How to change a Chrome app tile icon on the Start Menu on Windows 10
Chrome lets you create ‘apps’. These apps are basically website containers. To some they may be useless since it’s the same as opening a website but an app can open in its own window with one click, from the Start Menu. It’s convenient to say the least. That said, when you create a Chrome app and pin it to the Start menu, the Chrome app tile icon doesn’t change to reflect the favicon of the website.
This is to be expected because favicon images are exceptionally small. Windows 10 can’t use it as a tile icon in the Start menu so here’s what you need to do.
Chrome app tile icon
Open the Start menu and right-click the Chrome app tile that has the incorrect icon. From the context menu, select More>Open file location.
In the File Explorer window that opens, right-click the Chrome app shortcut and select Properties from the context menu. It will open to the Shortcut tab by default. Click the Change Icon button at the bottom. Click it, and select the icon you want to use. The icon should update for the app tile in the Start menu however, if it doesn’t, you need one more step.
Open File Explorer and go to the following location.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application
Here, you will see a file called;
chrome.VisualElementsManifest.xml
Back this file up somewhere, and then delete it from its original location. Repeat the process for setting a custom icon for your app shortcut and this time, it ought to work.
This has little to do with Chrome and more to do with Windows 10. Windows 10 needs the icon image to be a certain size. Websites can’t supply the correct size because they’re not built for that. They need to display correctly in a browser and they only need to supply a favicon for that. Nothing else, hence this little snag.
If you pin the same app to the taskbar, you will see that the website’s favicon displays just fine. The icon appears small but it’s not too small for the taskbar which is why there are no problems there.
To be clear, the icon won’t prevent or help the Chrome app to function any better however it will be hard to tell which tile belongs to a Chrome app and which belongs to Chrome itself if they all use the same tile icon. The need to change a Chrome app tile icon isn’t purely an aesthetic one. It helps you find the correct tile faster.
