Icon shape!

[quietlybrilliant]

Coming from a Oneplus 3, the icon shapes on the Pixel 2 really bother me. I want them to have the same perimeter shape as the brand icon they correspond to. For instance, the Google Photos or Music icons are unique shapes. Same with Amazon. But the only options available under the launcher on the Pixel 2 force a white frame around all the icons. That makes them smaller and harder to distinguish. It also looks really bad aesthetically IMHO.

Is there a way to do it the way I want?

 

[chanchan05]

Get a different launcher.

 

[cyndie1030]

In Oreo you can shape the shape of your icons but it may not affect all icons. Tap in a clear space on your Home page and go to Home Settings and then Change Icon Shape.

 

[quietlybrilliant]

In Oreo you can shape the shape of your icons but it may not affect all icons. Tap in a clear space on your Home page and go to Home Settings and then Change Icon Shape.

It always puts a predefined shape around all the icons, making them unnecessarily small and disfiguring the original design, therefore making them harder to spot. It's a pathetic design decision. I don't care to see circles or squares or teardrops, I care to find the app by its design.

 

[pjwk81]

Yeah they need an option in that menu just to remove the backgrounds altogether (Gmail, Inbox, Photos, Allo, the Play apps, etc).

The last time my S-Health updated the icon went from a full size squircle to a smaller one in a white disc. Not sure if Samsung changed something to allow the launcher to do this or if the launcher forces it, but I presume it's the former as some apps like Instagram and the MS Office ones keep their original look.

 

[revtech]

It always puts a predefined shape around all the icons, making them unnecessarily small and disfiguring the original design, therefore making them harder to spot. It's a pathetic design decision. I don't care to see circles or squares or teardrops, I care to find the app by its design.

This is one of those areas where the line "you get pure unadulterated Android" is not entirely accurate. In this case you get Android the way Google thinks it should be, to me changing the original designed shape of an app is a type of "skin". If you want original icon shapes you can use Nova or Action etc and choose that option . . .