The Cupertino-based Apple is expected to unveil iOS & iPadOS 18 this week when WWDC 2024 kicks off. Not only will we learn about the new features being crammed into the next chapter of software for iPhones and iPads, but developers will be invited afterward to partake in a beta program that will later extend to the masses until the major firmware update officially launches this Fall.
There have been a lot of rumors about what iOS & iPadOS 18 could mean for iPhone and iPad users, such as the idea that Apple plans to embed a lot of AI-based features into the mobile operating systems, but a new report first shared by MacRumors this weekend suggests that Apple could be planning to further improve its native Dark Mode, which was introduced with iOS & iPadOS 13 almost five years ago.
According to the rumor, Apple is working on a feature that will permit the Home Screen’s app icons to dynamically change their appearance depending on whether the user has Light Mode or Dark Mode turned on.
In doing so, Apple will incorporate a feature that somewhat imitates the jailbreak-oriented theme dubbed Ayedapt that iOS developer and graphical designer Surenix released back in 2020, which did almost precisely what’s being described by the rumor.
In effect, this meant that when Light Mode was enabled, a user’s Home Screen app icons would use bright colors, including heavy uses of white backgrounds. But when the user kicked on Dark Mode, those icons would transform to use darker colors, including heavy uses of black backgrounds.
iOS and iPadOS already offer native wallpapers that change with user-selected Light Mode and Dark Mode selections, so it doesn’t seem entirely far-fetched that Apple could incorporate something like this, and it feels long overdue.
Should Apple do what’s being rumored by this report, we expect that the experience could be even better than the jailbreak theme because app developers would be urged to work within an API that would allow even third-party app icons to change dynamically without the requirement of a sole theme designer cranking out updated icons. That said, we’d expect a more consistent implementation should Apple take this up.
As a person who uses Dark Mode almost exclusively, day and night, I would really like to see a feature like this. I think that Apple’s Dark Mode is beautiful, and that having more Home Screen app icons use darker colors to complement the Dark Mode aesthetic would only benefit the user experience.
Likewise, I think this idea further underscores how Apple could take a feature first dreamt up by the jailbreak community and making it into the company’s own.
Would you like to see Home Screen app icons that dynamically change based on your Light Mode or Dark Mode selection? Let us know in the comments section down below.