Simon B. Støvring

📝 Another blog post!

macOS 26 Tahoe swaps out quirky, characterful app icons in the Dock for uniform iOS-style squircles.

I wrote a quick guide for users and developers on how to bring back the personality and charm of custom icon shapes in macOS:

https://simonbs.dev/posts/how-to-bring-back-oddly-shaped-app-icons-on-macos-26-tahoe/

How To Bring Back Oddly Shaped App Icons in macOS 26 Tahoe

Learn how to restore oddly shaped app icons in macOS 26, whether you're a user or a developer.

Simon B. Støvring
Jun 11, 2025 at 10:13amTypefully
Show threadHimalayaJun 11, 2025

@simonbs I wanted ios to have shapeless icons like Mac, not the other way around

This is such a bad change

Show threadFabienJun 11, 2025
@simonbs @atpfm discusses this in their latest episode, @siracusa named it “squircle jail”.
Show threadDavid Kocher Jun 11, 2025
@simonbs I suppose that would also work with a NSDockTilePlugIn.
Show threadThomas TempelmannJun 12, 2025
@davidkocher @simonbs Yes. I am setting my Find Any File's Dock icon both at launch and via a DockTilePlugIn, and thereby have at least my original icon back in the Dock - but not in other plaves such as in Finder's Stacks or when adding the app to the Finder's toolbar.
Show threadArne RossmannJun 11, 2025
@simonbs saved for autumn already 😉
Show threadMario GuzmánJun 11, 2025

@simonbs for anyone who wants to implement NSDockTilePlugIn for their Mac apps to continue having freeform icons, I have a GitHub project with a whole tutorial on setting one up. It only works with apps outside of the Mac App Store though as Apple does not allow NSDockTilePlugIn.

#WWDC25 #macOSTahoe

Full tutorial + Sample Project with code you can use yourself here:
https://github.com/marioaguzman/NSDockTilePlugIn-Example

Show threadNMDoernerJun 11, 2025

@marioguzman @simonbs

Thank you! That will be a major feature of the next #NeoFinder version, as I very much despise Apple crippling and messing with my app icon 🥰

Show threadSimon B. StøvringJun 11, 2025
@marioguzman Oooh, this is interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Show threadThomas TempelmannJun 12, 2025
@marioguzman @simonbs Don't have time to read your article right now - but do you point out that anyone making their own plugin must change the identifier (and class name!) to a unique one, because otherwise multiple plugins will clash in the Dock, since they're all loaded into the same namespace?
Show threadJ. BlakeJun 11, 2025
@simonbs I don't know how you figured this out but thank you!
Show threadBarry Cook 🇨🇦Jun 11, 2025
@simonbs - ah yes, the Liquid Glass GUI for OS 26: Windows Vista for Mac…
Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 22, 2025
@simonbs Relieved that the Finder trick does still work. Cleaned up the most used apps. So much nicer. Can breath. Although constraints embraced by the system are tightening. So you get things like this zero or negative margin situations:
Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 22, 2025

@simonbs Additional tip:

To undo the user-side Finder-based trick, select the icon in Finders Info panel and press the Backspace or Delete key.