How to install the Simply Circles icon theme on Linux

Your Linux desktop is functional. Great. But sometimes “functional” also looks like it borrowed its wardrobe from a 2009 office printer.
If you want something cleaner, calmer, and more modern without turning your system into a weekend-long “theme archaeology” project,
the Simply Circles icon theme is a solid upgrade: mostly monochrome icons with tasteful pops of color, built to look tidy
across common desktop environments.

This guide walks you through installing and enabling Simply Circles on Linux the sane way:
download → extract → place the folder in the right icons directory → select it in your desktop settings.
We’ll also cover icon cache refreshes, common “why isn’t it showing up?” moments, and how to uninstall cleanly.

The 60-second overview

1. Download the Simply Circles icon archive (often a .tar.xz file).
2. Extract it to get one or more theme folders (often multiple color variants).
3. Move the folder(s) into ~/.local/share/icons/ (for your user) or /usr/share/icons/ (system-wide).
4. Select “Simply Circles” in your desktop environment’s icon settings (GNOME Tweaks, KDE System Settings, XFCE Appearance, etc.).
5. If icons don’t update, refresh icon caches and/or log out and back in.

What is Simply Circles (and what you’re actually installing)?

On Linux, an “icon theme” is usually a folder containing subfolders like 16x16, 24x24, 48x48,
and scalable (SVG). Inside are icons used by apps, panels, menus, file managers, and settings screens.
A proper icon theme also includes an index.theme file that tells your system how to use it and what it inherits from if an icon is missing.

Simply Circles typically ships in multiple variants (for example, different accent colors).
The archive may unpack into several theme folders, each a separate selectable icon theme.
That’s not chaosthat’s options. (Linux loves options. Linux eats options for breakfast.)

Before you install: choose user-only vs system-wide

You’ve got two good places to install icon themes. Which one you pick depends on whether you want icons for just your account
or for every user on the machine.

User-only install (recommended for most people)

• Path: ~/.local/share/icons/ (modern default) or ~/.icons/ (legacy but still supported on many desktops)
• Pros: No sudo needed, easy to undo, won’t surprise other users
• Cons: Only your account gets the theme

System-wide install (nice for shared PCs)

• Path: /usr/share/icons/
• Pros: All users can select it
• Cons: Requires sudo, mistakes affect everyone (including Future You)

Step 1: Download Simply Circles

Simply Circles is commonly distributed as a compressed archive (often .tar.xz). You can get it from well-known Linux theming hubs
or the upstream repository. Save the file somewhere convenient like your Downloads folder.

Typical filename you might see: Simply_Circles_Icons.tar.xz

Step 2: Extract the archive

Open a terminal and go to where you downloaded the file (usually ~/Downloads).
Then extract it with tar.

After extraction, you should see one or more new folders. If you see multiple folders, those are typically theme variants.
The folder name matters: your desktop environment will display the theme name based on the theme’s metadata and/or folder name.

If the extracted folder contains an index.theme file near its top level, that’s a great sign you have a valid icon theme.
(No index.theme? Your desktop may ignore the theme like it’s an awkward group chat.)

Step 3: Install Simply Circles (user-only method)

This is the “I want nice icons without rewriting my life story” method. Create the icons directory if it doesn’t exist,
then move the extracted theme folder(s) into it.

Verify the theme landed where it should:

Tip: Some desktops still look for ~/.icons. If your theme doesn’t appear in the selector,
you can also try:

Step 4: Install Simply Circles (system-wide method)

Use this if you want the icon theme available for all users. You’ll copy the theme folder(s) into /usr/share/icons.

Confirm it’s there:

Step 5: Refresh icon caches (when and how)

Many desktops will pick up new icon themes automatically, but sometimes they cling to old caches like a cat clings to the warm laptop.
If your theme installs fine but icons don’t update (or don’t appear in selectors), refreshing caches can help.

GTK icon cache refresh (GNOME, Cinnamon, XFCE, MATE, Budgie…)

If the theme includes cached data or you want to force refresh, try:

Ubuntu/Debian family: update-icon-caches helper

Some systems also provide a wrapper that updates caches for icon directories that already have a cache:

Still not seeing changes? Log out and back in (or reboot, if you’re feeling dramatic).
Also close and reopen theme toolssome GUIs don’t refresh dropdown lists until restarted.

Step 6: Enable Simply Circles in your desktop environment

Installing puts the icons on disk. Enabling tells your desktop to actually use them.
Here’s how to switch icon themes in the most common desktop environments.

GNOME (Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, Pop!_OS, etc.)

1. Install GNOME Tweaks if you don’t have it:
   • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
   • Fedora: sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks
   • Arch: sudo pacman -S gnome-tweaks
2. Open Tweaks → Appearance → Icons.
3. Select Simply Circles (or your chosen variant).

If the theme doesn’t show up immediately, close Tweaks and reopen it. GNOME can be politely stubborn about refreshing lists.

KDE Plasma

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Appearance → Icons.
3. Select Simply Circles and apply.

