X Icon Changer - Change Icons

Review by eFreeware

Most Android launchers let you change a wallpaper or a widget, but the app icons themselves usually stay put. You end up with a home screen that mixes a dozen design languages. X Icon Changer takes a different route: it lets you replace icons and names one at a time, so you can fix the handful that bother you and leave the rest alone.

The app comes from ASTER PLAY and sits in the personalization category. It has been available since August 2019 and has passed 50 million installs, with a 4.3 average across more than 679,000 ratings. It is free to download, shows ads, and offers in-app purchases. The developer's pitch is straightforward: pick a new icon, give the app a new name if you want, and the app builds a shortcut on your home screen that looks like the original.

How the icon swap works in practice

The workflow the developer describes is short. You open X Icon Changer, choose one of your installed apps, then pick a replacement image. That image can come from the built-in icon packs, from your own gallery, from the icon of another app already on your phone, or from a third-party pack you have downloaded separately. After that you can type a new name for the app, and the name field can be left empty.

The result is a shortcut placed on your home screen. That distinction matters, because it explains both the appeal and the limits. The change is cosmetic and lives on your launcher. For anyone who has ever wanted a matching set of icons without hunting down a pack that covers every single app, this shortcut approach is the pragmatic answer.

The name editing is a small feature with more reach than it first appears. A shorter label can make a crowded home screen easier to scan. Because the field can be left blank, you also have the option of an icon with no text at all, which some people prefer for a cleaner grid. The developer presents the whole process as the easy way to decorate an Android phone, and the steps involved are few enough that the claim is reasonable.

Icon packs, GIFs and the extras

X Icon Changer ships with a set of selected icon packs, and both the app and those packs are free to get. That built-in library is the fastest path for anyone who does not already own a pack, since it removes the step of finding artwork elsewhere. The gallery option covers the opposite case: if you have a photo or a graphic you want to use, you can point the app at it directly.

There is also a GIF feature. You can attach an animated GIF that plays when the new icon is launched, which turns a tap into a small piece of motion. It is the kind of addition that will appeal to people who enjoy tuning a home screen, and it is easy to ignore if you would rather keep things static. Between the packs, the gallery, the borrowed app icons and the animation, the app covers a wide range of ways to arrive at a custom look.

The most technically interesting part is the watermark workaround. From Android 8.0 onward, shortcut icons carry a system watermark. The developer's solution is a widget: you long press a blank area of the home screen, open the widget menu, find X Icon Changer, and drag its widget onto the desktop. The widget opens on its own, and from there you can change icons without the watermark appearing. It is a workaround, but it is the difference between a shortcut that carries a visible mark and one that does not.

What the app asks of you

The app is free, but it is not without cost. It contains ads and offers in-app purchases, so the experience includes both advertising and the option to spend money inside the app. Anyone who objects to ads in a personalization tool should weigh that before installing, even though the icon packs themselves are described as free.

On Android 8.0 or later, the shortcut method will produce a watermarked icon, and the clean result depends on setting up the widget instead. That means a few extra steps on the home screen, and it means the process is not quite the one-tap affair the shortcut path suggests.

The app was updated in August 2026 with optimization for Android 16 and improved compatibility and stability on recent devices. That is a modest changelog.

Getting a tidy result without the fuss

The sensible way to use X Icon Changer is to start small. Pick two or three apps whose icons clash with the rest of your home screen, replace those, and see how the shortcuts behave on your launcher. If the result looks right, expand from there. Doing the whole grid at once is a lot of shortcuts to manage, and it makes it harder to tell which ones you actually like.

When you reach the watermark step, set up the widget before you start replacing icons rather than after. If you plan to use a third-party icon pack, install it first so it is available when you are choosing artwork.

It also helps to think about naming. Leaving the label blank gives you a pure icon grid, while a short custom name keeps things findable. Whichever you choose, apply it consistently, because a mix of labeled and unlabeled icons tends to look accidental rather than deliberate. The GIF option is best kept for one or two icons; a home screen full of animation quickly becomes distracting.

A practical pick for launcher tinkerers

X Icon Changer does one job and does it without charging for the icon packs it provides. The shortcut method is simple, the widget method solves the watermark problem on modern Android, and the range of image sources means you are not locked into a single art style. The 4.3 rating across a large number of ratings suggests the approach works for a lot of people.

The trade-offs are the ones the developer states: ads, in-app purchases, and the extra widget setup if you want watermark-free icons on Android 8.0 or later. None of these are hidden, but they shape what using the app is like. It is a tool for people who enjoy adjusting their home screen and do not mind a few steps to get there.

If you have ever wished you could swap a single stubborn icon without installing a full theme, this is built for exactly that. It is a free and capable way to make an Android phone look the way you want.

What's new in version 4.5.6

1. Fully optimized for Android 16. 2. Improved compatibility and stability on the latest Android devices.