I Created Dark Mode Icons for Apps That Don't Have Them Yet – Here's How You Can Too!

Hi everyone,

Since iOS 18 was just released, some apps haven’t updated their icons to match the new dark theme. I'm not even sure if they will in the future. But why wait? I decided to redesign some of my app icons to be uniform with the iOS 18 dark theme. There are two kinds of apps that needed changes:

• Apps with colorful icons lacking a dark-themed version: For example, in my screenshot, these were Ncalc Fx, Money Lover, Zalo, KMPlayer+ Divx.

• Apps that already have dark-themed icons, but the tones don't match the iOS 18 style: In my case, these included Picsew, Outplayer, and Streaks.

Here's the detailed steps to create iOS 18 dark icons:

1. Get a Shortcut to Save the App Icon:

   • I created a shortcut a long time ago that saves the app icon to the Photos app. To use it, run it and search for the app's name; it will display a list of search results. Click on the app for which you want to save the icon. Here is the shortcut: shortcut link

2. Get the iOS 18 Dark Icon Background:

   • I searched Google for the dark background used in iOS 18 app icons and downloaded it to ensure I matched the exact tone. Here it is: image link

3. Use remove.bg to Replace the Background:

   • Visit this page: https://www.remove.bg/t/change-background

   • You will see the foreground section above and the background section below. First, upload the background image once using my dark background image. Next, upload the foreground image, which is the icon of the app. Touch and hold the resulting image to save the edited icon to the Photos app while still on the same webpage. When you want to change the background to dark for a different icon, click the "Change Image" button in the "Foreground Image" section. Then, upload the new icon and touch and hold the resulting image to download it.

4. Create a shortcut to open the app and send it to the home screen

   • Create a shortcut with only one action: Open App

   • In the action “Open App”, choose the app you want to replace the icon for.

   • Rename the shortcut by the name of the app.

   • Send the app to the Home Screen, with the new icon being the icon you just edited.

And you're done! Now you have custom dark mode icons that fit perfectly with the new iOS style!