Brass - Icon Themes & Widgets

What it does

Brass is a comprehensive customization toolkit for iOS users. The app provides a vast library of themes, icons, widgets, and wallpapers to personalize the iPhone's home and lock screens. Beyond just offering pre-made content, it includes a powerful theme studio and widget creator, allowing users to build their own aesthetic from the ground up.

Where it shines

The app excels in the depth of its customization tools. The widget editor (04:32) is particularly strong, offering a live preview that updates instantly as users adjust everything from background images and colors to fonts and styles. This removes all guesswork from the creative process. The theme library is extensive and well-organized into categories like "Minimalist" and "Anime" (00:46), catering to a wide range of tastes. For advanced users, the "Theme Studio" (07:07) provides a canvas to build and save entirely new themes, combining personal wallpapers with custom-designed widgets.

UX highlights

Live Previews: The widget editor's real-time feedback (04:55) makes customization intuitive and engaging.
Granular Icon Selection: When applying a theme, users can select or deselect individual icons (01:00), offering more control than an all-or-nothing approach.
Embedded Tutorials: For complex tasks like installing profiles (01:20) or setting up transparent widgets (08:34), the app provides clear, animated, step-by-step guides.
Content Categorization: The library is logically sorted by season, style, and content type, making discovery easy and efficient.
Rewarded Unlocks: Instead of forcing a subscription, users can unlock premium icons by watching a short video ad (01:13), providing a clear value exchange.
Theme Creator: The ability to build and save your own themes (07:18) caters to creative users and adds significant long-term value.

Monetization & growth

Brass employs a freemium model that is not based on a recurring subscription. The primary monetization mechanic involves unlocking content. While many themes and wallpapers are free, premium icon packs are gated. Users can unlock them individually by watching rewarded ads or make a one-time purchase to unlock everything at once (01:13). This model is also used for downloading certain wallpapers (02:21). It's an accessible approach that likely captures a wider audience than a subscription-only app would.

Who it’s for

The app is for any iPhone user looking to personalize their device beyond the stock iOS experience. It serves two main groups. First, casual users who want to quickly find and apply a beautiful, pre-made theme. Second, creative power users who want fine-grained control to design their own unique widgets and theme packages from scratch.

Notes & opportunities

The main point of friction is the reliance on iOS Configuration Profiles for applying custom icons (01:20). This process takes the user out of the app and into the Settings app, which can be confusing and lead to drop-off. While the app's tutorial helps, this is an inherent limitation of iOS customization that impacts the user experience. Simplifying or further clarifying these instructions could improve the success rate for less technical users.