Here’s a sneak peak at Samsung’s new One UI 7 icons

Summary

• Android fans might see themed icons on Samsung devices soon, similar to iOS 18 customization.
• Samsung’s One UI 7 update could bring dynamic theming for icons, creating a visually appealing change.
• Previous attempts at icon changes by Samsung indicate a major UI overhaul with One UI 7.

Android has been every personalization enthusiast’s favorite operating system for several years now, featuring amazing bits like themed icons, customizable app icon grids, and a veritable ocean of customizable widgets. While lock screen widgets on iOS still leave some Android fans jealous, Apple has stepped up the customization game in recent iOS updates’ monochrome icons and the freedom to place them anywhere on your screen. Useful or not, leaks suggest an upcoming One UI update for Samsung devices could be prepping for similar icon changes, which were already sent back to the drawing board once before.

The craze for themed icons might have started with Android 12 introducing Material You dynamic theming a few years ago, so app icons match the color palette defined by the active wallpaper. It created polarizing opinions, but was interesting enough that Google followed through with the option for monochrome icons. Samsung’s One UI Home still doesn’t support dynamic theming for icons, but One UI 7 could change that, because leaker @chunvn8888 on X (formerly Twitter) shared an image of the Samsung Gallery icon using a white square background with rounded corners instead of the typical magenta one available currently.

Although previous rumors also mentioned more aggressively rounded corners, the shift to a white background for icons could be the telltale signs of a bigger design change in the pipeline, such as a fitting response to Apple’s implementation of themed icons in iOS 18. Ice universe responded to the tweet, saying the icon design isn’t set in stone and could change before beta 5. However, this response also corroborates the possibility of this change.

This isn’t Samsung’s first attempt

You wouldn’t be mistaken if you think you remember Samsung trying a similar icon style with white backgrounds. That happened with One UI 5 in the beta stage a few years ago, but was quickly withdrawn. Nonetheless, One UI 7 could be among the handful of major UI overhauls Samsung has delivered. Prior information suggested a vertical app drawer could make a comeback too, but we might have to wait for at least a couple of months to know for sure.

Even then, the One UI 7 beta will undergo more refinement and testing, before the design and other functional improvements take shape for the final, stable version.