How can I change my mobile theme color?

One of the new features in Android 12 is the ability to automatically fit your phone’s color palette to that of your wallpaper. If you’ve been able to upgrade to Android 12, you may want to give it a try, especially if you’re into styling and colors.

I tried it out on a Pixel 3 using Android 12 beta, and the results were interesting. When I used the sample wallpapers supplied by Google and enabled the “themed icons” feature (which is supposed to let your icons match the style of your wallpaper), I was treated to a new background color which appeared on the search field at the bottom of the screen, the Quick Tiles (the buttons you get when you swipe down from the top), and other elements.

I was not all that impressed by the “themed icons” feature — it basically changed some, but not all, of the icons on my home page into black designs against a hued background. Quite honestly, I think the normal multi-colored icons look much better, but it’s nice to have the choice.

Want to try it out yourself? Easy.

• Long press on an empty part of your home screen until you see the pop-up menu.
• Select “Wallpaper & style.”
• Select “Change wallpaper.”

• Tap on one of the categories presented on the Wallpaper screen, and then select a specific image. Or tap on the top button called “My photos” to select one of your own photos.
• Once you select your image, you’ll be shown a preview of what it will look like on your home screen and lock screen. (Two buttons below the preview image let you toggle between the two.) If you’re satisfied, tap the check mark in the bottom right corner.
• A pop-up menu will give you the choice of using the wallpaper on the home screen, your lock screen, or both. And you’re done! You’ll find yourself back on your home page — with your new wallpaper.

If you want to try the themed icons, or use a dark theme, go back to the “Wallpaper & style” page, scroll down a bit and toggle on either or both. Here’s what the Mandalorian wallpaper looks like, both with normal app icons and with the themed icons:

I also tried the new color palette feature with one of my own photos as wallpaper: a green lawn with a few purple flowers. It worked perfectly there as well. The quick tiles and themed icons were all assigned a pale green, as were the lock screen numerals and other elements.

You can also choose the a different color combination for your theme, depending on your wallpaper photo.

• On the “Wallpaper & style” page, select “Wallpaper colors” and choose one of the color combinations shown. You can also tap on “Basic colors” if you want something, well, basic.

While these style combinations won’t affect your phone’s efficiency or performance, the idea that you can tweak the look of your screen to suit your taste — or your mood — is rather nice. If you have access to Android 12, I’d try it out — it may make a real difference in how you view your Android phone.

What to Know

• Turn on Themed icons and pick a solid or wallpaper-based color.
• Access those options here: Settings > Wallpaper & style.
• A third-party app with icon packs provides the greatest flexibility.

This article details your options for changing the color and icons of your Android apps.

How Do I Change the Color of My Apps on My Phone?

By default, app icons on some Android phones, like the Pixel, are essentially unchangeable, both the color and the actual icon. Spotify, for example, is green and black, and there's no easy way to change that.

There are, however, some cases where the app lets you modify the icon from a selection of options. Or, the app has closer ties to your phone's settings than other apps, so if you change the color setting on your phone, the app color and icon style will change, too.

If all else fails, third-party apps can take care of the whole process for you through icon packs. You can modify the app's icon color and entire icon graphic that way.

Here are the Google-approved options for changing the color of an app icon:

These steps were made using Android 12 and 13. Specific steps may differ based on the operating system version you're running, but the basic process will be the same.

Use Themed Icons

One way to quickly change app icon colors is to use Themed icons. But there's a catch: Not every icon will change—only Google-provided ones like Chrome, YouTube, Camera, Phone, Messages, Play Store, Gmail, etc.

Go to Settings > Wallpaper & style > Themed icons to turn this on.

The icon style you end up with depends on the colors used in your wallpaper (see below) and if the Dark theme is on.

Turn on Wallpaper Colors

Themed icons work as-is, so you can turn it on and forget about it. Or, to work in a bit of customization, you can manipulate the app colors through two sets of color options: Wallpaper colors and Basic colors.

For example, if you want those Google apps to be purple, you can pick that color from Settings > Wallpaper & style > Basic colors. If you want the app icon colors to be balanced against the wallpaper, open Settings > Wallpaper & style > Wallpaper colors and pick one of those color combinations (the combos you see there change depending on the wallpaper you're using).

Those color styles also apply to folder backgrounds, the lock screen, and other places. They change the color of Google's app icons because they've included their apps as part of the set to which the color setting applies. They may expand the option to third-party developers in the future so that your other apps will change color too.

How Do You Change App Icons on Android?

Changing app colors is also possible by simply changing the whole app icon. The only built-in method for doing that is to follow the directions above. The color palette you pick, the wallpaper you're using, and whether the dark theme and themed icons options are on influence how some of your apps appear.

But what if you want to pick a different app icon, maybe one for a non-Google app? There aren't icon packs in the phone's settings that you can cycle through, nor is there an approved way to swap out one icon for one of your choosing.

However, the app developer will include an app icon customization option in the app's settings in some rare cases. One example is the DuckDuckGo browser. A screen called App Icon is in that app's settings, which has several options. It doesn't matter what your wallpaper color is or what other toggle you enabled in your phone's settings; this app's icon is determined by what you decide in its settings.

If the app you're trying to change the icon color for doesn't have that level of customization, consider using a third-party tool. You might need a different Android launcher than the one that came with your phone for that to work.

How to Change App Icons on Android

FAQ

• How do I change the color of apps on a Samsung phone?

  To change the color of your apps on a Samsung phone, tap and hold an empty area of the home screen and then tap Wallpaper and style. Tap Color Palette, and then choose the color you want. Tap Set as Color Palette. The color palette changes will affect stock apps and icons.

• How do I change the color of my iPhone apps?

  To change the color of apps on iOS 14, you'll use the Shortcuts app to alter your apps' appearance. In this case, you're not directly changing the app's color; rather, this is a workaround that creates a "button" that can be different colors. To do this, launch the Shortcuts app and tap Add (plus sign); in the New Shortcut screen, tap Add Action. Search for and select Open App, and then, on the New Shortcut page, tap Choose. Locate the app whose appearance you want to change. Back on the New Shortcut page, you'll see the app name; tap More (three dots), change the app's name, tap its icon, select Color, and choose a new color. Use other customization options here to further change its appearance.

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