Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Sometimes an app’s icon just doesn’t look right on your homescreen. For example, let’s say — just for the sake of argument — that the icon for a social networking app was switched from a pretty blue bird to a rather stark “X.” Could you change that icon?

The answer is yes — it’s doable using Apple’s built-in Shortcuts app. You actually won’t be replacing the app’s official icon. Rather, you’ll be creating a separate shortcut that leads to the app. It’s a tedious and time-consuming process, but in the end, you can have a fully customized iPhone homescreen.

Here’s how you do it:

Before you begin, it’s a good idea to find an icon for your new shortcut. There are a bunch of icon sources online (Flaticon, for example), or if you’re artistic…

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