Customising apps is a joy of the past. Bundled apps can’t even have custom icons. Third-party apps can have custom icons, but anything further will break their signature.
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How custom folders are easy to set up and to use. How they work in iCloud Drive, and can even be seen on your iPhone. And what makes them work.
Want to build in Xcode 26 b3 on macOS 26 b3? You may have problems with Icon Composer icons, which may not work on previous versions of macOS. Here’s a workaround.
To avoid your app’s icon going into the sin bin, replace it with one generated by Icon Composer. But that in turn requires overhauling some windows, and there’s a catch in NSLog waiting to get you.
App icons in Tahoe are forced into squares with rounded corners and aren’t allowed to deviate, but add rendering modes for the user. Finding good solutions that remain distinctive isn’t easy.
Adding your own custom icons to files and folders goes back a long way, to Classic Mac OS […]
From the original Desktop databases linking files to distinctive icons, to the sophistication of QuickLook, how display of thumbnails for files has changed in Mac OS.
With one leak in the Finder’s Gallery view, it’s time for another, in Icon view. This is an old leak, that has affected older versions of macOS too, but still hasn’t been fixed.
Why can’t other Macs and devices see custom folder and file icons in iCloud Drive? Why do some suddenly vanish?
How to give apps, folders and files custom icons, and how that still uses resource forks, just as it did back in 1984.
The Eclectic Light Company 