Have you ever wanted to change the default icon of any app in OS X, because you don’t think it is good enough ? Any company or developer will put a lot of effort into making an app function well and forget to take the time to design a nice-looking icon. Thankfully there is a trick that will make you to change a Mac app icon in OS X.
People love to customize the look of the app icon in their system, you can change it to an image of your choosing is not only possible in OS X, but relatively simple. Whether you want to change it because the default icon doesn’t blend well with surrounding icons, it has an outdated design, or you simply dislike it, you can exchange it for a better-looking alternative in no time…
So before getting into the steps of our guide, you will obviously need to have a new icon chosen and ready to use. OS X uses .icns files for application icons, and it’s best to stick with this format if possible, as an .icns file contains multiple sizes of an icon for various uses. If you are using a different file type, such as .png, the image dimensions should be 512×512 pixels to prevent pixelation.
How To Change an app icon in OS X
STEP 1: Firstly use Finder to navigate to the application folder you wish to change the icon. In this example we are going to exchange the default iTunes app icon or the one in the banner at the top of this article, which you can download here:
STEP 2: Now right click on the application and click on ‘Get info’ or press (⌘I on your keyboard).
STEP 3: In the top left corner of the Info panel, you’ll see the app’s icon. From here, drag the new icon file over the original. Drop it when you see the green + bubble on your cursor.
Alternatively, you can right-click on the new icon file and choose “Copyâ€, or select the file and press ⌘C. Return to the Info panel, highlight the original icon in the top left corner, and press ⌘V to paste.
STEP 4: If the application is already in your Dock, the new icon may not show up until you log out. To fix this, open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal), type “killall Dock†(without quotes), and press Enter.
That’s it !
How To revert back to the original Icon:
For whatever reason, you decide to switch back to the original app icon for any application, simply you can follow these steps.
STEP 1: Just as above, use Finder to navigate to the application folder you want to revert back to the original.
STEP 2: Right click on the application and press ‘Get info’.
STEP 3: In the top left corner of the Info panel, you’ll see the app’s icon. Click on it to highlight it.
STEP 4: Press Backspace, the app icon should be restored to its default.
Enjoy guys !
