How to use custom app icons on macOS Big Sur

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With the release of macOS Big Sur, Apple has redesigned all of its Mac app icons with new colors and a new square shape. As such, many third-party apps have also redesigned their icons to match Big Sur’s new aesthetic. Some of these icon changes have proven to be controversial, but macOS Big Sur actually makes it easier to use custom app icons. This is how it works.

Where to find custom Mac app icons

A new macOS Icon Pack website has sprung up on the web with almost 3,000 different icons to choose from. There are icons for a wide variety of third-party apps, such as Adobe apps, Microsoft apps, Spotify, Twitter, and more.

The macOS Icon Pack website also includes icons for Apple apps like GarageBand, Pages, and Numbers. Apple allows you to change app icons for some of its apps, but not all. For example, you can change the GarageBand icon, but you can’t change the icons for things like Music, Safari, or Messages.

There are also other sources for custom Mac app icons, including the macOS icon gallery, Gumroad campaigns, and more.

How to use a custom Mac app icon

While things are a bit more complicated on iOS, it’s actually incredibly easy to change a Mac app icon. In this example, we’re going to change the Slack icon to an icon that matches the Big Sur aesthetic and is more dark mode compatible.

  1. Open Finder
  2. Go to your Applications folder
  3. Search for Slack
  4. Choose Slack and press CMD + I or right click and choose “Get Info”
  5. Drag the icon you download (it should be in .icns format) to the small icon in the “Get Info” window in the upper left corner
    1. Alternatively: Copy the new icon, click on the small preview icon, and then paste it

An important thing to note is that you will need to completely close the app and reopen it for the icon change to take effect. And to go back to the stock icon, just repeat the above steps, but click on the little preview icon and hit Delete.

Are there any apps you plan to change the icon for? Let us know in the comments!

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