Ok. Maybe I'm missing something or perhaps this is something that just doesn't bother the daylights out of other people the way it does me lol! I use Nova Launcher Pro and Flight Lite icons. I can change all of my icons on my home screen and in my app drawer but when the apps are running it still shows whatever icon is default for the little bubble above that app's window on the "running apps" screen and when I look in the settings at the list of all my apps. In my case, since I am using a third party theme, half of the icons are the default icons and half of them are the ones that came with the theme. Is there a way to change this without digging in the code? I am fairly familiar with how to work with code but I have two young kids and just don't really have the spare time to learn how to dig into the code right now. Seems to me like Android would allow you to change an app's icon across the whole phone right? I mean, if you want the icon changed, surely you would want it consistent across the phone, right? Is it just me? Anyways, I have a Note 20 Ultra upgraded a few weeks ago from a Note 5 that I loved for years and this bugged me on my old phone too. Also, does anyone have any experience with any of the software to edit the code? Is it a beast to do? I would love to pick around in it but I would not want to accidentally screw up my phone and have to spend hours searching how to fix it....I use my phone mostly for work and can't really afford to have it out of commission. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi, your referring to recent apps list with cards display then at bottom recent apps used ?
Which device and can you post a screenshot ?
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=413366
I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154
Which device and can you post a screenshot ?
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=413366
I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154
Javier P
Ambassador
Welcome to the forums. Third party launchers, such as Nova, only control your home screen and app drawer. The Recent apps overview or the settings are controlled by the system, it all depends on how much customisation you can have with your stock launcher.
smvim
Well-known member
Well if this is a daily usage phone you don't want to inadvertently 'put it out of commission' I'd highly recommend you don't experiment with it's lower level operations. To do what you're asking you need to first root it, which is something of an involved process to begin with (especially is you want to root it safely and properly). And keep in mind that using a rooted device will have a lot of limitations too. You gain access to do more things to your phone itself but there are now a lot of drawbacks accessing online services (financial being a common one of many).
If anything get a cheap secondary phone to experiment with and teach yourself what works and what doesn't. (..... have a restore option on hand so download a flashing utility that works with that phone model and the appropriate stock ROM so you can restore a soft-bricked phone when necessary.)
If anything get a cheap secondary phone to experiment with and teach yourself what works and what doesn't. (..... have a restore option on hand so download a flashing utility that works with that phone model and the appropriate stock ROM so you can restore a soft-bricked phone when necessary.)
Sorry it took so long for me to reply. This fell to the back burner with some family issues we had come up. Mustang, have attached a picture of the icon to which I am referring. I would really like to change this. I have heard the term "rooting" but I am not familiar with what that means. All of the experience that I have with programming was in c++. I have seriously considered trying to learn how to program with Android but, with young kids, it has mainly been a time issue. Are there any third party apps that can fix this icon? Or, if anyone knows maybe a useful tutorial to learn how to do that type of thing? I definitely don't want to do anything that will interfere with anything financial as that is what my primary function for the business is (I am a bookkeeper and I pay all bills on my phone as we don't get reliable internet to the PC where I live). Most of the forums that discuss this type of thing speak in very technical terms that I don't understand and I don't know where to go to learn the terminology. Are there any "beginner" courses on such a thing?
Attachments
Hi, welcome to AC!
Those icon are your apps from recent app list , you cant change that unless you use icon pack or theme icons
VidJunky
Well-known member
I'm not even sure if you decided to root you'd you'd be able to change that icon. Let's back up a bit. Rooting is unlocking the system portion of the phone. So MFGRs of devices and Google have locked the operating system (OS) so that it cannot be "tampered" with. Rooting is a risky prospect because so many things can go wrong and one wrong deletion or misplaced code can render a device useless. Plus the phone knows if its been rooted or even unlocked, which is the first step to rooting. Not unlocked like you hear about when buying a device, that unlocked means that the device can be used on most carriers, and this unlocked means that you can affect the operating code of the device. You will also loose the rights and ability to do certain things. One as smvim mentioned is it takes away the ability to have financial apps on the device and the ability to use electronic payments on the device. Unlocking the bootloader and/or rooting is seen as a security risk to the the device. Speaking of security, rooted devices usually won't get security updates or OS updates when they are pushed out.
