The much-awaited WWDC 2024 keynote from Apple has finally arrived, and with it, we finally have access to the iOS 18 Developer Beta. Tinkering with the new software to discover the latest updates is one of the best parts of the entire process for me, especially when it's features that are not part of the keynote.

How to install iOS 18 Developer Beta on iPhone
If you’re eager for an iOS 18 hands-on experience, you can install the Developer Beta right now.
All Things HowSakshi Garg

Apple showcased the ability to customize your iPhone Home Screen with iOS 18 at their event. This included changing the position of the app icons as well as their appearance to Dark Mode or any other color. But they left out that you can now also hide the app names from the Home Screen, something that many users have been wanting for quite some time to the point where they used third-party apps to achieve this functionality. With iOS 18, all it requires is a couple of taps. Let's see how.

Note: At the time of this writing, iOS 18 is still in Developer Beta. The public update will be available later this fall, but you can install the Developer Beta right now if you want.

Customize Home Screen App Icons with iOS 18

To customize your iPhone Home Screen app icons, follow these steps.

  1. Tap and hold the iPhone Home Screen until your icons start to jiggle.
  2. Then, tap the 'Edit' option in the top-left corner of the screen.
  3. Select 'Customize' from the options.
  1. App icon customization options will appear at the bottom. To remove app names from the screen, switch to the 'Large' option. This will slightly enlarge your Home Screen app icons and widgets and also remove the labels from under them.

    Switching to the large layout will also affect the size of the widgets in your Today View as well as the app icons in the App Library, though.
  2. You can also further customize your app icons from the options at the bottom. With iOS 18, you can have 'Dark' app icons (they can be permanently dark or changed with your system settings with Automatic) or 'Tint' them with any other color.
  1. If you select Tinted, iOS will automatically suggest a color to go along with your wallpaper.
  2. You can also select any other color from the slider or use the color picker to pick a color from your wallpaper.

When Apple introduced Home screen widgets, people still wanted further customization. With iOS 18, Apple has finally delivered it, even if seems like playing catch-up to Android. You can change the appearance of the app icons and even arrange them anywhere on the screen now.