Several apps quickly emerged allowing users to personalize their Home Screen with custom widgets and icons, and new research by Sensor Tower reveals that almost 15% of iPhone users in the U.S. have installed at least one app to do just that.
The Sensor Tower report tracked the download numbers of five of the most popular Home Screen widget apps – Widgetsmith, Color Widgets, Photo Widget: Simple, WidgetBox, and Photo Widget – and found that they had been downloaded from the U.S. App Store 13 million times since iOS 14 was released on September 16.
Installs peaked during the week of September 21, reaching 3.8 million downloads, and this month they have hit 1.7 installs so far. Collectively, the five apps have reached an estimated 45 million installs across the globe to date.
When it comes to apps that offer replacement icons for other apps, the top five include Brass, App Icons, Icon Changer +, ScreenKit, and Icon Themer, which have collectively reached 1.8 million iPhone installs in the U.S. since September 16, according to the research.
As the report notes, iPhone users have maintained their interest in adding Android-style custom widgets to their Home Screens over the past two months, and with the recent news that custom app icons no longer route through the Shortcuts App in iOS 14.3 Beta 2, that interest is only likely to continue.
This works just like democracy, it's good to give the average user the power to customize his phone, just do not expect him to use it wisely.
I mean, I am yet to see a customized Home Screen that looks better than a Home Screen with stock icons.
Subjectivity being what it is, I'd bet none of those customized home screen users think your opinion has merit as it relates to their decisions. They probably also think their creations look better than your (assumption here based on your quote) un-customized home screen. As long as the phone owner likes their home screen look, custom or not, outside opinions don't really mean much.
Subjectivity being what it is, I'd bet none of those customized home screen users think your opinion has merit as it relates to their decisions. They probably also think their creations look better than your (assumption here based on your quote) un-customized home screen. As long as the phone owner likes their home screen look, custom or not, outside opinions don't really mean much.
And Steve was right. He knew that people are going to “rape” the design philosophy of a product just like back in the days. I see a lot of ugly customized screens by Android users. Apple should stop people letting customize the icons.
Eh, what’s the big deal. Let the kids (and adults) do what they want. Sure, those are ugly screens, but who cares? To the end user, maybe that’s the most beautiful screen they’ve ever seen!! There’s no accounting for taste ?♂️
Hang on.... I have a problem with the title of the article. ‘Installed on...’? It should be ‘downloaded by’. There is a big difference between downloading and using an app or downloading it to later delete it or never use it.
I know I have downloaded and played with shedloads of apps over the years, but have nothing to do with them now.
Ask yourself this: do you still use every app you have ever downloaded?
EDIT: Reading the source article their terminology is slightly better. They only use the phrase, ‘installs’, not ‘installed’. Which more accurately describes the situation. ‘Installed’ = still installed. Yes, pedantic I know, but journalists should have a good grasp of grammar.
EDIT EDIT: I mean technically you could argue the case for the title of the Macrumors article. But it gives the wrong impression.
And Steve was right. He knew that people are going to “rape” the design philosophy of a product just like back in the days. I see a lot of ugly customized screens by Android users. Apple should stop people letting customize the icons.
Yeah... we don't deserve to customize the device we paid $1200 for... people who think like you are the reason why Apple gets away with all they do.
Tuesday August 17, 2021 12:15 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Tweetbot 6 designed for the iPhone and the iPad today received a major update, with Tapbots introducing several significant new features that are designed to make the app experience better than ever.
There's now a Tweetbot 6 widget that can be added to the Today View or the Home Screen, and it shows the Twitter timeline. A single tweet can be shown in the smallest widget view, but there are...
Monday February 21, 2022 9:29 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apps that copy concepts and features from other apps are nothing new in the App Store, but scammy like-for-like clones of genuine apps remain a perennial problem that Apple still hasn't resolved, as indie developer Kevin Archer recently discovered. Archer is responsible for 2Stable's Authenticator App, a feature-rich app that stores and generates secure two-factor authentication tokens...
A new report has highlighted how three top prominent executives initially found themselves at odds in early deliberations about Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework.
According to the report from The Information, the executives who disagreed over how far Apple should go in protecting user privacy in digital advertising included Apple's Craig Federighi, who oversees software...
