Themify - Widget & Icon Themes
Themify is easy to use and has a very clean layout. It receives regular updates and new designs are introduced often. The app provides clean instructions for how a user should install different themes and design elements. The app has subscription-model pricing, but given its continuous updates, I feel that it's a justified cost -- if you are using the app to update the look of your phone regularly.
- DESIGN
- EASE OF USE
- PRICE
Themify is a great tool for iPhone screen customization.
Everyone loves to be unique and create their own sense of style. Growing up, I know that kids in school showed their individuality through their clothing styles and they all felt threatened when schools talked about moving to using uniforms. Today, we show our unique styles by how we organize our digital lives.
iOS users were granted the ability to customize how our desktops look through the use of widgets and customizable app icons through the use of Shortcuts. iOS 14 introduced widgets and with update 14.3, users were able to set custom app icons since Shortcuts were able to run directly from the home screen. It’s a multi-step process that can become very tedious but fortunately, iOS users have the option to use aesthetic apps that take the guesswork out of the process.
I’ve been playing around with the app layouts and desktop images on my phone lately so that it feels more organized. I decided to try out one of these creative apps and found Themify. It’s an easy-to-use app that provides a lot of design options to choose from. It’s a great self-contained tool and it’s available in the iOS App Store.
About Themify
Themify (Themify-Widget & Icon Themes) is an app that helps iPhone users customize their wallpapers, icons, and widgets. It is rated as the #1 app among iPhone Home Screen customizing apps in 27 different countries (as of July 29). It can be found in the Graphics & Design category of the iOS App Store.
Developer, AIBY, a Florida-based company, focuses on building mobile-first products. It was founded in 2019 and has several product offerings including NatureID, Fonts Art, HitMeal, InPulse, HitFit, and Futurio.
Themify was originally launched in October 2020, right on the heels of iOS 14’s release. It was built using the following technologies:
- Language: Swift
- Toolkit: xCode, iOS SDK
- Product analytics: Firebase, amplitude, FacebookCoreKit
- Dependency management: Cocoapods
- Frameworks: SwiftUI, WidgetKit, CoreGraphics, CoreLocation, AuthenticationServices
- Integration tools: Lottie, Alamofire
The app provides a vast collection of themes, widgets, and icons that will make users’ phones stand out. As of 2021, there have been more than 13 million downloads of Themify. It is available to users around the world with more than 37% of the users based in the U.S. (as of April 2022).
Themify is available in several languages including:
- English, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Vietnamese
NOTE: Themify-Widget & Icon Themes is a different product and not related to Themify: Premium WordPress Themes & Plugins.
Main Features
3-in-1 Themes
Want to marry convenience and aesthetics? Themify has your back. Perfectly matched iOS 14 app icons, widgets, and wallpapers will make your iPhone look neat and stylish. Explore an abundance of themes to choose the one you like most and set it up on your Home Screen with a few taps.
Theme Customizer
If you’d like to add a personal touch to your Home Screen theme, use our Theme Customizer. Change everything you want and create a truly one-of-a-kind design for your device.
Vast Widget Collection
Time, clock, calendar, quotes, weather, countdown, mixed—pick any widget and get the info you need right from your Home Screen. You can also create your own unique widget by adding photos and changing backgrounds, fonts, and colors.
10,000+ Icons
For those who are bored of bog-standard app icons, we have an array of custom icon packs. The best part is that you can install the whole pack at once! Just follow the simple and clear instructions.
Still And Live Wallpapers
Anime, Animals, Urban, Nature, and more—we have wallpapers for every taste. Liven up your screen with awesome live wallpapers. And if you love classics, try our still wallpapers and see for yourself how irresistible they are.
Pricing & Availability
Themify is available in the iOS App Store and is free to download with many features (including vast packs of themes, wallpapers, icons, and widgets; favorites; auto-install of up to 5 icons at a time) available at no charge. Users purchase subscriptions within the app to gain access to all the features within Themify.
According to the product description —
- You can subscribe for unlimited access to all features within Themify.
- Subscriptions are billed weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually at the rate selected depending on the subscription plan.
The subscription pricing is $19.99 for an annual subscription and $4.99 for a weekly subscription. A free trial is available.
Privacy Policy
According to the iOS App Store Themify handles data used to track you such as purchases, usage data, identifiers, and other data; and data linked to you or your identity such as Purchases, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics, and Other Data. The developer’s full privacy policy can be found here.
User Experience
Themify is an interesting app experience. The download and installation process is standard from the iOS App Store, but when it comes to activating any graphic elements, the user has to complete a bit of additional work. Even though Themify does quite a bit of the app customization process for the user, applying the theme designs still requires some work on the part of the user.
You have the option to choose from an entire theme or individual icons, wallpapers, and widgets. You also have the option to customize a preset theme or mix & match icons with different wallpapers. Themify has a very clean, intuitive layout and it’s very easy to navigate without any additional instruction. One of the things I really appreciate about the app is that it provides step-by-step instructions as you walk through the theme design/selection process.
