I use this solution to create dark icons for iPhone apps that don’t have one

iOS 18 attempts to overwrite app icons with dark versions if they don’t have dark mode compatible icons. However, it doesn’t always work. So I use a solution to create dark icons for apps on my iPhone that don’t have any.

Get a shortcut to get a dark app icon

First, you need the original app icon, which is not compatible with dark mode. It’s easy to get this icon using the Get App Icon shortcut, which downloads app icons for tons of iPhone apps.

Go to the Get app icon shortcut page and tap Get a representative. Then tap on OPEN open it in the built-in Shortcuts app and press Add shortcut add to your library.

Click the shortcut Get the app icon to launch it. Now enter the name of the unsupported application in the input prompt and press Done take a look at it. Then tap on the corresponding app and the shortcut will save the original app icon to your Photos app.

Save iOS 18 icon dark background to your iPhone

You also need a dark background. This will replace the original icon background of our unsupported app. Since we want all the dark app icons on the home screen to have the same tone, it’s best to use a dark iOS icon background.

Simply go to the page with the dark icon background, long tap on the image and select Save to Photos save to the Photos app.

Create a dark mode icon for the app

Now that we have the original app icon and a dark background, creating a dark mode icon for your app is easy. To do this, we’ll use the Remove.bg Change Image Background tool, which will allow us to remove the white background from the original app icon and replace it with our dark background image.

Go to the Remove.bg Change Image Background tool on your iPhone. Tap Upload a picturetake your pick Photo libraryand select the icon of the original app you saved in the Photos app above.

Similarly, tap on Select File button under Background image and select Photo library. Then select the dark icon background you saved earlier.

Once you do this, the tool will generate a new app icon with a dark background. Tap Download and strike View when prompted for confirmation. This will open the icon in a new tab. Long press the image to select Save to Photos save to the Photos app library.

Create an application shortcut to open the application

When everything is done, the last step is to create a home screen app shortcut that uses the dark icon you just created as its icon.

Open it Abbreviations application and tap on + button in the upper right corner to create a new shortcut.

Next, tap on Search action bar, look up Open the applicationand tap the corresponding action to add it to the shortcut. Tap on App text to this action and on the next screen select the app whose dark icon you just created.

Now tap on Open the application text at the top and select Rename. Here, enter the name of the application for which you have created a dark icon and press Done.

Tap the title again to select Add to home screen. On the next screen, tap on the photo icon and select Select Photo. Now find and select the dark app icon in your photo library and press Choose use it.

Finally tap Add in the upper right corner to save a shortcut to your iPhone’s home screen.

You can then remove the original app from your home screen. Tap and hold the app icon on the home screen, then select Remove the applicationfollows Remove from home screen when prompted for confirmation.

Using the solution above, you can easily create a dark icon for any iPhone app that doesn’t natively offer a corresponding dark app icon. In addition to making app icons darker, you can customize your iPhone’s home screen to be large and label-free, or use a custom color shade to match your wallpaper.