App icon
Expert: with sources and numbers. Plain: the same, without them, for beginners.
The one asset that appears on every surface, in every result, at a size where almost nothing is legible.
The icon appears in search results, charts, editorial placements, the home screen and the notification shade. It is the only asset present on every surface, and it is usually rendered small enough that detail is wasted.
The rules
A Google Play: 512 × 512 px, 32-bit PNG with alpha, maximum 1,024 KB. (Add preview assets, verified 2026-09-18)
A Apple: a square 1024 × 1024 px layout for iOS, iPadOS and macOS. The system applies the rounded-corner mask, so layers are supplied unmasked, pre-masked artwork degrades the system’s own highlight effects. Other platforms differ: watchOS 1088 × 1088 and visionOS 1024 × 1024, both masked to a circle; tvOS an 800 × 480 landscape rectangle. (App icons, verified 2026-09-19)
A Apple’s icon is layered, not a flat image. An iOS, iPadOS, macOS or watchOS icon has a background layer and one or more foreground layers, which Apple composites with system effects (specular highlights, refraction, translucency) that adapt to size and system version. Layers are assembled in Icon Composer, shipped with Xcode. Apple advises vector artwork (SVG or PDF) with text converted to outlines, and says to let the system handle blurs, shadows and bevels rather than baking them in. Same source.
A Six appearance variants, and the system fills in the ones you skip. People choose whether home screen icons render default, dark, clear or tinted; Apple lists default, dark, clear light, clear dark, tinted light and tinted dark, and automatically generates any variant you do not supply. Apple advises keeping the icon’s core features identical across variants rather than swapping elements, and using the light icon as the basis for the dark one. Alternate icons on iOS and iPadOS need their own dark, clear and tinted variants and go through App Review. Same source.
A Google Play prohibits misleading symbols in app icons, its own example is a new-message dot indicator when there are no new messages. (Metadata policy, verified 2026-09-18)
A The same policy prohibits, across all metadata including icons: emojis, emoticons and repeated special characters; text or images indicating store performance or ranking or price and promotional information; and anything suggesting a Google Play program relationship such as an Editor’s Choice badge. Same source.
A On iOS the app icon cannot be changed without a new app version and a new build. Apple’s wording: “If you want to change your app icon after publishing, you must create and upload a new version of your app. Then, submit it for review.” (Add an app icon, verified 2026-09-19) The icon lives in the build’s asset catalog, so unlike every other creative asset it cannot be replaced from App Store Connect at all.
A Apple’s Guideline 2.3.8 requires metadata including icons to be appropriate for a 4+ audience regardless of the app’s own rating. (App Review Guidelines)
How to work with it
Design for the smallest rendering, not the upload size. You upload 512 px or 1024 px. Users see something far smaller in a search result. Anything that only reads at full size is decoration.
One idea. A mark, or a letter, or a single object. Icons that contain a scene become a smudge.
Contrast against both backgrounds. Light and dark mode, and against the store’s own background. A white-on-white icon disappears on one of them.
Text in the icon: Apple’s rule is conditional, not a ban. A Apple advises including text only when it is essential to the experience or brand, giving four reasons: text “doesn’t support accessibility or localization, is often too small to read easily, and can make an icon appear cluttered”, and the app name already appears beside the icon in many contexts, making it redundant there. A mnemonic (a first letter, a wordmark that is the brand) is explicitly allowed; what Apple tells you to drop is nonessential words, its own examples being “Watch”, “Play”, “New”. (App icons, verified 2026-09-19)
So the working rule is: a wordmark only if the wordmark is the brand. If people recognise the lettering itself, it is doing identification work that nothing else can do. If it is the app name set in a typeface nobody would recognise, it is costing legibility to repeat text already on screen. This page previously stated a flat prohibition; that was this base’s judgement, not Apple’s rule.
Design the dark and tinted variants, do not inherit them. The system will generate what you skip, and a generated variant of a design that depends on a background colour usually loses the thing that made it recognisable. This is the part of the icon brief most teams forget exists (40-10).
Changing it has a cost. The icon is the strongest recognition cue for existing users, who find the app by shape on a crowded home screen. A redesign can measurably suppress returning-user engagement for a period. Test it rather than assume (50-01), the icon is one of the few elements both platforms let you test natively.
