How to change Default System Icons on any Android Phone

Viraj Kshatriya November 30, 2013 Android Development No Comments

Are you bored of using stock Android icons? And don’t know how to get rid of them? Well, no need to get frustrate anymore. Today, we’ve come up with an article which will guide you through the steps required for changing default system icons on any Android phone (like Nexus, Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG, Motorola, Micromax, Karbonn, Oppo etc.). We’ve described two method for the same. Choose whichever is suitable to you.

So, let’s get started!

Method 1: Using an App

To replace default Android system icons, you’ll need to install an app called Unicon. But unlike any other app, you’ll have to install it differently. Thus, you’ll need the Xposed Framework for that. Though the ‘Framework’ word seems a little complicated, the process is far easier than you’ve thought Instructions for the same are given below.

Pre-requisites:

To use this method, your phone needs to have a root access. If you don’t want to root your phone for the sake of changing icons then refer the second method below.

Make sure your device is running Android 4.0.3 or above.

Downloads:

Download Xposed Framework from here:

Xposed Framework for Android.

Download Unicon app from Play Store.

Unicon for Xposed.

Procedure:

Install the Xposed Framework app that you’ve just downloaded.

Open Xposed Installer and select ‘Framework’ option and then on next window, select ‘Install/Update’. Reboot the phone to activate the framework.

After rebooting the phone, open Xposed Installer app and select ‘Modules‘ option & tick against Unicon.

To activate the Unicon module, you need to reboot the device again.

Now, download any icon pack you want from Play Store (Nova / Apex Launcher or any other launcher compatible icon pack). Let us take Blitz icon pack. Download it from here.

After installing the icon pack, open Unicon app from the App drawer, choose Blitz icon pack and apply the same. Wait for Unicon to change your old icons.

Tip: We’ve listed some beautiful icon packs in the end of this article. Have a look at them.

Unicon will ask you to ‘Restart Launcher & Apps’, select that and on next popup select ‘Both’.

Now exit the app and you’ll find that your device’s icons are totally replaced by the icon pack that you’ve applied through Unicon. Cheers!

Method 2: Using a Launcher App

This is another method to apply icon packs. But in this method, you’ll to use a launcher app like Nova / Apex / Go etc. i.e. icon pack that you’re going to apply will be limited to that particular launcher only. In this guide, we’ll use a famous Nova Launcher (you can use any other popular launcher). Let’s see how to change default launcher icons with the custom icon pack.

Requirement:

Ensure that your device is running Android 4.0 or above because this is the only requirement for a Nova Launcher. If you are using Android 2.2+ then better test this method with Go Launcher.

Downloads:

Download Nova Launcher app from Play Store.

Nova Launcher for Android 4.0+.

Also, download an icon pack from the same. In this tutorial, we’ve used an icon pack called “Blitz”. It’s available for free in the Play Store (For more icon packs, refer the last section of this article).