Start Perfect, your one stop app for custom Windows Phone 8.1 Start Screens

The developers of Transparency Tiles have released a premium app that throws just about every tool you will need to customize your Windows Phone 8.1 Start Screen. Start Perfect has Transparency Tiles built in but also adds additional customization features such as transparent tiles for websites, custom tile names, custom background colors and more.

Start Perfect eliminates the need for multiple apps to get your Windows Phone Start Screen just right. It makes a very nice first impression and worth looking into if you want to do more with your Start Screen customizations.

The layout for Start Perfect is straightforward and spans a handful of pages that represent the various customizations available. The pages include:

Apps: Create transparent Live Tiles to replace the colored tiles that will allow your background image to shine true.
Settings: Pin a particular setting to your Start Screen.
Website: Need to pin a website to your Start Screen for quick access? Start Perfect will let you do just that.
Blanks: Want to add some space to your Start Screen to show off more of your background image? With this tool you can insert a blank or transparent spacer of sorts.
Labels: Want to organize your Start Screen a little better? Create a label Live Tile to help you group your Live Tiles.
Fills: If you prefer a solid color for your Start Screen background instead of an image, the Fill tool lets you create a colorful background that can be either a solid color or a gradient (vertical or horizontal).
Tints: This tool allows you to choose a colored tint to apply to one of your background images. You can tint your theme color or pick a colored tint to match your mood.

The App, Settings and Website Live Tiles have the option to add a customized name to the tile instead of the default, boilerplate name. This will let you name the Bluetooth settings tile to simply “BT”.

In just tinkering with Start Perfect for a short time, it comes across as an impressive customization tool for Windows Phone 8.1. The only downside to things may be that the app lacks a trial version. While we think you’ll be equally impressed with Start Perfect, a trial version never hurts.

The full version of Start Perfect is currently running $.99 and you can find your copy of Start Perfect here in the Windows Phone Store.

Thanks, Jul, for the tip!

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.

