Apple in iOS 18 has made a wealth of customization options available for your iPhone Home Screen, one of which is the ability to add a tint to your app icons.

iOS 18 Home Screen Feature 1
Essentially, the tint feature offers a unique way to customize your device's appearance by changing the color of all your icons at once. Unlike individual icon customization, tinting affects every icon on your app pages, Home Screen, and App Library, creating a unified look across your entire interface.

Tinting works by first desaturating all icons and then applying a single color overlay. This process results in a monochromatic appearance, which means you'll lose the original colors of your app icons and widgets, but what you gain is a more cohesive look. It's a powerful tool for creating a coordinated, stylish interface that reflects your personal taste, so be sure to experiment with it.

To choose a tint color, you can also use an eyedropper tool to select a shade from your wallpaper, or manually adjust hue and saturation using two slider bars. This flexibility allows you to perfectly match your icons to your background or create a contrasting color scheme.

Lastly, it's important to remember that the tint setting is universal. You can't apply different tints to different app pages or sections of your device. Whatever color you choose will be applied everywhere icons appear. Here's how to tint your icons in iOS 18:

  1. Long press a space on your Home Screen.
  2. Tap Edit in the top-right corner.
  3. Tap Customize.
  4. Select the Tinted option.
  5. Adjust the sliders to change the tint. Note that you can also use the eyedropper icon to select a hue from a region of your wallpaper.
  6. Tap anywhere outside of the Customize panel to finish.

Home Screen

The tint feature is in addition to a new Dark mode option for your app icons in iOS 18, which you can learn more about by checking out our dedicated how-to.

Top Rated Comments

SouthBronx187 Avatar
16 months ago
Eye bleed 2009
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
magicschoolbus Avatar
16 months ago
This looks like a bad myspace page
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaniTheFox Avatar
16 months ago
Ugly as hell.

Edit: I am running iOS Beta 18 and I have already dicovert it. But when I see this 5 tint next to it in the picture above, I am glad I did not turn it on.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sameasalways Avatar
16 months ago
All the good ideas have left the building it seems.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hagar Avatar
16 months ago

Ugly as hell.
I can’t believe they allowed such hideous project to move forward.

I don’t want to be that guy, but no way Steve Jobs would have ever allowed such customisation and deviation from the default Apple experience and intended aesthetics.

And that’s coming from someone who still finds the default icons to be hideous as hell 10 years after iOS 6.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0x4d Avatar
16 months ago
No one asked for this and it looks like Android Honeycomb from 2011.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
m1 chip slide

Five Years of Apple Silicon: M1 to M5 Performance Comparison

Monday November 10, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple silicon chip that replaced Intel chips in Apple's Mac lineup. The first Apple silicon chip, the M1, was unveiled on November 10, 2020. The M1 debuted in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 chip was impressive when it launched, featuring the "world's fastest CPU core" and industry-leading performance per watt, and it's only ...
iphone pocket%402x

Apple Debuts iPhone Pocket, a Limited Edition iPod Sock-Style Accessory

Tuesday November 11, 2025 1:23 am PST by
Apple has teamed up with Japanese fashion house ISSEY MIYAKE to launch iPhone Pocket, a 3D-knitted limited edition accessory designed to carry an iPhone, AirPods, and other everyday items. The accessory is like a stretchy pocket, not unlike an iPod Sock, but elongated to form a strap made of a ribbed, elastic textile that fully encloses an iPhone yet allows you to glimpse the display...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
homepod mini colors

New HomePod Mini Coming Soon With These Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 7:30 am PST by
Apple is expected to announce a new HomePod mini imminently, headlining with new chips. Here are all of the new features we're expecting. The second-generation HomePod mini is highly likely to contain a more up-to-date chip for more advanced computational audio and improved responsiveness. The current HomePod mini is equipped with the Apple Watch Series 5's S5 chip from 2019. Apple is likely ...
ios 26 digital id passport wallet

Apple Announces Launch of U.S. Passport Feature in iPhone's Wallet App

Wednesday November 12, 2025 9:15 am PST by
Apple today announced that iPhone users can now create a Digital ID in the Apple Wallet app based on information from their U.S. passport. To create and present a Digital ID based on a U.S. passport, you need: An iPhone 11 or later running iOS 26.1 or later, or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 26.1 or later Face ID or Touch ID and Bluetooth turned on An Apple Account ...
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
Tesla Charging

Tesla Working to Add Apple CarPlay Support to Vehicles

Thursday November 13, 2025 8:31 am PST by
Tesla is working to add support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Tesla vehicles rely on its own infotainment software system, which integrates vehicle functions, navigation, music, web browsing, and more. The automaker has been an outlier in foregoing support for Apple CarPlay, which has otherwise become an industry standard feature, allowing users to...
iphone air thinness

iPhone Air Sales Are So Bad That Apple's Delaying the Next-Generation Version

Monday November 10, 2025 11:41 am PST by
The thin, light iPhone Air sold so poorly that Apple has decided to delay the launch of the next-generation iPhone Air that was scheduled to come out alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, reports The Information. Apple initially planned to release a new iPhone Air in fall 2026, but now that's not going to happen. Since the iPhone Air launched in September, there have been reports of poor sales...
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...