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How to Customize the Android App Icons on Your Nexus 7 Tablet with Free Themes

Jul 23, 2013 07:20 PM

Jul 23, 2013 07:29 PM

A person holding a tablet displaying various app icons.

Android's stock appearance is easy on the eyes, but after a while, it's outright boring to look at.

Unlike other tablets from some manufacturers, the Nexus 7 runs stock Android and is free from any special UI tweaks or customizations. Sure, you can download themes for a third-party launcher, but themes are launcher specific. They will not work for launchers they weren't designed for.

Today, I'll show you how to get any theme working on your Nexus 7 tablet using a special app called Icon Themer by Android developer ruqqq.

Make Sure You're Rooted

You'll need to be rooted, so be sure to check out my guide on rooting the Nexus 7 if you're not already.

Check Unknown Sources

Be sure you have Unknown Sources enabled in Settings -> Security -> Device Administration before you install anything.

Allow installations of apps from unknown sources.

Get Xposed

You need to install a framework for Icon Themer to latch onto to function, and for this, we'll be using the Xposed Framework by rovo89 to mod Android without any ROM flashing. Xposed Framework was designed to apply mods to Android without the mess and permanence of flashing.

Download and install the Xposed Installer 2.14 (APK) using this link.

Download notification for Xposed Installer APK file.

Launch the Xposed Installer and tap the button for Install/Update. Wait until you see Done to be sure it's installed and updated.

Xposed Installer interface on an Android device for framework installation and module management.

How to Customize the Android App Icons on Your Nexus 7 Tablet with Free Themes

Reboot your tablet afterwards.

Installing Icon Themer

Download and install Icon Themer using this link. Make sure to click on the newest APK version.

Activate Icon Themer in Xposed

Be sure to activate the Icon Themer module in the Modules tab in Xposed Installer to get it working.

Xposed Installer app interface showing Icon Themer option.

Downloading Icon Sets

Head back over to Icon Themer and tap the second link for free icons. It'll launch the Play Store and do a search for available icons.

Search results for "nova apex theme" on a mobile device with various theme options displayed.

Now just download the icons you want! Afterwards, head back to Icon Themer again to apply the icons.

Choose from the icon sets you installed.

Tap the button to apply the icon pack.

Loading screen indicator with a circular progress animation.

Warning message about required actions for software reset with options to confirm or cancel.

Finally, just tap the button for soft reboot to use the new icons.

Done!

Here's stock (top) and with an icon set applied (bottom).

Android home screen with app icons and clock display.

Tablet home screen displaying various app icons and a clock.

App icons displayed on a black background.

Icons can clearly make a drastic change to the look of the Android UI. No more blandness! The icon set I'm using is called DCikonZ by Daniel Czarnomorski and is available as a free download. Give this app a try and never get bored of how your Nexus 7 looks again!

The next big software update for iPhone is coming sometime in April and will include a Food section in Apple News+, an easy-to-miss new Ambient Music app, Priority Notifications thanks to Apple Intelligence, and updates to apps like Mail, Photos, Podcasts, and Safari. See what else is coming to your iPhone with the iOS 18.4 update.