iOS app icon size in 2026

What an app icon is and where it shows up

The app icon is the image people use to recognize your app on the Home Screen, in search, in notifications, in Settings and in share sheets. Apple lists those places in the Human Interface Guidelines. On the App Store the icon sits next to your name in search results and on the product page, and it is often the first thing people notice.

You don't upload the icon to App Store Connect as a separate file. It ships inside the build, so after release you can only change it with a new app version that goes through Apple's review. App Store Connect Help says so in Add an app icon.

Where the icon lives in Xcode

An Xcode project can hold the icon in one of two places. The newer one is an Icon Composer file. You open the tool from Xcode › Open Developer Tool › Icon Composer, then drag the file into the Project navigator. Its name has to match the App Icon field under App Icons and Launch Screen on the target's General tab.

The older place is the AppIcon set in the Assets.xcassets catalog. For iOS, iPadOS and watchOS Xcode generates every variation from one 1024×1024 image, while macOS needs a file for each size. An Icon Composer file replaces the icon catalog. For system versions without Liquid Glass Xcode builds a similar-looking icon at build time.

Apple's sizes and requirements as of October 16, 2026

Platform	Canvas, pixels	Shape after masking	Appearances
iPhone, iPad, Mac	1024×1024	rounded square	6, default, dark, clear light, clear dark, tinted light, tinted dark
Apple Watch	1088×1088	circle	none
Apple Vision Pro	1024×1024	circle, layered in 3D	none
Apple TV	800×480	rounded rectangle	none

• Color. sRGB, Gray Gamma 2.2 for grayscale and Display P3 for wide gamut, except on visionOS.
• Layers. SVG for vector artwork, PNG for raster art and mesh gradients. Icon Composer takes up to four groups, Apple TV icons use two to five layers.
• Small sizes. The system scales the icon down for Settings and notifications.

Per the Human Interface Guidelines and the Xcode documentation, checked October 16, 2026.

How to make an app icon, step by step

1. Draw the icon in layers in your design tool on a 1024×1024 canvas, 1088×1088 for Apple Watch. Keep the background, the main symbol and the details on separate layers.
2. Export the layers as SVG, and raster art or mesh gradients as PNG. Convert text to outlines and leave out the corner mask.
3. Open Icon Composer and drag the layers into the sidebar. Arrange them into no more than four groups and set the background as a solid color or a gradient.
4. Check the Default, Dark and Mono appearances, and the clear and tinted variants under Mono, on light and dark wallpapers.
5. Drag the file into the Project navigator and make sure its name matches the App Icon field on the General tab.
6. Build the app and upload it to App Store Connect. The icon travels with the build.

Appto lays out icon options next to the screenshots and texts of your App Store page, in every language at once, and offers two or three design directions for the app with a live mockup in a phone. See the design page.

Dark, clear and tinted icons

On iOS, iPadOS and macOS people choose how Home Screen icons look. There are four looks, default, dark, clear and tinted, and the last two come in light and dark versions. That makes six appearances, the ones listed in the Human Interface Guidelines table. Any variant you don't design, the system generates.

Apple advises keeping the same features across every appearance and basing the dark icon on the light one, with a colored background rather than overly bright imagery. If the icon lives in the Assets catalog, the dark variant goes in with a transparent background so the system background shows through, and the tinted one as grayscale. Alternate icons on iOS and iPadOS need their own dark, clear and tinted variants, and Apple reviews them the same way as the main icon.

Common mistakes

• Rounded corners baked into the file. The Human Interface Guidelines ask for square, unmasked layers. The system rounds the corners, and pre-masked layers spoil the highlights and leave jagged edges.
• A transparent background on the default icon. If you import a background layer, it has to be full-bleed and opaque. Only the dark variant in an Assets catalog keeps a transparent background.
• Hand-drawn shadows and highlights. The system adds highlights, shadows between layers, blur and glow, and changes them with the lighting. Your own effects stay static and fight the system ones.
• Text and photos. Small text is hard to read and can't be localized, and photos lose detail at small sizes and in the dark look. Apple suggests an illustration built on one simple idea.
• Apple devices in the icon. You can't depict an iPhone, a Mac or other Apple hardware, it is protected by copyright.

How to make app icons bigger on your own iPhone

Some searches about icon size come from iPhone owners who want bigger icons. That is a phone setting, and the app's developer has no say in it. Per the iPhone User Guide for iOS 27, touch and hold the Home Screen background until the icons jiggle. Then tap the Edit button, choose Customize and tap the Large App Icon button. In large size the app names disappear.