iOS 26: Tint App Icons to Match Your New iPhone 17 Color

[MacRumors]

In iOS 26, Apple has added a new feature to its Home screen customization options that can match the color of your app icons with the actual color of your iPhone. The image below demonstrates the effect on the new iPhone 17 Pro in Cosmic Orange.

In iOS 18, Apple introduced Tinted app icons. The option applies a color filter over app icons, widgets, and even system UI elements, and with iOS 26, Apple has built on the theme with a new option that matches the color of your iPhone model.

iOS 26 knows the exact finish and color variant of your iPhone – Deep Blue, Sage, or Lavender, for example – because Apple has the device's SKU mapped at the firmware level (SKUs are a unique identifier that companies use to track and manage inventory). This allows iOS to identify your model and match a precise color profile.

This filter uses a base color taken from your iPhone's chassis color, then automatically adjusts brightness, saturation, and contrast so icons remain legible while still reflecting the hardware's tone. The following steps show you how it's done.

1. On your iPhone's Home screen, long press a space between app icons.
2. Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then select Customize from the popup menu.
3. Choose Tinted from the options panel that appears, then tap the far-left iPhone button under the two horizontal color sliders.
4. Select Light, Dark, or Auto, based on your preferences.

That's all there is to it. We've heard of the iPhone color matching option not working for some users who have updated older iPhone models to iOS 26. This is likely a bug that Apple will hopefully fix in a forthcoming update.

Match App Icons With Your iPhone's Case Color

If you press the button immediately right of the new iPhone color tint option, iOS 26 will even match app icon colors to your iPhone's case color. However, this only works with official Apple MagSafe cases that include a small NFC chip with color variant information.

Note that Tinted mode looks different in iOS 26 than it did in iOS 18. Rather than icons featuring a black background with colored graphics, icons adopt the full color that you select with white graphics in Light Mode. In ‌Dark Mode‌, backgrounds are a much darker shade of the color you choose, but aren't entirely black.

Article Link: iOS 26: Tint App Icons to Match Your New iPhone 17 Color

 

[lazyrighteye]

Deep Blue icons are gonna disappear. 😜

 

[turbineseaplane]

This feature still has never appealed to me.

I guess I’m older or something, but I really like the color and personality of different icons.

It also makes it very easy to differentiate them and quickly find them visually.

 

[FSMBP]

This feature still has never appealed to me.

I guess I’m older or something, but I really like the color and personality of different icons.

It also makes it very easy to differentiate them and quickly find them visually.

Exactly...this seems fun in theory but awful in practice. Basically, a basic human way of visual scanning for icons gets more difficult.

 

[ikramerica]

This feature still has never appealed to me.

I guess I’m older or something, but I really like the color and personality of different icons.

It also makes it very easy to differentiate them and quickly find them visually.

I agree though Apple insisting on making so many apps green or orange makes them less discernible.

 

[S.B.G]

I think it looks cool to tint the icons to match the color of the device, but only for a minute or so. After that it gets difficult for me to tell apps apart. So I just leave the icons in normal color, with dark mode on.

 

[CaptainBlue]

I happened to try this earlier this morning on an iPhone 11 I have as an emergency replacement - "Just In Case" - and I can confirm it matched the icons to the purple of the iPhone 11.

 

[redheeler]

Having an orange phone would be fun for the next couple months or so, after that not so much.

 

[ericesque]

Thanks, I hate it.

 

[Pooneil]

No thanks. I have tried tinting icons before. They looked like a bad cartoon.

 

[dlondon]

It’s not something I would do but it’s good that we have the ability to tailor our iPhones.

 

[slkjflla]

Doesn't hide the naff LG effect on the icons

 

[macjaffa]

While you’re at it, take the opportunity to change your default iphone system language to Russian*. Now as well as finding it difficult to see and differentiate your icons, you will now also not be able to read or understand anything on your screen. Brilliant!

*Apologies to Russian readers.

 

[bradman83]

I'm old enough to remember the days of Classic Mac OS when you could use extensions/control panels like Kaleidoscope to create a highly personalized, if not barely usable user interface experience for yourself. I'm glad to see Apple is inching back in that direction.

 

[kirky29]

It’s not something I would do but it’s good that we have the ability to tailor our iPhones.

Things like custom icons, hiding app names, choosing how many apps show per row, and adjusting icon sizes would all be much more useful than this odd tinting feature. Still, progress is progress.

