The Ultimate Guide to iOS 18's Customization Features

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Give your iPhone a personalized touch with customization

Co-authored by Hannah Dillon Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: May 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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Home Screen

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Lock Screen

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Wallpapers

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Control Center

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Action Button

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iOS 18 is the most customizable version of Apple's iPhone operating system yet. In this article we go over all the built-in ways to customize your iPhone running iOS 18, including rearranging your Home Screen, adding widgets to your Lock Screen, adding and removing items from the Control Center, and much more.

Customizing iOS 18

There are many ways to customize iOS 18. On the Home Screen, you can adjust how your apps look and rearrange them. The Lock Screen can house widgets, and you can adjust how your clock looks. You can create custom wallpapers and easily switch between the ones you've saved. The Control Center can also be customized.

Section 1 of 5:

Home Screen

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1
Change app and widget color iOS 18 gives users some limited options on changing the color of their app icons and widgets. You can choose between light mode, dark mode, or a tint.^{[1]
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Research source} Here's how to do it:
- Long-press any app on your Home Screen, then tap Edit Home Screen.
- In the upper-left corner, tap Edit.
- Tap Customize.
- Choose a color for your app icons and widgets. The following options are available:
  - Light: The default. Most app backgrounds are white.
  - Dark: Switches most app backgrounds to black.
  - Automatic: Makes your app backgrounds "light" during the day and "dark" at night.
  - Tinted: Applies a tint to all app icons and widgets. The apps will have a black background and the pictures on the app icon will be tinted to a color you choose.
- Tap anywhere outside of the pop-up at the bottom of your screen to exit it.
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Add custom app icons While Shortcuts aren't new to iOS 18, you can still customize your Home Screen with custom app icons using Shortcuts.^{[2]
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Research source} There are two downsides to this: it takes a while if you have a lot of apps to edit, and you won't see badge notifications on those apps anymore (like the ones that show you how many unread texts or emails you have). If this isn't an issue for you, however, you can follow these steps to add custom app icons:
- Download or create custom app icons. There are a ton of custom app icons for free online, or you can download apps from the App Store that have custom icons available.
  - If you make your own app icons, send them to your iPhone before beginning (if they're not already on there).
- Open the Shortcuts app. If it's not on your Home Screen, you'll have to look for it in the App Library.
- Tap the + icon in the upper-right corner.
- Type "open app" into the actions search bar, then choose the Open App action.
- Tap App in "Open App" and choose the app you want to open.
- Tap the down arrow next to "Open App" at the top of the screen and tap Add to Home Screen.
- Tap the bubble under the gray picture icon.
- Tap Choose Photo or Choose File, depending on where your custom icon is saved.
- Navigate to the custom icon and select it.
- Tap Add in the upper-right corner. You can now move the Shortcut around your Home Screen like an app. When you tap on the Shortcut, it will open the app you designated in the Shortcuts app.
  - If the app you created a custom icon for is still on your Home Screen, you can remove it by long-pressing the app, tapping Edit Home Screen, tapping the X in the corner of the app, and choosing Remove from Home Screen.
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3
Adjust app size & remove app labels With iOS 18, you can change the size of your app icons. This will also remove the app labels, which will reduce some visual clutter on your Home Screen. While this can make app icons easier to see, it might make it a little harder to navigate your Home Screen unless you've memorized which app uses which icon. By default, your apps are the "small" size. You can also pick a "large" size.
- Long-press any app on your Home Screen, then tap Edit Home Screen.
- In the upper-left corner, tap Edit.
- Tap Customize.
- At the bottom of your screen, tap Large to make your app icons large and remove their labels. To go back to the smaller size, tap Small.
- Tap anywhere outside of the pop-up at the bottom of your screen to exit it.
4
Lock or hide apps If there are apps you don't want easily accessible, you can lock or hide them with iOS 18.^{[3]
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Research source} Here's how to do it:
- Locking apps:
  - Long-press the app you want to lock.
  - Tap Require Face ID, Require Touch ID, or Require Passcode.
  - Confirm you want to lock the app, then authenticate it with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
- Hiding apps:
  - Long-press the app you want to lock.
  - Tap Hide and Require Face ID, Hide and Require Touch ID, or Hide and Require Passcode.
  - Confirm you want to hide the app, then authenticate it with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
    - Hidden apps are moved to the "Hidden" folder at the bottom of your App Library.
5
Darken your Home Screen background If your Home Screen background is a little too bright and it's hard to see your app icons or read their labels, you can darken just the Home Screen background easily.
- Long-press any app on your Home Screen, then tap Edit Home Screen.
- In the upper-left corner, tap Edit.
- Tap Customize.
- Tap the sun icon at the bottom of the screen. This will add a dark tint to your Home Screen background, but not your apps or widgets.
- Tap anywhere outside of the pop-up at the bottom of your screen to exit it.
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Add widgets Widgets aren't new to iOS 18, but more widgets are available now than ever. Widgets are items that can be added to your Home Screen that give you information without opening an app. You can also sometimes interact with that app via its widget without opening the app at all.^{[4]
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Research source} Here's the ways you can add widgets to your Home Screen:
- Long-press a blank area of your Home Screen, then tap Edit > Add Widget. Scroll through the available widgets for the apps you have installed. Once you've chosen one, tap it. Depending on the widget, it might get added right away or you may have to configure the widget before it can be used. Drag and drop the widget wherever you want it to sit on your Home Screen.
- Long-press an app that has an available widget. Choose one of the widget options at the bottom of the pop-up (below Edit Home Screen). The app will change into a widget. To switch the app back into an app, long-press it and choose the first option under Edit Home Screen, which looks like four squares arranged in a square.
- Tap Done to finish.
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Rearrange apps and widgets With iOS 18, you are able to rearrange your apps and widgets so there are blank spaces between them. You must still arrange all of your apps and widgets in a grid, however.
- Long-press an app or widget on your screen and tap Edit Home Screen.
- Drag and drop your apps or widgets wherever you want them to go. The app/widget will snap to the nearest grid point.
- Tap Done to finish.