The first thing I tried was installing an icon set. As you will see from the screenshots the app will direct the user on how to install the configuration profile in the Settings app of the iPhone. It’s not complicated, but it does take you outside the app to complete it.
Once I had the chosen icon profile installed, I did get a warning that the profile was unverified. Since I knew it was coming from this app, I continued with the installation, but you will want to be careful when you receive warnings like this as configuration profiles are one place that malware can creep into an iPhone.
Once the installation was complete, the icons for that particular theme appeared on my desktop. As you’ll see in the screenshots, the icons don’t replace the default icons. They are added to your home screen and fill in the empty spaces that are available. This was something that was a little bothersome to me because I’ve worked really hard to organize my icons into folders and by switching to the Themify icons, I will have to go through that process all over again.
This is not something I fault the app for since that’s how the Shortcut process works with the operating system. If you were to go through this process without the aid of an app like Themify, the Shortcut process would also create a secondary app icon that you would have to reorganize. I just wanted to mention it since it’s part of the process one has to go through in order to customize their icons.
In addition to reorganizing your desktops, it’s important to note what happens when you tap on the icons. Since they are shortcuts, you might see a couple of screens appear before the app you intended to open. For example, when I install a custom icon for the Calculator app and tap on it to open the Calculator, a white screen appears and then it slides over to the Shortcuts app for a brief second before the Calculator pops up. When I close the app, the app animation closes to the primary app rather than the custom icon.
Given the additional steps that needed to be taken with the icons, I decided to explore the other option that Themify had to offer. I ended up downloading and installing a clock widget and wallpapers for my home and lock screen, which was much less involved. I really like the variety that Themify has in its library and I think that if you are really into changing the look of your phone, it is a lot of fun to play with.
The only thing I wish that could be improved is the duplication of app icons during the shortcut creation process. I don’t know if that is something that Themify or any app can do without the operating system opening up certain development options.
Conclusion
If you are looking to do a complete makeover of your iPhone look and feel, then Themify might be a great option for you to try. The caveat is that you do have to do some of the legwork to make it all look right and you have to be prepared for the shortcut redirects. I believe this does affect the overall user experience of the iPhone, but it’s not the fault of the app. It has more to do with how iOS works with apps like this.
The designs that Themify offers are colorful, unique, and very easy to search for. I loved being able to browse through the different themes and designs that are available in the app. I would encourage anyone who is interested in creating a unique style for their iOS device to download it and give it a try with the free options that are available.
3 Comments
I installed the app after seeing your blog. It is The most useless app I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It requires you to pay for almost everything. Themes which are free are so horrible even my 4 year old can do better. Most important, it didn’t install as a theme you have to install every icon and even then the icon is just a bookmark. So when you click on the icon it redirects you to Siri and then the actual app, meaning just to check the weather I had to open three apps. So please do a better job next time and stop wasting everybody’s precious time and money.
I am sorry that the review I wrote about Themify felt misleading to you. I tried to provide sufficient background information about what the app could offer to users and how it was developed. I would like to address each of your points individually since you felt that reading my review led you to a poor app experience.
“It is The most useless app I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It requires you to pay for almost everything.” It’s useful if you want to automate the process of creating shortcuts to make custom icon sets. Otherwise, yes, it is not something that is needed for standard users. If you subscribe for unlimited use you don’t have to pay for anything additional. If you are using the free version, you do end up having in-app expenses.
“Themes which are free are so horrible even my 4 year old can do better.” I don’t have any control over the designs that are available. Users do have the option to create their own icons and if you are using the free version, you don’t have to download anything you don’t like. Users have the option to view any of the designs before using them. In essence, you could download the app, look at what is available, decide it’s not for you, and delete the app from your device without ever spending anything.
“Most important, it didn’t install as a theme you have to install every icon and even then the icon is just a bookmark. So when you click on the icon it redirects you to Siri and then the actual app, meaning just to check the weather I had to open three apps.” I did actually mention this in my review and noted that since there were additional steps in that process, I ended up using the app for the desktop images more than the icon sets. The truth is (and again, I noted this in my review) if a user was going to create their own icons, they would go through this same Shortcut development process. Themify simplifies that process.
“So please either work on your non-existent reviewing skills or stop wasting everybody’s precious time and money.” Again, I am sorry that you felt my review was a waste of time but if you felt that the app wasn’t living up to your expectations after you downloaded the free version, you could have deleted it prior to making any purchases. You also have the option to contact Apple or the developer directly to ask for refunds.
In the end, my review is simply a collection of documentation of information that is readily available to the public either through the App Store or the developer’s website along with my personal experience with an app or product, which is going to vary from person to person. My experience was not the same as yours and I’m sorry that you felt my review didn’t help your circumstances.
This article was very informative. I really like the app but I’m a little confused on how to receive badge notification to this shortcuts. Is that a possibility with these icons? If so, do you have a brief description of how to set it up. I’ve been looking everywhere for information relation to this issue.