 

[MNWildFan]

Yeah, that's gonna be a big ol nope from me

The dark mode icons are quite nice though

 

[acblue94]

In iOS 26, Apple has added a new feature to its Home screen customization options that can match the color of your app icons with the actual color of your iPhone. The image below demonstrates the effect on the new iPhone 17 Pro in Cosmic Orange.

In iOS 18, Apple introduced Tinted app icons. The option applies a color filter over app icons, widgets, and even system UI elements, and with iOS 26, Apple has built on the theme with a new option that matches the color of your iPhone model.

iOS 26 knows the exact finish and color variant of your iPhone – Deep Blue, Sage, or Lavender, for example – because Apple has the device's SKU mapped at the firmware level (SKUs are a unique identifier that companies use to track and manage inventory). This allows iOS to identify your model and match a precise color profile.

This filter uses a base color taken from your iPhone's chassis color, then automatically adjusts brightness, saturation, and contrast so icons remain legible while still reflecting the hardware's tone. The following steps show you how it's done.

1. On your iPhone's Home screen, long press a space between app icons.
2. Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then select Customize from the popup menu.
3. Choose Tinted from the options panel that appears, then tap the far-left iPhone button under the two horizontal color sliders.
4. Select Light, Dark, or Auto, based on your preferences.

That's all there is to it. We've heard of the iPhone color matching option not working for some users who have updated older iPhone models to iOS 26. This is likely a bug that Apple will hopefully fix in a forthcoming update.

Match App Icons With Your iPhone's Case Color

If you press the button immediately right of the new iPhone color tint option, iOS 26 will even match app icon colors to your iPhone's case color. However, this only works with official Apple MagSafe cases that include a small NFC chip with color variant information.

Note that Tinted mode looks different in iOS 26 than it did in iOS 18. Rather than icons featuring a black background with colored graphics, icons adopt the full color that you select with white graphics in Light Mode. In ‌Dark Mode‌, backgrounds are a much darker shade of the color you choose, but aren't entirely black.

Article Link: iOS 26: Tint App Icons to Match Your New iPhone 17 Color

Not a fan of the pro line up. Not attractive looking phones at all. I wish I could say it had a powerful punch but compared to the Air, it’s not. Seen battery tests and what separates the Pro an Air isn’t much at all. Mono speaker? Most used AirPods. LiDAR sensor and mmWave? Anyone actually use it. Wide lens and 4 and 8x zoom? Ehh… so what else? But then again that’s why only $100 separates the Pro and Air. They are not far apart at all. But in design the Air is in 2026 and the pro is back to 2014 era.

 

[acblue94]

Yeah, that's gonna be a big ol nope from me

The dark mode icons are quite nice though

You get that on the whole lineup.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

This feature still has never appealed to me.

I guess I’m older or something, but I really like the color and personality of different icons.

It also makes it very easy to differentiate them and quickly find them visually.

I'm older, but I do tinted on my phone. I like most of the differing app icon colours out of the way. I have just one and a half home screens of apps, I have my phone quite organised, so I know where every icon is, even tinted and without app labels. I would like to see the feature executed better regarding how the tinting is done, but for now it is what it is.

 

[mashinhead]

I think the tinted, glass and any icons that are mono chromatic like that look so bad. I don't know why anyone thinks they are good looking. The point of icons is to make them easily identifiable.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think the tinted, glass and any icons that are mono chromatic like that look so bad. I don't know why anyone thinks they are good looking. The point of icons is to make them easily identifiable.

Agreed.

It feels like the same 14 people using Tinted icons also use the Invites App.

 

[rodpascoe]

I just tried it but the far left icon is greyed out on my iPhone 16 Pro Max

 

[dlondon]

Things like custom icons, hiding app names, choosing how many apps show per row, and adjusting icon sizes would all be much more useful than this odd tinting feature. Still, progress is progress.

Completely agree. I had an Android as a second phone. As much as I didn't like Android, I did like the the customisations available in the OS and via launchers. I used Nova launcher and was able to put several apps into a folder, change icon for folder so it looked like an app. It would open the first app in the folder when pressing the icon or open the folder when swiping up. There were other configurations too. It made the home screen smarter while still being really accessible.

 

[ctyrider]

I am glad they are adding customization options, but these tinted icons look godawful.

 

[artifex]

Why would you pick the same color, and not a complementary one, like whatever light green fits the triad on a color wheel?