Skip to Content

iOS 18: Add a Tint to Your iPhone Home Screen Icons

by

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
20 months ago
Eye bleed 2009
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
magicschoolbus Avatar
20 months ago
This looks like a bad myspace page
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaniTheFox Avatar
20 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)
20 months ago
All the good ideas have left the building it seems.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
20 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)
20 months ago
No one asked for this and it looks like Android Honeycomb from 2011.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Multicolored Low Cost A18 Pro MacBook Feature

Apple Accidentally Leaks 'MacBook Neo'

Tuesday March 3, 2026 7:00 am PST by
Apple appears to have prematurely revealed the name of its rumored lower-cost MacBook model, which is expected to be announced this Wednesday. A regulatory document for a "MacBook Neo" (Model A3404) has appeared on Apple's website. Unfortunately, there are no further details or images available yet. While the PDF file does not contain the "MacBook Neo" name, it briefly appeared in a link...
imac video apple feature

Apple Unveils Two New Products

Monday March 2, 2026 7:49 am PST by
Apple today introduced two new devices, including the iPhone 17e and an updated iPad Air. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone 16e, but it gains Apple's A19 chip, MagSafe for magnetic wireless charging and magnetic accessories, Apple's second-generation C1X modem for faster 5G, and a doubled 256GB of base storage. In the U.S., the iPhone 17e starts at $599, just like the ...
Apple iPhone 17e feature

Apple Announces iPhone 17e With A19 Chip, MagSafe, and More

Monday March 2, 2026 6:07 am PST by
Apple today announced the iPhone 17e, featuring the A19 chip, MagSafe connectivity, faster charging, and more. The iPhone 17e contains the A19 chip introduced in iPhone 17. It features a 6-core GPU and a 4-core GPU. Apple pointed out that this makes it up to 2x faster than the iPhone 11. The new 16-core Neural Engine is optimized for large generative models. The iPhone 17e also contains...