Callum Wright

The phone ‘ignoring’ your pack is three different problems in one coat. Diagnose which one you have before touching a setting.

Material You made matching a strategy question, not a shopping question. Let the system lead, generate from the palette, or anchor the wallpaper to your pack.

Three unrelated technologies share the ‘live icon’ nickname. Which ones Smart Launcher and Android actually support, how to enable them, and what the marketing leaves out.

Labels are the cheapest customisation there is. Rename apps the way you actually say them, hide text when icons can carry the load, and keep search as the safety net.

No ads, no trackers, inspectable licences, public icon requests. Ten open-source packs judged on design system, coverage, and how they behave in Smart Launcher.

A folder cover is a promise about what is inside. When to replace the stacked preview, which art survives at folder size, and how covers behave in categories and the dock.

A QHD+ screen makes weak artwork look worse, not better. Trace blur through density buckets, pack assets, and caches — in that order — and fix the real link.

Icons that flip with dark mode are three different mechanisms wearing one name. Which one you actually want, and how to make its whole chain work.

A photo of your partner on the dialer can look like design or like a sticker. Source-image discipline — 512px+, square, subject in the safe zone — makes the difference.

Size, shape, and shadow are one decision viewed from three angles. How each control changes what you perceive, and a sane order for setting them.