Section 2 of 5:

Lock Screen

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1
Change clock font and color Feeling tired of the default look of your Lock Screen's clock? With iOS 18, you can actually change the font and color of your clock!^{[5]
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Research source} Here's how to do it:
- Long-press on your Lock Screen and tap Customize.
- Tap the Lock Screen.
- Tap the clock. You can choose a new font, font thickness, and color for the clock. The clock updates as you choose different options, so you can edit it to fit the vibe you're going for easily.
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Edit Lock Screen widgets iOS 18 allows you to add widgets to your Lock Screen. The list of available widgets is a little smaller than the list of widgets you can add to your Home Screen, and that's because Lock Screen widgets are a bit smaller.
- Long-press on your Lock Screen and tap Customize.
- Tap the Lock Screen.
- Tap the area below your clock.
- Scroll in the "Add Widgets" menu until you find the widget you want to add.
- Configure the widget, if necessary.
- Drag and drop the widgets to rearrange them, if you need to. You can fit up to four 1x1 widgets, two 1x2 widgets, or one 1x2 widget and two 1x1 widgets.
3
Change the date widget Did you know that the widget that says the date above your clock can actually be changed? You can replace the date widget with one for your calendar events, the temperature, and more.
- Long-press on your Lock Screen and tap Customize.
- Tap the Lock Screen.
- Tap the date above your clock.
- Choose a new widget. Configure it, if necessary.
4
Switch Lock Screen buttons By default, your Lock Screen buttons are the flashlight and the camera. But with iOS 18, you can switch or even remove these buttons. Here's how:
- Long-press on your Lock Screen and tap Customize.
- Tap the Lock Screen.
- Tap one of the Lock Screen buttons to remove it. If you don't want a Lock Screen button, you can stop here.
- Tap the "+" sign where your Lock Screen button was.
- Choose a new Lock Screen button. You can scroll through the list, or search for a specific button with the search bar at the top of the screen.
- Configure the button, if necessary. To do this, tap on the button (avoiding the "-" button) and choose the options you like.

