Learn how to change the app icon and name of the Instagram app on your iPhone or iPad Home Screen for aesthetics or privacy reasons.
Some apps, like Telegram, allow you to change the app icon from their internal settings. On its tenth anniversary, Instagram included a similar way to change its app icon, even letting you select the original Polaroid icon. However, that’s no longer available.
So, if you do not like Instagram’s current icon or want to hide it by changing its app icon and name, you will have to do that using the Apple Shortcuts app on your iOS device.
Change the Instagram app icon and name on iPhone
The process is similar to changing the icon appearance for any other app you have installed on your device.
1) Open the built-in Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad.
2) Tap the plus button (+) from the top of the Shortcuts tab to build a new one.
3) Tap Open App from the suggestions or find it using the search bar and add it to the shortcut you’re building.
4) Tap the light blue App placeholder text and select Instagram from your list of installed apps.
5) Tap the current shortcut name and arrow from the top and select Add to Home Screen.
6) Edit out the current shortcut name and rename it to Instagram. If you want to change the name to hide it from plain sight on the Home Screen, you can call it something else, like Weather, Calculator, Office, etc. This is the name that will show under the custom app icon on your iOS Home Screen pages.
7) Now, choose a color or symbol (icon). If you’d rather use a custom picture, tap the photo icon and select an image from your iPhone’s photo library or the Files app. After that, adjust the image as needed and tap Choose.
8) Finally, tap Add. You will be taken to your Home Screen, which will show this app shortcut for Instagram. It will have the custom app icon or picture and the new name.
9) It’d be best now to remove the actual Instagram app icon from the Home Screen by touching and holding it and choosing Remove > Remove from Home Screen.
Instagram will still appear in the App Library and Spotlight Search
The above steps to change the Instagram app icon and name are great for aesthetics purposes but not so much for protecting the app from unauthorized use. While the custom app icon will hide the app from plain view, people to whom you hand over your unlocked iPhone can still swipe to App Library or Spotlight Search and find Instagram with its original name and app icon.
Here are some tips if your goal is to protect Instagram privacy when you hand over your phone to someone else:
- Learn about adding an app lock (sort of) for your iPhone apps. You can also explore a few tips to hide apps on your iPhone.
- Use Guided Access to restruct your iPhone or iPad to show only one app before you hand over your device to the other person.
- Turn on DND so the person cannot get a peak at your new Instagram notifications.
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