How Do I Change the Color of My Apps on My Phone?
By default, app icons on some Android phones, like the Pixel, are essentially unchangeable, both the color and the actual icon. Spotify, for example, is green and black, and there’s no easy way to change that. There are, however, some cases where the app lets you modify the icon from a selection of options. Or, the app has closer ties to your phone’s settings than other apps, so if you change the color setting on your phone, the app color and icon style will change, too. If all else fails, third-party apps can take care of the whole process for you through icon packs. You can modify the app’s icon color and entire icon graphic that way. Here are the Google-approved options for changing the color of an app icon:
Use Themed Icons
One way to quickly change app icon colors is to use Themed icons. But there’s a catch: Not every icon will change—only Google-provided ones like Chrome, YouTube, Camera, Phone, Messages, Play Store, Gmail, etc. Go to Settings > Wallpaper & style > Themed icons to turn this on.
Turn on Wallpaper Colors
Themed icons work as-is, so you can turn it on and forget about it. Or, to work in a bit of customization, you can manipulate the app colors through two sets of color options: Wallpaper colors and Basic colors. For example, if you want those Google apps to be purple, you can pick that color from Settings > Wallpaper & style > Basic colors. If you want the app icon colors to be balanced against the wallpaper, open Settings > Wallpaper & style > Wallpaper colors and pick one of those color combinations (the combos you see there change depending on the wallpaper you’re using).
How Do You Change App Icons on Android?
Changing app colors is also possible by simply changing the whole app icon. The only built-in method for doing that is to follow the directions above. The color palette you pick, the wallpaper you’re using, and whether the dark theme and themed icons options are on influence how some of your apps appear. But what if you want to pick a different app icon, maybe one for a non-Google app? There aren’t icon packs in the phone’s settings that you can cycle through, nor is there an approved way to swap out one icon for one of your choosing. However, the app developer will include an app icon customization option in the app’s settings in some rare cases. One example is the DuckDuckGo browser. A screen called App Icon is in that app’s settings, which has several options. It doesn’t matter what your wallpaper color is or what other toggle you enabled in your phone’s settings; this app’s icon is determined by what you decide in its settings. If the app you’re trying to change the icon color for doesn’t have that level of customization, consider using a third-party tool. You might need a different Android launcher than the one that came with your phone for that to work.