117 Comments

Very nice!
I can't believe I was first *-*
Neither can I!!! Congrats +1020
Great job!+822
Here, have a cookie :D
Congrats +620
Wowow....u know I was just on bing searching for a website for more start backgrounds. Wow
What a coincidence, I was just on Bing looking for blog articles I could be the first post on and release my inner douche.
I know right? I mean, I've always wanted to know what's SO fun about being the first to comment, seriously... Anyway, now that I've fulfilled that dream I think I'm ready to die happily.
Not nice till an app gives me a way to have custom accent colours! That's one thing Microsoft just won't give away since WP7.5!!
Create a background with the color of your choice and make it your background... Simple.
"Custom accent colours". There are only 20.
At least we can still get halfway there.. Always used indigo because was the closest one to purple.. Now I'm just using a dark purple background.
It does not change the chat bubbles and font colour so as soon as you dwell in the OS it is a mismatch between start and rest.
Indeed. I'm just wondering why hasn't been a mass request to Microsoft for this change. It should be one of the easiest things really.. We're supposed to have the most personalized OS..
Everything in this app should really be in the OS; we should not need to buy an app just for key OS personalisation. This probably was not mass requested because before WP8.1 WP8 was lacking so many other lot more important features.
More accent colours have been mass requested since 2011.
I bet you wrote that comments without even reading the article first ;) On a second note, this app should include more options to create some real backgrounds, like what that famous Poly app does.
Wohohoho congratulations !!!!
Great... :D
This tickles my fancy. Might have to check this out.
2 column start screen feels dull now.
+928. I remember back when we had that empty black space on the righthand side of all WP7 devices... *Cringes*
It was gorgeous. I love that gutter. Lets my tiles breathe. But then again third row has made my medium and large tiles sensible in size!
Hahaha so bad!
What feels dull are dead tiles like the ones created by that transparency app. What's the point of having just a plain white logo on the start screen?! For that I'd much rather the icons from android or iPhone. To me it feels like a huge step back but hey, to each it's own.
This is for those that cared a lot more about a background photo of their puppy, cat or footy team.
I agree. Non-functional tiles make no sense. But hey, whatever.
Well I use it for apps that aren't live tiles anyway but not transparent like Bing finance (small tile), xbox music (until it gets updated), Xbox games, here maps and so on.. So I don't really lose the effect of live tiles cause without that transparency app they would just be not-live with their own background..
Everyone feels different. I wanted a notification to offset and it works. You might scream at me to go to iDroid, but I wont. I live windows phones and one of my options is to have live OR non-live tiles and use my Action Center religiously. I don't even look for the counter on my tiles anymore, they're basically a gorgeous button to launch apps. I'm ok with that. I love the action center, I love small tiles and I love the parallax wallpapers! My homecreeen really feels like MY HOMESCREEN!!
With the Notifications Centre and Action Centre I am feeling the same way now. Didn't think I would, but I do. ❤ 8,1
Love it!
Bought.
Wow, probably buy it ASAP cause it finally supports OneNote! Also comes from great developer that update his apps continuously which is very important.
No trial, game over.
Only for you :D
Don't like any dev that does this. It just doesn't make sense. They fall in same class as the ones who don't write what's updated in an update.
Why don't you change regions. Find it free...
Changing regions doesn't magically allow you a trial when developer never bothered to offer one!
It's a DOLLAR.
It ain't about what it costs. It's about expecting consumers to buy non refundable items without trial when the option clearly exists. Doesn't matter if it is $.99 or $5.99!
Just download transparency tiles, it's basically a small version of it. I think he should just make that app the trial version.
Its ₹62 in India, what's the fuss? Are you a student?
Does that value equate to free trial in India?
You surely are a freebie, you can use transparency tiles which is FREE to experience the trial version of it.
So now we want all our developers to put out two apps in the store under two names, one free, one paid? Let's ignore the option developers already have right? Okay. This is a good idea, we will reach 800,000 apps like Android much faster! Yay.
For the record: I agree with you. An app should have a trial and normally I'm not buying apps which won't give me the trial option. Made an exception for this one though.
Not like that. Dev can always include a Trial version in same app, but apps like this with No Trial are not good for most users.
The tile notifications will continue to work?
Nope, not live tile. Just tile. A box, a rectangle, a square.
It amazes me how people rather have transparent square with a plain white logo on it instead of real live tiles with several photos and news, notifications, updated from fb, instagram, twitter, etc.
remember that there's also glance notifications, lockscreen notifications AND the action center.
And with a plain tile you can save more battery, at least if you go for a black background. :)
Glance screen itself will drain more battery than live tile notifications. Screen is the biggest consumer of battery, not 3G connection.
well of course glance will drain more battery, my point was abouth that you just can miss notifications now on wp8.1
Notification is a number. Live tile gives me a full headline for news, stock values for my favourite stock, weather forecast for next five days. You can miss all of that by having no live tile, even with notification centre, glance screen and all the jazz.
Someone needs a hug,
So it is useless for me
Preferring usable tiles not only pretty tiles.
I prefer live tiles as well, however, this does offer transparent tiles for apps that don't need a live tile, but aren't yet transparent, like MoliPlayer and OneNote. Additionally, I don't care for the live tile function of some apps, like Health and Fitness.
Agree
Bought it
No trial is a real shame, but I'm buying it anyway as a thumbs-up for their great work and development on Transperency Tiles. =)
Should this be available in the US store? Maybe I suck at searching for "start perfect" though it shouldn't be rocket science.....
It can take a while to appear. For now, use the QR code. ;)
I fail.... Duh! Thanks!
Bought it, but app tile selections are pretty limited. Hopefully more updates soon.
Search startperfect, no space
Bought it to support you. You better update it regularly mister. Good job.
It would be nice if someone made an app, like a template for start screen layouts so I can turn my tiles into Cubes with a neatly designed background.
That sounds interesting, do you have some more info on how it may work?
Well, you can do it yourself without a template. I would start by placing a start screen background of a grid. Take a screenshot, with the layout you want with cubes. Then either transfer that pic to a PC or use an app to essentially draw the sides for the cubes. Taking a screenshot is necessary, since (for example) my 1520 1080x1920 pics are cropped when placed as a start screen background. I'll make one tonight when I'm off and make a thread on it.