Section 3 of 5:

Wallpapers

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1
Choosing a new wallpaper Just like in previous version of iOS, you can add new wallpapers by going to your iPhone settings.
- Go to Settings > Wallpaper.
- Swipe to the left until you see the "NEW" header.
- Tap the Lock Screen (left).
- Choose a new wallpaper. For your Lock Screen, you can choose a photo shuffle, live photo, emoji, color, astronomy, or weather if you don't want to use a photo. You can also choose a default Lock Screen, created by Apple. There are a number of customization options, depending on what you choose. Tap Add to finish editing your lock screen.
  - If you choose a photo, live photo, or photo shuffle, swipe across your screen to adjust the filter over your photos.
  - If you choose emoji, select your emojis (up to 6) then swipe on the screen to change the emoji layout. You can also change the background color.
  - If you choose a color, you can adjust the color and swipe to change the color intensity.
  - If you choose astronomy, you can view different planets on your Lock Screen. If you give the app permission to use Location Services, the Earth lock screen will show your location.
  - If you choose weather, the Lock Screen will show the current weather for your location (if you enable Location Services).
  - Tap Add to finish editing.
- Choose Set as Wallpaper Pair to make your Home Screen match your Lock Screen, or tap Customize Home Screen. If you choose Set as Wallpaper Pair, your Home Screen will be the same as your Lock Screen, but it might be slightly blurred or darkened. If you choose Customize Home Screen, you'll be able to configure it slightly.
- If you choose Customize Home Screen, tap on a selection at the bottom of the screen. You can choose one of the following:
  - Pair: Makes your Home Screen match your Lock Screen
  - Color: Allows you to choose a plain color for your Home Screen
  - Gradient: Allows you to make a plain color gradient for your Home Screen
  - Photo: Allows you to pick a photo on your iPhone for your wallpaper
  - Blur: Blurs your chosen Home Screen wallpaper
- Tap Done to finish creating your wallpaper.
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Switching between saved wallpapers In iOS 18, you can save multiple wallpaper presets. This will also save the widgets you've chosen for your Lock Screen, as well as the font and color of your Lock Screen clock.
- Easily switch by long pressing on the Lock Screen, then swiping between saved wallpaper profiles.
- You can also switch by going to Settings > Wallpaper and choosing one of your saved profiles there.

Section 4 of 5:

Control Center

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With iOS 18, you can customize your Control Center. The Control Center is the screen that appears when you swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen, and has lots of buttons that allow you to adjust your phone's settings, enable Focus Mode, turn on your flashlight, access various apps, and more.^{[6]
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Research source}
- Open the Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen.
- Tap the + icon in the upper-left corner or press and hold any blank area on the Control Center screen.
- Customize your Control Center by doing the following:
  - Drag and drop icons to move where they are
  - Drag the “handles” on the bottom right corners of buttons to change their size or shape
  - Tap the - button to remove a button
  - Tap + Add a Control to add a new button to your Control Center
  - Swipe up or down to switch Control Center pages, then edit those pages using the same methods listed above
- Tap around the borders of your screen to exit customization mode and save your changes.

Section 5 of 5:

Action Button (iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max and Later)

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If you have an iPhone 15 Pro,15 Pro Max, or later, the silent switch on your phone has been replaced by the Action Button. This button can be customized to do different actions when you press it.^{[7]
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Research source}
- Go to Settings > Action Button.
- Swipe to change what the Action Button does. These are the current choices for what the Action Button can do:
  - Silent Mode
  - Focus Mode
  - Camera
  - Visual Intelligence
  - Flashlight
  - Voice Memo
  - Recognize Music
  - Translate
  - Magnifying Glass
  - Controls
  - Shortcuts
  - Accessibility
  - Nothing