Android Gamer: Apply icon packs to your stock launcher sans root with Beautiful Icon Styler

Yep, you read that right. There is now an app that will let you apply themes to your phone that’s a stock launcher, and you don’t even need to void the warranty on your device to do it. What’s a launcher, you ask? When you use your phone on the home screen or app drawer you are interacting with the launcher. If you’re not using a custom one, you’re using the stock launcher. The launcher controls how the phone works when you interact with it, the home screen layout, its transitions and more. Using a custom launcher enables you to modify home screen app icons, tweak the look of app folders and change how your app dock is organized. Beautiful Icon Styler brings the ability to apply icon packs without a custom launcher and without rooting your device. It’s a magical app that does what no other app has been able to do before.

To my knowledge up until Beautiful Icon Styler, there were two ways to theme your stock launcher. If you didn’t want to root your device, you might use an app called Desktop VisualizeR which basically allows you to create shortcuts on your home screen with whatever image you want that would launch an app of your choice. Or, if you felt like rooting your device you could use an app called Unicon via Xposed framework which was pretty simple to use. The benefit of Unicon was that it themes the icons everywhere, not just on your home screen or app drawer but even within apps. The downside, you have to be rooted.

Beautiful Icon Styler seems to be the answer we’ve all been looking for with stock launcher setups. You don’t have to painstakingly create shortcuts for each app you want themed on your home screen and you don’t have to be rooted. Beautiful Icon Styler is free but offers an in app purchase to unlock the full features. It’s nice that the developer gives you the option to apply a few themes before having to purchase the app. You get 3 “stylings”, then you’re forced to go through with the in-app purchase if you want to change your home screen again. OR, you can invite your friends and if you get two to install the app with your unique link you get it unlocked free. A pretty sweet gig.

Once you’re in Beautiful Icon Styler it’s pretty simple to use. You have a page that displays the icon packs currently installed on your device that you can apply. Another page that allows you to change the icons individually if, for example, an app isn’t currently themed for the icon pack but you want to give it a custom icon anyway. Additionally, Beautiful Icon Styler provides a page for free and a page for paid icon packs that point to some of the most popular icon packs out there, so you’re in good hands if you’re new to customizing your home screen.

In the Google Play Store listing, the developer states that the apps are only styled on the home screen and not in app drawer which I found to be true. Definitely not a deal breaker. Additionally, Beautiful Icon Styler only supports icon packs that are compatible with Apex/Nova launcher, but most icon packs are so it’s not really a big deal. The dev also states a list of supported stock launchers. Most of the major manufacturers are covered except for LG. The stock launchers include:

Stock Android Launcher
Google Now Launcher
Samsung Home (TouchWiz)
Motorola Home
HTC Sense

So who’s stoked on this? I’ve definitely looked into ways to theme the Google Now Launcher before and decided it just wasn’t worth it. Also, conveniently I just had to factory reset my Nexus 5 and only have Google Now Launcher on it. Great timing, right? Are you super excited to give your phone a new look with Beautiful Icon Styler or are you already over stock launchers? If you feel so inclined, we’d love to see your customized home screens. You can use the HTML <img> tag within the comments below to show the images. Let us know your thoughts on Beautiful Icon Styler and how you’re using it by commenting below.

(Playboard) | (Play Store)