How to Change Folder Color in iPhone Files App

The Files app on iOS 26 has an option to change the color of folders so you can easily categorize folders of the same type and theme of data storage. You can change the usual blue color of the folder to another color you want. Or add icons to the folder name to further highlight the interface. Here are instructions for changing the color of folders in iPhone Files.

How to change folder color on iPhone Files

Step 1:

Open the Files app and select iCloud Drive, On My iPhone/iPad, or whatever cloud storage service you want to use. Tap and hold on a folder and select Customize Folders & Tags from the menu that appears.

Step 2:

Click on Tags then select the color of the File folder you want, click the check mark in the top right corner to save the changes.

Step 3:

Next, the user taps Emoji to expand the icon and selects the emoji or icon you want to use for this folder in the Files app to make a difference.

As a result you get folder color in Files on iPhone as shown below.

Note on changing iPhone Files folder color

You can change folder colors and add icons to all local and iCloud folders, but keep in mind:

1. When you tap and hold an iCloud folder created automatically by apps like GarageBand, Numbers, Pages, TextEdit, Pigment, etc., you'll see a Tag option, but selecting a color tag won't change the folder color.
2. If the Tag option is present in third party app folders (on my iPhone/iPad), such as Firefox, Darkroom, Infuse, VLC, and Pages, it will change the color.
3. If you use Dropbox, you can customize the color of your Dropbox folders and assign icons or emojis to the folders.

Marvin Fry

Update 31 July 2025