1.4 is out, just in time for October! It brings a pack of 18 Halloween themes that's free for everyone, new theme previews that finally let the wallpaper breathe, and a few changes that make it clearer what's free and what comes with Pro.
18 Halloween themes, free
The pack has glowing jack-o'-lanterns, blood moons, spider webs, foggy forests, and a whole lot of pumpkins. You'll find it near the top of the Themes tab. Every theme in it uses the free Solid icon pack, so you can apply any of them and export your icons without upgrading.
I built each theme around its wallpaper. When a photo is full of color, the icons and widgets pick up colors from it. When a photo is mostly dark or colorless, the theme leans on classic Halloween colors instead, like pumpkin orange, deep purple, and slime green.
New themes like these come straight from the Theme Studio server, so you don't even need the update to get them. If you don't see the pack yet, pull down on the Themes tab to refresh.
Previews that show off your wallpaper
Until now, every theme preview filled the screen with icons, which meant the best part of the wallpaper was usually hiding behind them. The new previews use layouts with open space. Some show just the top two rows of icons, and others show four rows with the bottom of the screen left clear, so you can see the wallpaper and the theme's colors together.
The previews also show off the newer widgets now, including Gauge, Graph, a new line graph, Horoscope, the steps calendar, the big battery number, and the analog clock.
I went through every wallpaper in the app and moved about 650 existing themes to the new layouts. I only picked the ones with something worth seeing in the middle of the screen, like a moon, a statue, or a glowing shape. Busy wallpapers and patterns still look their best covered in icons, so I left those alone.
These layouts are only for the previews. Your own layouts in Studio work exactly the same as before.
Retro Frame gets a VHS look
Retro Frame has a new VHS Effect slider that adds scan lines and a little grain to your photo, so it looks like a paused tape. You can also turn Photo Opacity down lower now, which keeps the glowing clock easy to read over a busy photo.
Clearer about Pro
- Pro theme packs now have a Pro badge, so you can tell at a glance which looks need Pro.
- If you tap Apply on a Pro theme without Pro, you can upgrade, or apply it with the free Solid icons instead. You keep the colors, wallpaper, and widgets either way.
- The welcome tour now ends with a quick look at everything Pro unlocks.
- If you're new to Theme Studio, your Export List starts with an iMessage icon, so you can make your first icon right away.
To get all of this, update Theme Studio from the App Store, open the Themes tab, and look for Halloween.