One of the best ways to personalize your iPhone is to add custom icons and tiles of various shapes and sizes for apps, widgets, and folders to your home screens. You can also swap in images you choose in place of standard icons. This feature has been available since iOS 14, and iOS 16 added the ability to make customized home screen changes automatically based on your Focus mode.
As an example of how far you can go with icon customization, one user on X, formerly Twitter, used Microsoft Paint to produce amusingly amateur-looking icons. The secret here is the Shortcuts app. Here's how to create unique iOS home screens with custom icons and widgets.
How to Create Custom Icons for Your iPhone
A Few Drawbacks
While it's fun to create custom icons, there are drawbacks. For one, when you tap the custom icon to open the app, you don't go directly to the app. Instead, the action first opens the Shortcuts app, which then shunts you to the app you want.
Also, you lose any long-press menu options the official icon provides. For example, the WhatsApp icon lets you start a chat or take a picture from a long tap. The only options you get when you long-press a custom icon are to delete it (it's called a Bookmark in this menu rather than an App) or edit the home page.
How to Make Widgets in iOS
Custom icons are fun, but widgets on the home screens can be more useful. And adding a widget to a home page is extremely simple.
For more, read Hidden iPhone Tips and Tricks to Make You an iOS Pro.