How to Change the Color of Your Apps on Android

Use the wallpaper options in the Settings app to turn on themed icons or to change the system color

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University
Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.
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Updated on February 16, 2024

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What to Know

  • Turn on Themed icons and pick a solid or wallpaper-based color.
  • Access those options here: Settings > Wallpaper & style > Home screen.
  • 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 are confirmed to work on Android 14. 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 > Home screen > Themed icons to turn this on.

The Themed icons toggle and the Play Store, Chrome, and Camera app icons highlighted on a Pixel phone.

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. To do this, go to Settings > Wallpaper & style > Home screen and tap the three-dot button.

For example, if you want those Google apps to be purple, follow that path, choose Other colors, and then select the purple option. To have your app icon colors be balanced against the wallpaper, pick Wallpaper colors instead (the combos you see there change depending on the wallpaper you're using).

Home screen, three-dot button, other colors, and wallpaper colors highlighted in the Android Settings app.

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 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 icon 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.

Settings, Appearance, and the icon set highlighted in DuckDuckGo.

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.

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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