First off, prerequisites for this are as follows:
Basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop
Launcher Pro – however, this may also work with other Launchers I have not used.
1. Grab a photo of whatever picture you want as an icon.
2. Open up your photo with Adobe Photoshop – under the menu bar click on ‘Window’ and make sure ‘Show Layers’ is enabled.
3. Use the magic wand tool and highlight the part of the photo you want as an icon.
(Say you have a picture of you and your dog and you just want to use your dog as an icon)
4. After you have it highlighted the part of the photo you want, right click, and select ‘Layer via copy’
5. Then go up to ‘File’ and select ‘New’. You can name this whatever you’d like, for this write-up, we’ll call this new file ‘X’ Towards the bottom of that pop-up box you’ll see ‘Contents’ – you’ll want to select ‘Transparent’
6. Next, click back on your original photo. When you do this, you should see in the ‘Layers’ window, the part of the photo you highlighted. Grab this and drag it into the new file named ‘X’
7. Now on the ‘X’ file, go up to the menu bar and select ‘Image’ then ‘Canvas Size’ Adjust this accordingly to the size of your photo so the top and side edges are just about flush with your photo.
8. When this is done, go up to the menu bar and select ‘File’ and ‘Save As’ and select the Format as a .GIF file. Save the file to your desktop.
9. Plug your phone into your computer and mount your SD Card. Once that pops up, you can create a new folder on your SD card and call it ‘Icons’ or whatever your heart desires. Transfer file ‘X’ from your desktop into the “Icons’ folder on your phone’s SD card. Dismount your SD card.
10. For this next part, this is what I know from Launcher Pro, it might be a bit different with other Launchers.
11. Long press on your home screen, select ‘Shortcuts’ then ‘Applications’ (For this example, we’ll be putting the Facebook app on your screen with a custom icon.)
12. Scroll down and select the Facebook app.
13. Now a window will pop up and you’ll be able to edit the shortcut. Click the Facebook icon to edit it. When you click that, go to your Gallery and find your Icons folder.
14. Select the Icons folder and pick the file we put in there called ‘X’
15. Your icon is now changed and select OK.
Basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop
Launcher Pro – however, this may also work with other Launchers I have not used.
1. Grab a photo of whatever picture you want as an icon.
2. Open up your photo with Adobe Photoshop – under the menu bar click on ‘Window’ and make sure ‘Show Layers’ is enabled.
3. Use the magic wand tool and highlight the part of the photo you want as an icon.
(Say you have a picture of you and your dog and you just want to use your dog as an icon)
4. After you have it highlighted the part of the photo you want, right click, and select ‘Layer via copy’
5. Then go up to ‘File’ and select ‘New’. You can name this whatever you’d like, for this write-up, we’ll call this new file ‘X’ Towards the bottom of that pop-up box you’ll see ‘Contents’ – you’ll want to select ‘Transparent’
6. Next, click back on your original photo. When you do this, you should see in the ‘Layers’ window, the part of the photo you highlighted. Grab this and drag it into the new file named ‘X’
7. Now on the ‘X’ file, go up to the menu bar and select ‘Image’ then ‘Canvas Size’ Adjust this accordingly to the size of your photo so the top and side edges are just about flush with your photo.
8. When this is done, go up to the menu bar and select ‘File’ and ‘Save As’ and select the Format as a .GIF file. Save the file to your desktop.
9. Plug your phone into your computer and mount your SD Card. Once that pops up, you can create a new folder on your SD card and call it ‘Icons’ or whatever your heart desires. Transfer file ‘X’ from your desktop into the “Icons’ folder on your phone’s SD card. Dismount your SD card.
10. For this next part, this is what I know from Launcher Pro, it might be a bit different with other Launchers.
11. Long press on your home screen, select ‘Shortcuts’ then ‘Applications’ (For this example, we’ll be putting the Facebook app on your screen with a custom icon.)
12. Scroll down and select the Facebook app.
13. Now a window will pop up and you’ll be able to edit the shortcut. Click the Facebook icon to edit it. When you click that, go to your Gallery and find your Icons folder.
14. Select the Icons folder and pick the file we put in there called ‘X’
15. Your icon is now changed and select OK.
Last edited:
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