Dear Apple Control Freaks, I shouldn't have to disable SIP to change my Safari or TextEdit icons!

[Jess13]

i do this when needed. i installed bartender, removed the location services icon in the menubar. i used liteicon to change almost all system icons (finder, trash, etc etc).

the whole point is...you can disable SIP, make your changes, then RE-ENABLE it...and the changes will stick. meanwhile...how is it this thread is still going?

Yes, the issue for me is that I like to regularly update my user experience with new icons and don't want the hassle of HDD restarts and don't want to disable SIP entirely. I have disabled and re-enabled SIP already a few times to set certain icons, I know how to do it:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...o-change-default-system-folder-icons.1925539/

Tutorial was more for novice Mac users. My issue is irritating restart durations with HDD.

 

[simon lefisch]

As far as I know, these are undocumented, i.e. private functions. They are to some extent self-explanatory though (e.g. kext signing, using debuggers and DTrace, changing NVRAM from within the system). I presume, but am not sure, that disabling filesystem restrictions is what you want to override. I have no clue what Apple Internal does though.

Awesome, many thanks good sir

 

[fisherking]

Yes, the issue for me is that I like to regularly update my user experience with new icons and don't want the hassle of HDD restarts and don't want to disable SIP entirely. I have disabled and re-enabled SIP already a few times to set certain icons, I know how to do it:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...o-change-default-system-folder-icons.1925539/

Tutorial was more for novice Mac users. My issue is irritating restart durations with HDD.

let's see...you know how to do this. you don't want to disable SIP, but you want to run el capitan, and change icons regularly. so...what is it you're trying to accomplish with this thread? since what you want doesn't exist?? move back to an earlier OS, or accept the conditions of your current one. there's nothing else anyone here can do.

 

[XboxMySocks]

Ah, have been able to change them without disabling SIP.

 

[simon lefisch]

Replace your HDD with an SSD. I did and boot time is 15 seconds. No more annoying reboot issues.

 

[Irishman]

I know how to disable/re-enable SIP. I don't have an SSD; restarting HDD is time-consuming and irritating. It is ridiculous, that to change ICONS you have to disable SIP. OS X is really that weak nowadays!? Ridiculous.

Nope, it's strong because you have to disable SIP.

 

[Planey28]

I don't get the issue here, you can still change the icons but pasting an icon into the well at the top of the 'get info' inspector. That's always been the official way to customise icons, not by messing around in the resources like Candybar does.

All you lose is that the icon, when shown within the app, is the original one. Aliases, the app package itself, launchpad and the dock will show the custom one. No need to disable SIP.

 

[adnbek]

I don't get this thread at all. OP is whining because of new feature in El Capitan and wishes for pre-EL Capitan behaviour. Why not disable SIP and KEEP IT disabled? You want to restore how things were before SIP was added and Apple gives you that option. So again, what's the problem?

SMH

 

[dogslobber]

I cannot change Safari or TextEdit icons without disabling SIP and restarting. Simply ridiculous.

And this wouldn't be a problem either, if you hired quality icon designers. I'm seriously irritated.

The icon is part of the SIP protected application. You're being disingenuous if you think you should be able to hack the apps otherwise.

 

[Jess13]

Ah, have been able to change them without disabling SIP.

Try that with Apple apps, such as Safari or TextEdit. It does not work anymore for me. For non-Apple apps, yes. For any default Apple apps, no. Please try it and tell me if it works for you to change Safari or TextEdit.

 

[Jess13]

The icon is part of the SIP protected application. You're being disingenuous if you think you should be able to hack the apps otherwise.

There should really be an exception rule for the icons.

 

[dogslobber]

There should really be an exception rule for the icons.

Why? The icons are part of the look and feel of the app so modifying it will cause distress to users.

 

[Partron22]

The icon is part of the SIP protected application. You're being disingenuous if you think you should be able to hack the apps otherwise.

There's no 'hacking' involved here, just a simple copy/paste. Things have worked this way since the 90's.

 

[Partron22]

Why? The icons are part of the look and feel of the app so modifying it will cause distress to users.

You say this to a user who is distressed by Apple's icons? :facepalm:

 

[fisherking]

There should really be an exception rule for the icons.

or you can accept what's happening in the real world, and move on already. disable SIP, change what you want, and re-enable it...or not. if you don't, you'll have that 'pre-el capitan' experience you're craving, and you can change those icons as often as you want. so really, what is it you want from the community here??

 

[KALLT]

There's no 'hacking' involved here, just a simple copy/paste. Things have worked this way since the 90's.

That doesn't matter. Whether you are changing a digit in the binary or are swapping an icon. It's a modification of a program and thus a hack and it isn't something that any developer would advocate. If they want to let users do this, they would either provide methods within the programs to change the icons or they would offer the source code with a permissive licence so that users can compile the programs themselves. A compiled binary or application bundle is not meant to be modified.

