diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 804a5f7288d10..ddd30f8a38853 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 <a name="breaking_changes_1.36.0">[Breaking Changes:](#breaking_changes_1.36.0)</a>
 
+- [core] changed default icon theme from `none` to `theia-file-icons` [#11028](https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/pull/######)
 - [plugin] renamed `TreeViewExtImpl#toTreeItem()` to `TreeViewExtImpl#toTreeElement()`
 - [scm] Fixing 'scm' inline commands, introduces the following breaking changes: [#12295](https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/pull/12295)
     - Interface ScmInlineAction removes 'commands: CommandRegistry'
diff --git a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts
index 7b1310c152f5e..7b0d0504145cd 100644
--- a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ export namespace FrontendApplicationConfig {
     export const DEFAULT: FrontendApplicationConfig = {
         applicationName: 'Eclipse Theia',
         defaultTheme: { light: 'light', dark: 'dark' },
-        defaultIconTheme: 'none',
+        defaultIconTheme: 'theia-file-icons',
         electron: ElectronFrontendApplicationConfig.DEFAULT,
         defaultLocale: '',
         validatePreferencesSchema: true