If you want to know more about root, which is nothing like normal PC code, C++ or any of that, you can visit XDA Developers online. They are all about rooting and custom ROMs. They would be able to answer your questions and provide you with more information including how-tos. I doubt you'll be able to change that icon because that icon, since it isn't affected by the icon packs you're already tried, is likely buried in the code of the app and not the device.
When you go to XDA create an account or just like here you'll have trouble communicating.
Best wishes
Javier P
Ambassador
^^ This. Also, some OEMs don't have that icon anymore in the Recent Apps overview and only the name shows up. For example, this is how it looks in my OP 7.
Well thank you, all, for the wonderful information. It seems to me to be a rather large oversight on the part of the Android developers to make it so you can't change that. I can't think of any reason why you would want to change the icon in one place and leave it in another. It would make it confusing (at least to someone like me that keys so heavily off of what the icon looks like). This issue peeved me on my old phone and I was really hoping that they had fixed that. I mean I know it's not a big deal but if you are going to sell such an expensive device and advertise it as being customizable then it seems like, with all of the people they have involved in the production of these phones, that someone would have gone in and tinkered to fix that.
So am I understanding correctly that you cannot do any tinkering of any kind at the code level without rooting the phone? How seriously does this mess with financial apps? Does it render them completely useless or is it just an irritation (ie. Having to do 2fa on everything or some, equally irritating, step)?
So am I understanding correctly that you cannot do any tinkering of any kind at the code level without rooting the phone? How seriously does this mess with financial apps? Does it render them completely useless or is it just an irritation (ie. Having to do 2fa on everything or some, equally irritating, step)?
VidJunky
Well-known member
Since it's displaying the default app icon it seems you would have to root the app, or each app that is affected, more than the device. As far as how much it would affect financial apps, from what I've seen and heard "most" won't allow users to install them or sign in if they do. Some apps may not care but there are plenty of posts about them not working after rooting. It goes back to the security aspects of the device. Samsung and Google Pay will not work, at all.
Javier P
Ambassador
Re: How to change icon on "running apps" screen
If you want a deeper customisation you can apply modules (most of them will need root) or even change which launcher will be considered as the system app to handle Recent Apps (it will definitely need root).
This is not a generic Android thing. Each OEM decides which stock launcher they use and they define how much you can customise there. Some of them, like Samsung, let you change those icons by simply applying a theme, others don't and some others don't even have those icons to start with.
If you want a deeper customisation you can apply modules (most of them will need root) or even change which launcher will be considered as the system app to handle Recent Apps (it will definitely need root).
Javier P
Ambassador
Also, being a Samsung device make sure you select your theme/icon pack from the Galaxy Store and not from the Google Play Store.
Ok. Thanks for the info. It would be a whole bunch of fun (for me, anyways) to go learn about how to do all that and play with it but I would be in a rough spot if my financial apps didn't work. Unfortunately I live in such a rural place that it is impossible to find reliable internet (we get satellite if we get anything and it is unreliable and expensive) so I have no way to do business without my phone (and it's financial apps). It has been fun learning though and I think I will do more research. I might just find a second phone to use for playing around with...
Javier P
Ambassador
Start for the easiest thing, as Mustang and myself already explained. Download some icon packs from the Galaxy Store and see if they work. Many of them will.
I have searched through icon packs. Some are nice but, to be honest, it bugs me that they won't change every icon. I completely get that they can't make an icon for EVERY app that's out there...there are just too many. One of the reasons why I like Flight Lite is that it allows me to choose an icon for an app that doesn't have a pre-made icon for it. As a result, it allows me to make all of my icons "match". That, sometimes, means an app gets an icon that may belong to another app but it makes sense to me and is visually appealing. I am fully open to suggestions for an icon pack that works well with dark themes that allows me that choice but I have yet to find one. I guess maybe I am picky....
There is a method to change the app.icon once you have a icon pack even from play store , use a 3rd party launcher like Nova then long press the app and choose edit and change the icon to something different
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