How to change an application icon programmatically in Android, 2016

Question

I, as so many Android programmers before me, would like to change the Icon of my App from the inside. My App would be a simple WiFi Switch App, with an Icon that displays the state. Yes, WiFi is in the Notification Bar. Byte me, I am lazy. Anyway, there is not a simple system in place to do so, so it seems.

I have searched, low and shallow (not longer then an hour). And this is what I came up with:

• 2009 - Application Icon
• 2010 - With 2013 link to how SuperSU does it, same as 2009.
• 2011 - Nothing new.
• 2012 - Same as 2009.
• 2013 - First answer has very good explanation.
• 2014 - Still same as 2009.
• 2016 - Shortcut question not solved.

Question: is there a better / easier way to do so than here in the links? It has been 7 years already!

Answer 1

The answer from 2013 explains it as it is today. There is still no way to change the launcher icon of an app without using third-party software. I doubt Android will add support for this in the near future, as you can use widgets for this sort of thing already.