Whether you want to create your own icons or are looking to find some ready-made ones, we’ve got some tips and tricks to help you customize your iOS 14 Home Screen.
If you’re looking for a little inspiration, the iOS 14 subreddit is currently filled to bursting with people showing off their custom home screen designs. We’re also really digging this gorgeous Animal Crossing theme that Twitter user Okpng has made.
Creating your own iOS app icons
Creating your own app icons is easy enough, provided you have access to graphic design or photo-editing software of some sort. You can use whatever you prefer— Pixelmator Pro, Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, Affinity Design.
And there are advantages to making your own icons, too. After all, it doesn’t get more one-of-a-kind than handmade icons and wallpapers. We’ve seen vintage iPhone, Windows 3.1, and even Playstation memory card themed iPhone home screens.
Whenever you design your icon, you’ll need to make sure the image is a square. Apple suggests that a 180px by 180px icon for the iPhone. Don’t forget that Apple icons have rounded corners as well, so you’ll need to be mindful of where you place your design.
Additionally, you can’t use transparent icons for your app, either. In the event that you’d like your background to show through — such as a retro Windows 98 layout — you’ll need to match the color of the icon to your iPhone’s wallpaper to fake it.
When saving icons, we suggest saving as a PNG, though a JPG will work, too — it may just come with some unwanted compression. Once your icons are saved, get them to your iPhone’s Camera Roll.
After you save your icon set to your iPhone’s Camera Roll, you can use the Shortcuts app to set them to whatever app you’d like.
Important: Because you’re executing an app through a shortcut rather than directly, there will be a slight delay — especially on older iPhones. However, this is currently the only Apple-approved way to set your own custom icons.
How to set custom icons for apps in iOS 14 (it should also work in iOS 13!)
Open Shortcuts
Tap +
Tap Add Action
Tap Scripting
Tap Open App
Tap the app you wish to customize
Name the app
Tap Done
Tap …
Tap … (again)
Tap Add to Home Screen
Tap the icon under Home Screen Name and Icon
Select the image from your camera roll
Tap Add
Creating your own widgets
As we’d discussed in How to customize your Home Screen on iOS 14, you can use an app called Widgetsmith to make your own widgets. This includes setting custom photographs on your home screen, which can provide some interesting layout elements.
Finding ready-made icons
Of course, you don’t need to make your own icons, either. The internet is flush with plenty of icons that you can download to use. Here are a few of our favorite places.
Important: You’ll likely still need access to an image editor of some sort to resize the icons to fit on your iPhone. You may also need to add an opaque background, as the iPhone will render transparent portions of images as black pixels.
FiatIcon
FiatIcon is a great resource for those who are looking for themed icons. Most icons available here are free for personal use, too.
App-style icons available at The Noun Project
The Noun Project
If you’re looking for bold, minimalism-inspired icons, The Noun Project is the place for you. Free for personal use, The Noun Project has hundreds of thousands of icons you can download and begin using immediately.
Doodle icons at Icon8
Icon8
Another huge repository for icons, Icon8 boasts tons of icons with a wide variety of themes to choose from.
Icon Rewind icons
IconRewind
If you love the look of old Apple icons and you don’t want to fuss with the Shortcuts app, you can visit iconrewind.co via Safari on your iPhone to set shortcuts with one tap. They have plenty of icons available, as well.
MONTREAL – Lightspeed Commerce Inc. says it is conducting a review of its business and operations including talks relating to a range of potential strategic alternatives.
The Montreal-based payments technology company made the comments after reports concerning a potential transaction involving the company.
Lightspeed says it periodically undertakes a review of its business and operations with a view of realizing its full potential.
A strategic review is often seen by investors as a prelude to a sale by a company.
Lightspeed says its board of directors is committed to acting in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.
Company founder Dax Dasilva returned to the role of chief executive officer earlier this year and has been working to return the company to profitability.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
OTTAWA – Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says there is a lot of uncertainty around how artificial intelligence could affect the economy moving forward, including the labour market and price growth.
In a speech in Toronto at the Economics of Artificial Intelligence Conference, the governor said Friday that the central bank is approaching the issue cautiously to get a better understanding of how AI could affect its job of keeping inflation low and stable.
“Be wary of anyone who claims to know where AI will take us. There is too much uncertainty to be confident,” Macklem said in prepared remarks.
“We don’t know how quickly AI will continue to advance. And we don’t know the timing and extent of its economic and social impacts.”
The governor said AI has the potential of increasing labour productivity, which would raise living standards and grow the economy without boosting inflation.
In the short-term, he said investment in AI is adding to demand and could be inflationary.
However, Macklem also highlighted more pessimistic scenarios, where AI could destroy more jobs than it creates or lead to less competition rather than more.
The governor called on academics and businesses to work together to shed more light on the potential effects of AI on the economy.
“When you enter a dark room, you don’t go charging in. You cautiously feel your way around. And you try to find the light switch. That is what we are doing. What we central bankers need is more light,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines has struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to offer satellite-based Starlink WiFi service on flights within the next several years.
The airline said Friday the service will be free to passengers.
United said it will begin testing the service early next year and begin offering it on some flights by later in 2025.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The announcement comes as airlines rush to offer more amenities as a way to stand out when passengers pick a carrier for a trip. United’s goal is to make sitting on a plane pretty much like being on the ground when it comes to browsing the internet, streaming entertainment and playing games.
“Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do on board a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” CEO Scott Kirby said in announcing the deal.
The airline says Starlink will allow passengers to get internet access even over oceans and polar regions where traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals may be weak or missing.
