iOS 14 has spurred new interest in personalized iPhone home screens, including creating custom app icons using the Shortcuts app. This week, designer Doney den Ouden has released a beautiful set of custom app icons dubbed “Bold” to help give your iOS 14 home screen a fresh coat of paint.
Doney explains that the inspiration behind the “Bold” icon set is to help breathe new life into the stock iOS app icons, many of which haven’ been updated for many years:
Nearly all stock icons in iOS 14 were last updated with iOS 7, which released seven years ago. In the years since, the design language of iOS has slowly evolved and reintroduced subtle shadows, bolder typography, and more rounded icons, resulting in a friendlier look that is more aesthetically pleasing.
Bold imagines what your home screen icons could look like if they were redesigned to match the design language of iOS today. If you like Dark Mode or want even more consistency, check out these alternative sets:
The “Bold” icon set is available on Gumroad for purchase at $5 or more. The set includes 57 total icons.
App Store, Books, Calculator, Calendar (2 versions), Camera, Clock, Compass, Contacts (2 versions), FaceTime, Files, Find My, Health, Home, iTunes, Mail (2 versions), Maps (2 versions), Measure, Messages (2 versions), Music, News, Notes (2 versions), Phone, Photos, Podcasts, Reminders, Safari, Settings, Shortcuts (2 versions), Stocks (2 versions), Translate (2 versions), TV, Voice Memos (2 versions), Wallet, Weather (2 versions)
There are also two variations of the “Bold” icon pack for dark and light modes as well. You can learn how to set your custom icons in our full guide here.
What’s important to keep in mind here is that support for custom icons in iOS 14 is rather limited and relies on Apple’s Shortcuts application. As we’ve explained in the past, the Shortcuts app essentially serves as an intermediary between the themed icons that you create and the apps linked to those icons.
What this means is that every time you open an app via custom icons, the Shortcuts app will briefly appear on screen first. For some people, this might be a dealbreaker, but other people are clearly willing to accept this concession in exchange for a more personalized home screen.
You can find more details on how to give your iOS 14 home screen a custom aesthetic with widgets and custom icons below:
- How to theme iOS 14 with custom icons and widgets – featuring Ayeris [Video]
- How to give your iOS 14 home screen a custom aesthetic with unique app icons
- Hands-on: Widgetsmith brings ultra-customizable widgets to your iOS 14 home screen
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