The fact that you can change it has all to do with the technical nature of operating systems. Now that Apple enforces kernel-level protections for its own applications means that the point is moot. Apple certainly won't make an active change just so that people can modify the icons of their applications.

 

[simonsi]

What I hope to accomplish is that some employees at Apple taking El Capitan pulses from Apple-centric message boards throughout the Internet happen upon my thread...

Might be better to send apple feedback about it rather than expect them to randomly come across your thread. That is what they provide that process for.

 

[Jess13]

Why? The icons are part of the look and feel of the app so modifying it will cause distress to users.

Sorry, that was very dumb.

 

[Jess13]

Might be better to send apple feedback about it rather than expect them to randomly come across your thread. That is what they provide that process for.

Dear Apple OS X Team,

I cannot change Safari, TextEdit, iTunes or any other of the default Apple apps' icons without disabling SIP and restarting then re-enabling SIP and restarting. I use HDD; time-consuming restarts.

With Yosemite, I could change any default icons in literally 5 seconds. I can still change *non-Apple* icons with SIP enabled. But not Safari, TextEdit, iTunes, etc. This is very dumb, simply ridiculous.

The SIP exception should *also* include default Apple apps' icons.

I have always changed up my icons regularly. I have used OS X since 2003, with Jaguar. Here, my old iMac with Tiger:

http://imgur.com/HtBOT2l

I don't want to disable SIP to use OS X. But this is just the changing of APPLE apps' ICONS; you know, just the ICONS.

Please, please fix this.

Thank you,

Jess

​

 

[F1Mac]

When we were on Yosemite there was no SIP and you could change your icons 69 times a day. El Capitan without SIP is exactly like running Yosemite in terms of "System Protection", minus repairing permissions, which can be done in the Terminal anyway. Why exactly are you refusing to disable SIP? Did you feel less secure on Yosemite?

And I mean no disrespect but the "time-consuming" restart on HDD on your feedback msg is gonna make Apple smile.

...must be hard to look at your iPhone homescreen with this damn safari icon always in the way! ...just joking

 

[Partron22]

That doesn't matter. Whether you are changing a digit in the binary or are swapping an icon. It's a modification of a program and thus a hack and it isn't something that any developer would advocate.

I trust you're still using those lovely skeumorphic HD or SSD icons Apple supplies in Finder?, and you've kept the name "Macintosh HD"? Any changes to that would be a 'hack" and "not something any developer would advocate".

Apple put the copy-paste icon feature into get-info on purpose, years ago. That makes it a feature, not a hack, even if some people never figured out how to use it. Now they've taken that feature away. Technically, that's called "dumbing down the System". We've an Apple sanctioned way around that dumbing down, it's a PITA, but it's documented right there at Apple, so it's not a hack.

 

[Jess13]

When we were on Yosemite there was no SIP and you could change your icons 69 times a day. El Capitan without SIP is exactly like running Yosemite in terms of "System Protection", minus repairing permissions, which can be done in the Terminal anyway. Why exactly are you refusing to disable SIP? Did you feel less secure on Yosemite?

And I mean no disrespect but the "time-consuming" restart on HDD on your feedback msg is gonna make Apple smile.

...must be hard to look at your iPhone homescreen with this damn safari icon always in the way! ...just joking

If El Cap without SIP is identical to Yosemite security-wise, why bother to implement SIP in the first place?

In, I think 2014, I already sent Apple a detailed feedback message about letting [us] use custom icons in iOS and not the limited selection of pre-chosen “themed” sets of icons available in iOS application packs.

I basically suggested creating an iTunes pane for icons / icon sets of your choosing, a pane similar to how you're able to arrange apps' placement on your iOS device through iTunes. In the iTunes pane, you would have a list of your icons added; drag-drop icons from the list onto apps in the preview window beside (similar to the arrange window) to set as the custom icons. Simply drag the icons off to revert to default.

My iPhone home screen doesn't have Safari visible. My halloween lock screen and home screen

 

[F1Mac]

Apple put the copy-paste icon feature into get-info on purpose, years ago. That makes it a feature, not a hack, even if some people never figured out how to use it. Now they've taken that feature away. Technically, that's called "dumbing down the System". We've an Apple sanctioned way around that dumbing down, it's a PITA, but it's documented right there at Apple, so it's not a hack.

And how many actually use that "feature"? Sometimes companies remove features people have no use for. I would make a wild guess and say that no so many people are interested in changing their applications' icons.

It's funny because THIS THREAD popped up in the "similar" section when typing this... Guess what, even back in 2010, one needed to first edit safari's permissions in order to change the app's icon. ...and now in 2015, one needs to disable SIP in order to change the app's icon. Damn you Apple! Even when Steve was alive they wanted to mess with our liberties!!

 

[F1Mac]

My iPhone home screen doesn't have Safari visible. My halloween lock screen and home screen

​

Nice pictures btw

 

[fisherking]

all i see here is that, changing the icons is absolutely do-able, but now involves an extra step, that supports security concerns. if this is the way it is, you either deal with it, or don't. what exactly is the point of this thread anyway??