The best Icon Themes for Linux

WhiteSur

Transforming your Linux desktop into a reminiscent landscape of macOS Big Sur, WhiteSur is a captivating icon theme that has taken the Linux community by storm. With a meticulous design that pays homage to the aesthetics of macOS, this theme seamlessly replicates the familiar visual allure. The attention to detail shines through in the thoughtfully crafted app icons, which effortlessly blend into the macOS ambience. WhiteSur’s popularity stems from its ability not just to mimic but authentically capture the essence of the macOS experience on Linux. To complete the look, pair it with the WhiteSur GTK and KDE Plasma themes for a cohesive and elegant desktop environment.

Download WhiteSur

To install this icon theme on Ubuntu first download the latest release from the link above. When the download is complete extract the archive. Then move the extracted folder to the hidden ~/.icons folder in your Home directory. If this directory doesn’t exist, create it.

Qogir icons

The Qogir icon theme is designed to compliment the Qogir GTK theme, but don’t be put off if you don’t use it as it’s a fine icon set in its own right too.

Based on combination of the Arc, Faba and Tela icon sets, Qogir is billed by its author as a “flat colorful design icon theme for Linux desktops”.

But it’s not flat flat.

The decision to use simple 2D glyphs with minimal layering and stick to a set of consistent shapes and shades, Qogir icons maintains the balance between soft and inviting and serious and professional. Iconsin this set don’t look over designed or too cartoony.

Download Qogir Icon

To install Qogir icon theme on Ubuntu download the latest release from the link above. When the download is complete extract the archive and move the top level folder inside to the hidden ~/.icons folder in your Home directory. If this directory doesn’t exist, create it.

Papirus

We start with a classic: the Papirus icon theme is hugely popular with Ubuntu users and it’s not hard to see why.

Colourful, inventive, and shapely: Papirus weaves a deft visual cohesiveness throughout its glyph set, despite the breadth of its coverage. Designers who work on the icon set are also incredibly receptive to feedback through GitHub, meaning if you use an app that has no Papirus icon you can request one to be added.

It’s easy to install Papirus icon theme on Ubuntu thanks to the official Papirus PPA. Just add this to your list of software sources to get the latest version of the set (updates are released often) alongside your other software updates.

Open a new Terminal window and copy/paste this command, hitting the enter or return key after:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:papirus/papirus

Once the PPA is added run this command to install the Paprius icon theme on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and above:

sudo apt install papirus-icon-theme

Finally, switch icon theme using your preferred tweak tool.

Numix Circle

Lusting after a circular icon theme with lashings of color? Look no further than Numix Circle.

Setting every app icon inside of the same shape can feel over the top and extreme (it makes apps which don’t conform stand out even more) but thankfully that’s not the case with the Numix Circle icon theme thanks to its exhaustive app coverage.

Numix Circle now spans several thousand application icons, including venerable faves like Firefox, Blender, and GIMP, to newer apps and those in early stages of development.

You can install the Numix Circle icon theme on Ubuntu in a couple of ways but to get the very latest version of the icon set (which I recommend) you need to the official Numix PPA (supports Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and above) to your list of software sources via the command line:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:numix/ppa

Next, install the most recent version of the set with:

sudo apt install numix-icon-theme-circle

Finally, switch icon theme using your preferred tweak tool.

If you’re using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or above you may want to try out the new, improved upstream GNOME icons. The glyphs have a very distinct vibe of its own these days. Just install it from the Ubuntu Software app.

Thank you for reading