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Bakery

Bakery is a power-user feature for themes where the icon backgrounds are baked into the wallpaper instead of into each icon. The result: icons that look like part of the wallpaper, with absolutely no seams.

Bakery isn't a separate screen, it's a mode of the unified Layout Editor, activated automatically when your icon background type is set to Baked. The two share the same grid, the same picker, the same page navigation; only the export pipeline differs.

Most users won't need this. Stick with the regular Background controls in Editing Icons unless you specifically want the "icons baked into wallpaper" look.

When to use Bakery

How it works

  1. Open Studio → Edit Icons accordion → Background type chips → tap Baked. The Studio surface switches to baked-in mode, and an Open the Bakery card appears in the Background section.
  2. Tap Open the Bakery, or the Edit Layout button in the Studio preview header. Either one opens the editor in Bakery mode (the title reads "Bakery: Icons" and the wallpaper shows through every slot).
  3. Tap an empty slot to choose an icon. The icon picker has two tabs:
    • Browse, search the full icon library.
    • Export List, pick from icons already in your Export List.
  4. Each slot also has an icon-import + tile for Custom Icons.
  5. When you're done, tap Bake & Save…. The slice exporter saves:
    • The full-resolution wallpaper (with your hue shift and overlay baked in).
    • One PNG per icon slot. Each is the icon glyph composited onto the wallpaper region behind that slot.

Exporting baked icons

Baked icons export like any other icon: unlimited on both free and Pro. On the free tier they export with the Solid icon pack; exporting baked icons from a Pro icon pack requires Theme Studio Pro.

After baking

Save the wallpaper from Photos as your iOS Home Screen wallpaper. See Applying a Wallpaper.

Then apply each baked icon via Shortcuts as normal. See Applying Icons. The icons will line up perfectly with the wallpaper, so they look like solid cutouts of the image.

Auto Contrast

Bakery mode adds an Auto Contrast toggle in the editor's three-dot menu. When on, the slice exporter samples each wallpaper slice and picks white or black for the glyph color, so icons stay legible regardless of which part of the wallpaper sits behind them. Off = each glyph keeps its source color.

The editor also has an Icon BG Blur toggle and slider, which blurs the wallpaper behind each baked icon.

Switching between Bakery and Layout modes

Changing your icon background mode in Studio (Baked → Solid, or Baked → Gradient, etc.) flips the editor between Bakery and Layout modes. Your slot placements and per-item variation assignments are preserved across mode switches, so you can A/B test the baked-in look against a flat-icon look without losing your work.

If you switch to baked mode after building a layout in flat mode, your previously-placed icons remain in their slots, the editor just renders them differently (transparent over the wallpaper instead of over their bg).

Calibration

If the baked icons don't line up perfectly with your iOS Home Screen grid, calibrate the layout in Settings → Bakery → Calibrate Baked-In Backgrounds. The calibration screen lets you align the slice rectangles against a screenshot of your real Home Screen, per-device.

Screens without measurements

Bakery needs Theme Studio's measurements for your device's Home Screen grid. On a screen it hasn't measured yet (today that's the foldable iPhone Duo, both screens), you'll see "Baked backgrounds aren't available on this screen yet" and Bake & Save… is turned off, because baked icons wouldn't line up with your wallpaper. Every other background style works as usual. New iPhones that share a screen size with a measured model bake normally.

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