Transparent App Icons vs PicRef
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Transparent App Icons
Easily customize your iOS home screen with unique icons that blend seamlessly with your wallpaper. Create custom layouts and spacing for a personalized aesthetic. Includes a variety of overlay images for a see-through logo effect.
- Upload wallpaper for seamless icon blending
- Automatic image cropping to wallpaper size
- Create icon images for entire home screen pages
- Overlay transparent images with 2200+ logos
- Custom icon spacing and layouts
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Updated for iPhone 16 and iOS 18.1 with support for large icons mode! Transparent App Icons is the easiest, simplest way to customize your iOS 14+ Home Screen with icons that are set against the background wallpaper to look like they’re transparent. Transparent App Icons lets you create images to use as Shortcuts and bookmarks on your Home Screen, so you can achieve previously impossible Home Screen layouts and custom icon spacing, using a simulated transparent background. Features: - Upload wallpaper images and automatically create icons with the correct cut-out so that icons blend with the wallpaper seamlessly - Automatically crop uploaded images to your phone’s wallpaper size - Quickly create icon images for entire home screen pages - Overlay transparent images to create a see-through logo effect: 2200+ logos and symbols included in the app - Transparent App Icons is a one time purchase, paid up front: no subscriptions, no selling data, no need to log in - Absolutely never, ever, ever any ads There’s no corporation trying to extract ad dollars here - I’m just one developer, and I hope Transparent App Icons can help you create creative and aesthetic iOS 14 home screen layouts! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at support@transparenticons.app, or on Twitter at @TransparentIcns - thank you!
PicRef
This app allows users to view and manipulate reference images with no loss of quality. It offers tools for cropping, resizing, and batch editing, with an optional drawing feature for iPad users. The interface is designed for efficiency, supporting split-screen use with other graphics software.
- No loss of image quality
- Image dragging, cropping, resizing
- Batch editing (drag, delete, mirror, sort)
- Desaturate and mirror images
- Free rotation at any angle
- Split screen support
- Handwriting notes (iPad only)
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- No loss of image quality Optimize the graphic algorithm to view more images at the same time without missing any high-definition details. - Mark (iPad only) Write down your ideas by hand in any location. - Basic function Support image dragging, cropping, resizing and focus on single picture, one-click mediation. - Marquee Batch drag, delete, mirror, desaturate and sort. - Compact layout - Desaturate Quickly desaturate the selected images. - Rotation Supports free rotation at any angle. - Mirror Quickly mirror the selected images. - Split screen Can be used with other graphics software split screen.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PicRef at 4.7 against Transparent App Icons's 3.5. PicRef also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 49%) and price ($0.99 vs $1.99). Transparent App Icons's advantage is chart position (#10 vs #133) and ratings volume (158 vs 26). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Transparent App Icons costs $1.99 and PicRef $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PicRef holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Transparent App Icons has 158 ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Transparent App Icons's written reviews are positive against 84% of PicRef's.
Transparent App Icons ships an update every 2 weeks, PicRef weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Transparent App Icons | PicRef |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.5 (158 ratings) | 4.7 (26 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 49.4% of reviews | 84.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 158 — better | 26 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #10 — better | #133 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Noah Gilmore | 祥 汤 |
Customer experience
Transparent App Icons
PicRef
Bugs and requests
Transparent App Icons
Reported bugs
3 issues- Icons not aligning properly on iPhone 14 Pro Max
- Cropping issues on iPhone 13 mini
- App freezes when trying to add multiple icons
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for iOS 26
- Allow uploading own icons
- Add widget customization
- Save and load icon layouts
PicRef
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Transparent App Icons
No in-app purchases
PicRef
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Transparent App Icons free?
Is PicRef free?
Which has better reviews, Transparent App Icons or PicRef?
Do Transparent App Icons or PicRef have ads?
Which is updated more often, Transparent App Icons or PicRef?
Which is more popular, Transparent App Icons or PicRef?
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