KDE note: some tray and widget icons come from the Plasma theme rather than the icon theme, so you may still see a few holdouts.
That’s not you failing; that’s Linux being Linux.

XFCE

1. Open Settings → Appearance.
2. Click the Icons tab.
3. Choose Simply Circles.

Cinnamon

1. Open System Settings → Themes.
2. Find the Icons section.
3. Select Simply Circles.

MATE

1. Open Control Center → Appearance.
2. Go to the Customize section (or theme details).
3. Switch the Icons setting to Simply Circles.

LXQt

1. Open LXQt Configuration Center.
2. Go to Appearance or Icon Theme (wording varies by distro).
3. Select Simply Circles.

Troubleshooting: when icons refuse to cooperate

The theme doesn’t appear in the icon selector

• Wrong folder location: Confirm you used ~/.local/share/icons, ~/.icons, or /usr/share/icons.
• Nested folder problem: Make sure the theme folder isn’t inside another folder like Simply_Circles_Icons/Simply-Circles.
  The theme folder itself should contain index.theme and icon subfolders.
• GUI didn’t refresh: Close and reopen GNOME Tweaks / Settings.
• Permissions: If installed system-wide, verify the theme folders are readable by normal users.

Some app icons didn’t change (missing icons)

Totally normal. No icon theme is 100% complete for every app ever made (especially the weird one you installed at 2 a.m.).
When an icon is missing, themes often “inherit” from another theme like hicolor or your system defaults.
Result: most things match, a few don’t.

If a specific app icon bugs you, you can override it by editing that app’s .desktop launcher or placing a replacement icon
into the theme’s expected pathjust be sure you update icon caches afterward.

Icons look blurry or inconsistent sizes

• Prefer icon themes with robust scalable (SVG) support for modern displays.
• On HiDPI setups, log out/in after changing themes so the shell reloads assets cleanly.
• Some apps ship their own icons and ignore parts of the theme depending on toolkit and packaging (Flatpak/Snap can be special).

“I switched the theme, but nothing changed”

• Refresh icon caches (gtk-update-icon-cache / update-icon-caches).
• Restart the shell session (log out/in).
• Confirm you didn’t accidentally install a GTK theme instead of an icon theme (happens more than anyone admits).

How to uninstall Simply Circles (cleanly)

Uninstalling is just deleting the theme folder from wherever you installed it, then selecting a different icon theme.

User-only uninstall

System-wide uninstall

After removal, switch your icon theme back to the default (like Adwaita, Breeze, or your distro’s icons),
then log out/in if anything looks “half-updated.”

Real-world install experiences and takeaways (the extra )

Installing an icon theme sounds like it should be a two-minute joband often it is. But in the real world, it tends to go like this:
you extract the archive, move the folder, open your settings… and the theme isn’t there. You stare at the screen. The screen stares back.
You consider a new hobby, like pottery. Don’t panic. The “theme not showing” problem almost always comes down to one of three things:
the folder is in the wrong place, the folder is nested one level too deep, or the settings tool hasn’t refreshed its list.

The nesting issue is the sneakiest. Many theme downloads unpack into a parent folder (for example, a folder named after the archive),
and inside that sits the actual theme folder with index.theme. If you copy the parent folder into
~/.local/share/icons, your desktop environment won’t politely “figure it out.” It will simply pretend it never met you.
The fix: open the folder and make sure the directory you place in the icons path is the one containing index.theme
plus the icon size directories.

Another common experience: you enable Simply Circles and 90% of icons change… but a few stubborn ones refuse. This is not betrayal.
It’s fallback behavior. Linux desktops typically fall back to another theme (often hicolor or a default icon set)
when a themed icon is missing. The result is a mostly consistent look with a couple of rebels. If it’s an app you use daily,
overriding the launcher icon is a practical “surgical strike” solution. If it’s an app you open twice a year,
you can also treat the mismatched icon as a seasonal decoration.

Then there’s the cache situation. Most of the time you can ignore it, but caches become relevant when icons don’t visually update,
or when you’re tweaking a theme folder and expecting instant results. If you’ve moved icons around, added overrides, or edited theme files,
refreshing icon caches can be the difference between “it worked” and “I swear this computer is gaslighting me.”
The good news is the commands are straightforward, and you don’t need to run them constantlyonly when updates aren’t showing up.

Finally: take advantage of the fact that Simply Circles often comes in multiple variants. Many people install one,
then later realize another variant fits their wallpaper and accent colors better. You can install multiple variants side-by-side
(each as its own folder) and switch between them in seconds. That’s one of the underrated joys of Linux customization:
you can experiment without committing to a forever-choice. Try a variant for a day, switch back if it doesn’t spark joy,
and move on with your life like a well-adjusted human who definitely didn’t spend three hours comparing shades of cyan.

Bottom line: installing Simply Circles is simple once you know the handful of rulesuse the right folder, avoid nesting,
refresh caches only when needed, and expect a few app-specific exceptions. Do that, and your desktop will look cleaner,
calmer, and more intentionallike you meant to do it this way all along.

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