iOS 14.3 works better with custom app icons

IOS 14.3 will be released for the iPhone soon; yesterday a test version has already been published. A striking change appears to be afoot for the Assignments app. Do you put a shortcut on the screen via Assignments? Then it will be opened directly from now on, and no longer via a detour. If you’ve ever customized your app icons, you know how nice this is.

iOS 14.3: Open custom app icons faster

With the arrival of iOS 14 in September, the widgets that let you personalize your home screen appeared. Many people took it a step further in decorating their iPhone by customizing the app icons as well. You can read how that works exactly in our article Customize app icons for a unique home screen in iOS 14.

A home screen with all icons in the same style is aesthetically pleasing, but it has one major disadvantage. They are basically shortcuts to the real apps. Until now, if you click on such a shortcut, the Assignments app will open first. Only then will the app you need open. This results in a short delay. It is only a split second but it is annoying.

In iOS 14.3, that intermediate step will disappear: the Assignments app will no longer be opened. You’ll still see a strip of the Assignments app appear at the top of the screen for a while, but the process is now much smoother and faster, as you can see in the video below.

iOS 14.3 Beta 2 no longer opens the Shortcuts app before redirecting you to your desired app. iOS themes just got real. pic.twitter.com/ka3VXnHF1T

– Traf (@traf) November 18, 2020

iOS 14.3: what’s new?

iOS 14.3 will probably be released sometime in December and will bring several improvements. iPhone 12 Pro owners will soon be able to take photos in the new Apple ProRAW format, you can choose a new search engine (Ecosia) and there will probably be support for AirTags and other bluetooth trackers in the Find My app.