Sound like it could be pretty cool. Hopefully a developer will pick up on it and put it in an app.
Looks awesome
All of these WP 8.1 articles are making me so sick! I'm so jealous and can't wait until I have it on my phone. This is turning out to be a must have update. Thank you MS! Keep them coming WPC, so I will be well versed in what to do on 8.1D-Day.
I only tried the add more tiles option there and set it up, pretty sweet !!!!
What about the people tile, I cannot find the option?
The one note tile doesn't seem to work
Worked for me.
Worked for me. Make sure you've got the correct path for your notebook.
Interesting. By the picture, whoevers phone that is has Bear Bryant as a contact. Didn't he die?
Could be Bear Bryant Jr who is very much alive. Roll Tide!
Lots of things I want apps to do for me. This... isn't one of them.
Needs more options for icons for pinned websites. All my pinned websites use the small tile, so the text used isn't visible. This means all of my pinned sites have no way of differentiating themselves. However, great app. Would like to see transparent tiles for some other apps like OneDrive, Adobe Reader, and Office, as well as financial apps like Bank of America, Chase, and PayPal. Additionally, it could use transparent tiles for some shopping apps like eBay, Amazon, Newegg, etc. I think these all should probably be common apps that lots of people have.
Agreed. I was hoping this app would replace Bookmark Tiles by letting us assign our own tile icons - or even better, letting us assign our own transparent icons - but only being able to use a generic star was pretty underwhelming.
Cool
Without a trial I'm not buying anything. Specially when I already have Skinery Themes. This doesn't seem to offer anything that Skinery doesn't.
wow greate :)
Your review makes it sound like all tiles can be made to be transparent and also supports live tile functionality. Neither is true unfortunately.
Right on! Why in the world aren't there more colors to choose from? Why in the world isn't there a custom color picker for live tiles? Yes, custom backgrounds and transparent tiles are an excellent upgrade. But to have a custom color available to use throughout the WP experience would be icing on the cake in regards to customization and personalization.
I still could not relate to all WP8.1 brouhaha. I'm waiting for the official day when WP8.1 will officially be available to all Nokia Lumia. Can't afford to risk my Nokia warranty for my 1520 to be void. Patience. Patience,
Got a camera? You background options are unlimited.
Exactly...
Thank you brotha. Where you been?
Nice, but why no Shazam? :'(
Every app related to start screen seems to be one stop... But they keep on coming.. Good for wp
Awesome! I figured this is what Matthew Miller would do instead of adding new features to his other app. Will buy this next time I load money on my Microsoft Account! Would really like to have the extra stuff it offers, like the OneDrive, OneNote and Office (Main Tile) tiles, because Transparency Tiles does not have those ones.
To anyone who has this app.. Do you know if it has a clear tile selection for Office,Office Lens,Skype,OneDrive and Geekbyte? I know Geekbyte will be a stretch,but it's my most used app..
That's a no to all of those.
Ugh! Guess I'll have to hold off a bit then.. Thanks!
My feelings is that this is a particularly intelligent move by the developer. They have released a paid version on the heels of Transparency Tiles which probably got them a lot of attention. I have downloaded Transparency Tiles and I appreciate it. I can imagine paying money for Transparency Tiles or another product that allows for transparent tiles that enable live tile and notification features. However Transparency Tiles, and it appears this product, does not. One part of the intelligent move by the developer is the timing of the release. There is likely going to be a series of updates of many of these programs that will allow for transparent (iconic style) tiles natively, thereby allowing for live tile and notification features without an add on program. By the time 8.1 releases OTA it is likely the vast majority of the programs will natively support the new transparent feature. There's always a chance that some that use an iconic color my not want to support that feature, for example the blue tints of both Facebook and twitter. My own feelings about this program is that while it does assemble in one place a lot of customization tasks, many of those abilities can be accomplished without this program. However being able to rename the tile seems like a feature that I could not do myself. A dollar per sale can really add up, but in this case it's not going to include my dollar.
Instagram and a few other apps will not open once a transparent tiles had been pinned. Anyone have a fix?
Ok I have played with it now for a while and wish I hadn't spent the $. Will not open Instagram without opening it and then hitting the home button. I mean of course when I open this app, I want to be on the home screen. Update it son please. Otherwise, great work and thank you.
Nty
Here's my feedback to the developer StartApps....... """Hi, this is Rodney Jones.. Good work on the quick support for WP8.1!!!
I was wondering if it were possible for you to develop an app that could let me choose a bunch of different backgrounds, and let me have them cycle through my start screen at intervals that I choose... Catch what I'm saying?... There's just to many cool images that I could put on my start screen, and it's hard to just choose one, so I figured why should we have to choose when we could have them all.. Some intervals like cycle once a week, day, hour, or upon unlock would be nice to have..
Is this at all possible with WP8.1? BTW... I would pay for this... Lol!..... But, seriously!""""" What do you guys think of my idea❔
-Three columns start screen = More effective live tiles => big step forward.
-Full Transparency Tiles start screen = No more live tiles at all => WHAT THE POINT OF HAVING A WINDOWS PHONE ?!?!? For myself, I'd rather wait for apps to get updated and finally have their own natives transparent tiles with notifications.
+ ∞
I don't own the ∞ phone, but it does sound very interesting if not rather excessive. However I can say; +920
For $0.99 I just blindly bought it. No Brainer for customization...
There are so many apps in the store that miss greatness by lacking 1 feature or another thereby forcing the user to install multiple apps to meet their needs. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM!!! Great work and a steal at only $.99.
Camera is missing.
Our camera is already transparent
Waiting for a free version on myAppFree :3
+925 I got to check this out if I lime it. I'm all in.
With Transparency Tiles i couldn't even make the app open though. Does this work?
No Trial, No Thanks.
It's worth it, 4 sure.
Meh. I don't ruin my Start screen with transparent tiles.
Guys instead of START PERFECT App.. You can use TRANSPARENCY TILES APP.... Because through Start Perfect free trial you can just pin only one app but., through TRANSPARENCY TILES you can pin number of apps which are in its list...

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