels disappear solely and the icons themselves broaden to fill extra of the grid. This creates a cleaner look and makes apps simpler to faucet, notably on iPhone fashions with bigger screens. The tradeoff is that fewer icons match on every display and spacing between rows turns into extra pronounced.

To revert to plain icons with labels, repeat the steps and faucet the identical button once more.

Find out how to change the looks of app icons

iOS 26 presents 4 icon look types: Default, Darkish, Clear and Tinted. These choices can be found from the highest row of the Customise panel. From the Customise panel, you may faucet the solar icon throughout all choices within the high left-hand nook to toggle wallpaper dimming. This usually makes app icons and labels simpler to learn.

The Default choice retains icons wanting because the builders meant, with no system-wide colour or transparency utilized.

Choosing Darkish applies a darker background to supported app icons and widgets. Apple’s personal apps totally help this mode, and a few third-party apps do as effectively, although many retain their authentic colours. When Darkish is enabled, iOS also can dim the wallpaper barely, which can assist cut back energy utilization on OLED shows.

The Clear choice allows translucency throughout all apps on the Dwelling Display screen. This removes all colour however retains app labels. The layered, frosted-glass impact modifications relying on the background picture. Clear icons may be paired with Gentle, Darkish or Auto types utilizing the choices alongside the underside of the Customise panel.

Tinted mode permits all supported app icons and widgets to tackle a single colour scheme. After deciding on Tinted, colour and saturation sliders seem on the backside of the display. Adjusting these modifications the hue utilized throughout icons, making a uniform look that may vary from refined pastels to high-contrast monochrome themes.

If you need a selected colour out of your iPhone’s wallpaper, choose the eyedropper instrument, then faucet and maintain whereas dragging the cursor throughout the display till you land in your chosen colour. Just like the Clear choice, you’ll be capable to choose from Gentle, Darkish or Auto when adjusting the Tinted settings.

The Auto choice permits icons to change between mild and darkish appearances based mostly on system-wide mild or darkish mode.

Find out how to prepare apps across the house display

App placement works the identical means it did earlier than iOS 26, however the visible modifications launched by bigger icons and spacing make structure selections extra noticeable.

Apps may be rearranged by accessing an empty house on the Dwelling Display screen, then tapping and holding till the apps begin jiggling. From right here you may drag icons to new positions. The grid stays mounted, which means icons can not overlap or be positioned freely, however there’s extra flexibility in how empty house is used.

Icons may be clustered towards the underside of the display, aligned to at least one facet or organized to border a wallpaper. With massive icons enabled, the hole between the dock and the primary row of apps turns into extra pronounced, but it surely can’t be stuffed with extra icons.

Modifications apply throughout all house display pages, so reorganizing one web page doesn’t have an effect on icon measurement or look on one other.

What iOS 26 nonetheless doesn’t enable

Regardless of expanded customization, some long-standing limitations stay. iOS 26 doesn’t help per-app icon colour choice, customized icon packs with out shortcuts or freeform icon placement exterior the grid. Icon look settings apply globally, not per web page or per app.

Widgets, lock display customization and focus mode filters add extra layers of personalization, however these instruments sit exterior the scope of the house display Edit menu.

iOS 26 provides iPhone customers extra management over the look of their house display than ever earlier than, even when Apple’s strategy stays structured. By combining icon resizing, look modes and cautious app association, it’s doable to create a structure that feels cleaner, extra private and simpler to make use of with out counting on workarounds.