How to change icons on the OnePlus 5

Android is an incredible customizable operating system. Many use it over other options, simply for the fact that they can make their device look exactly how they like it. And while many users love to use icon packs, it usually isn’t possible to use them in stock Android. While Google is offering a couple of different icon shapes in Android O, you still have to download a third-party launcher in order to use a third-party icon pack. This is quite a shame, as I actually quite like the Pixel launcher, but alas I have to use something like Nova to customize my device how I like it.

Fortunately for OnePlus fans, the OnePlus 5 ships with Oxygen OS, which is a slightly tweaked version of Android. And with these tweaks comes the ability to offer a couple of built-in icon shapes, as well as support for third-party icon packs without using a third-party launcher.

How to change icons on OnePlus 5

First, long press on the home screen. This will bring up a number of options, including wallpapers, widgets, and settings. From here, tap settings, which will bring you to a settings menu particularly tailored for your home screen. At this point, you can select “Icon pack”, which will bring you to a live representation of the packs you’ve got installed  and what they will look like once applied. OnePlus has three packs built in, called “OnePlus”, “Round”, and “Square”. This menu shows installed third-party packs as well. I personally love Andromeda Icon Pack, but you can use whichever one you like.

It’s really nice that OnePlus has decided to make changing these icons easier, and that they allow you to do it out of the box. I continually find things in Oxygen OS that should really just be built into stock Android, and I can only hope Google allows us to use icon packs with Pixel launcher in the future.

What icon pack do you use? Are you glad you can use it without a third-party launcher on the OnePlus 5?