Launch Center Pro makes a stunning Home screen without opening Shortcuts
What you need to know
- There's a big new update out for Launch Center Pro.
- The app and action launcher can now add multiple icons to your Home screen, complete with custom icons, at once.
- Those icons can launch apps without first opening Shortcuts, too.
We've seen a huge growth in the number of people who are customizing their iPhone Home screen with the launch of iOS 14, but it isn't without its problems. Launching apps from custom icons needed Shortcuts and that was a problem because Shortcuts would open every time an icon was tapped. Launch Center Pro gets around that and, even better, it can now handle multiple app icons at once.
Although, unfortunately, Apple's own apps will still need to go through Shortcuts. Thanks, Apple.
1/ The great Home Screen customization craze of September 2020 sent us right to work on @LaunchCenterPro. With today’s update you can now create Profiles that save many custom icons to your Home Screen at once. And they don’t launch through Shortcuts! (except Apple’s apps 🙄) pic.twitter.com/X79HsEpaBD1/ The great Home Screen customization craze of September 2020 sent us right to work on @LaunchCenterPro. With today’s update you can now create Profiles that save many custom icons to your Home Screen at once. And they don’t launch through Shortcuts! (except Apple’s apps 🙄) pic.twitter.com/X79HsEpaBD— David Barnard (@drbarnard) October 19, 2020October 19, 2020
The process of creating your custom icons is pretty involved if you want it to be and Launch Center Pro has more than 7,000 glyphs to get you started.
But the real magic is the way Launch Center Pro creates a custom Profile that, once installed, will add multiple custom icons to your Home screen at once. That should, in theory, make it easier than ever to switch between custom layouts.
It's almost magical!
You can download Launch Center Pro from the App Store now. It's free, with in-app purchases available.
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.