Tuesday September 28, 2021 5:59 am PDT by Sami Fathi
In a new blog post titled "Bring the best of Google to your iPhone," Google is on an endeavor to convince new iPhone 13 users to transform their device’s home screen to look like Android.
The blog post, written by Google's director for the iOS platform, features screenshots of an iPhone 13 home screen filled with Google apps and widgets. The post implies that customers should possibly...
Tuesday August 10, 2021 11:34 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released the fifth betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to developers, introducing additional tweaks to the new operating system that's launching this fall.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. As we get further into the beta testing process, the changes that are introduced are getting smaller as Apple begins to finalize its design plans for the update. Today's beta...
Thursday January 6, 2022 1:22 pm PST by Sami Fathi
The Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple's annual five-day-long conference to announce updates to its major operating systems, services, and sometimes hardware, is five months away. At this year's conference, we expect Apple to announce iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16.
iOS is Apple's most important operating system as it runs on the iPhone and shares many features with...
Monday February 21, 2022 4:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Popular Mac drag-and-drop app Yoink received a substantial update on Monday that brings back a much-improved Yoink clipboard history widget with several highly configurable features.
For those unfamiliar with the app, Yoink aims to simplify the action of dragging and dropping files and app-content on the macOS desktop by providing a temporary place for files to be dragged to. Yoink's shelf...
The iOS and iPadOS 15 updates that were released today introduce several expanded widget options, which can be used on the Home Screen or in the Today section of the Notification Center on the iPhone and iPad.
Apple has created several new widgets for Apple products and services, as listed below: Find My - Track your friends and personal items from the Home Screen. Contacts -...
Leaker Jon Prosser today shared ostensibly accurate renders of the iPhone 14 Pro, providing the most accurate look yet at what the device could look like when it launches later this year.
In the latest video on YouTube channel Front Page Tech, Prosser revealed renders of the iPhone 14 Pro made by Apple concept graphic designer Ian Zelbo, highlighting a range of specific design changes...
Last year's iPhone 13 Pro models were the first of Apple's smartphones to come with 120Hz ProMotion displays, and while the two iPhone 14 Pro models will continue to feature the technology, their screens could well boast expanded refresh rate variability this time round.
To bring ProMotion displays to the iPhone 13 Pro models, Apple adopted LTPO panel technology with variable refresh...
Amazon is marking down a wide variety of 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models this week, with prices starting as low as $749.00 for the 11-inch tablet. You'll find the full list of sales below, all of which can be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep...
Apple appears to have recently updated the Wallet app to allow users to add an Apple Account Card, which displays the Apple credit balance associated with an Apple ID.
If you receive an App Store or Apple Store gift card, for example, it is added to an Apple Account that was previously visible in the App Store and Apple Store apps. As of today, the Apple Account balance can also be added to...
Apple in February unveiled a new "Tap to Pay on iPhone" feature that will allow compatible iPhones to accept payments via Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, with no additional hardware required.
Apple began testing the feature at its Apple Park Visitor Center earlier this month, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has tweeted that the feature will begin...
Apple today confirmed that the keynote event for the Worldwide Developers Conference will begin at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on June 6, the first day of WWDC. The keynote will be an online-only event, though a select number of developers have been invited to the Apple Park campus for a viewing event.
In addition to confirming the keynote date and time, Apple has shared the full WWDC 2022...
Apple on May 16 released iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5, bringing improvements for Podcasts and Apple Cash, the ability to see Wi-Fi signal of HomePods, dozens of security fixes, and more.
Top Rated Comments
I mean, I am yet to see a customized Home Screen that looks better than a Home Screen with stock icons.
I know I have downloaded and played with shedloads of apps over the years, but have nothing to do with them now.
Ask yourself this: do you still use every app you have ever downloaded?
EDIT: Reading the source article their terminology is slightly better. They only use the phrase, ‘installs’, not ‘installed’. Which more accurately describes the situation. ‘Installed’ = still installed. Yes, pedantic I know, but journalists should have a good grasp of grammar.
EDIT EDIT: I mean technically you could argue the case for the title of the Macrumors article. But it gives the wrong impression.
/rant over. Sorry.