On iOS a seasonal icon is not cheap. A Apple: “If you want to change your app icon after publishing, you must create and upload a new version of your app. Then, submit it for review.” (Add an app icon, verified 2026-09-19) The icon ships inside the build, so a seasonal variant costs a build, a submission and a review. And another of each to take it back down. Budget the full round trip against the recognition cost above before committing to one. This page previously stated the icon was not version-bound; it was wrong (CONFLICT-020).
What goes wrong
Detail that disappears. Designed at 1024 px, reviewed at 1024 px, seen at 60 px.
Text in the icon that is not the brand. Illegible at rendered size and redundant beside the name. A recognisable wordmark is the exception Apple allows, not the rule.
Shipping a flat image and letting the system split it. Apple’s icon is layered, and depth and the appearance variants both come from the layers. A flattened upload is accepted and gives away most of what the format now does.
Ignoring the tinted and clear variants. They are auto-generated from your artwork if you do not supply them, and auto-generated is not the same as designed.
Planning an icon swap on a marketing deadline. It needs a build on the release train, plus review, twice if it is seasonal. Decide it at the same time as the keyword field, not after.
Badges and ranking claims. “#1”, award marks and Editor’s Choice badges are explicitly prohibited on Play, and unverifiable claims are prohibited by Apple.
Misleading notification dots. Named by Google as a violation.
Redesigning without testing. Both platforms support testing the icon natively. There is no good reason to guess.
In short
Every fact on this page in one line, with its evidence tier, source and verification date, 7 A. Generated from the claim register, so it cannot drift from the page above.
Your icon shows up in search results, on busiest-shops boards, in editorial features, on a shopper's own home screen and in their notifications. It's the one single piece of your shopfront present on every surface there is, and it's usually shown small enough that detail is wasted the moment you add it.
The rules
Each centre wants a specific, fixed image size, and each has its own exact technical format.
On one side, the icon is built from layers, not a single flat picture. A background and one or more things sitting on top of it, which the centre itself blends together with its own lighting and depth effects that adjust automatically to size and to the visitor's own device. Text should be turned into pure shapes rather than left as live type.
Several different looks get generated automatically from your layers (a default one, a dark one, a few tinted ones) and the centre fills in any look you don't personally design yourself. Keep the actual core of your icon identical across every look; don't swap out elements between them.
Misleading symbols on the icon are banned outright, the centre's own example is a "new message" indicator showing when there are no new messages.
The same rules that govern your sign also govern your icon: no decorative symbols, no shouting in capitals unless it's your brand, no ranking or performance claims, no price or promotion, nothing suggesting the centre itself has blessed you.
On one side, the icon absolutely cannot change without a full rebuild and a fresh review. It lives inside the actual build itself, which makes it the one piece of creative that, unlike everything else, can't simply be swapped from the back-office.
The icon must stay suitable for the youngest possible visitor, regardless of the shop's own age notice.
How to work with it
Design for the smallest size it'll actually be shown at, not the size you upload. You hand over a big image. A shopper sees something far smaller in a search result. Anything that only reads at full size is pure decoration.
One idea. A mark, a letter, a single object. An icon that tries to tell a whole scene turns into a smudge at real size.
Contrast against both light and dark backgrounds, and against the centre's own background too. A pale icon on a pale background simply disappears on one of them.
Text on the icon is conditional, not banned outright. The centre's own advice is to include text only when the lettering itself is the brand. Something people would recognise on sight. Ordinary words describing the shop, set in an unremarkable typeface, just get in the way: illegible at real size, and redundant next to a sign that already says the same thing right beside it. If people would recognise the lettering itself, it's doing identification work nothing else can do. If it's simply the shop's name in some typeface nobody would know, it's spending legibility to repeat something already on screen.
Design the alternate looks yourself; don't just let them be generated for you. A generated version of a design that depends on one particular background colour usually loses whatever made it recognisable in the first place. This is the part of a creative brief most teams forget even exists.
Changing it has a real cost. The icon is the strongest recognition cue for people who already use your shop, who find it by shape alone on a crowded home screen. A redesign can genuinely suppress how often existing users come back, for a while. Test it rather than assume, the icon is one of the few things both centres let you test properly on real visitors.
On the locked side, a seasonal icon is never cheap. Because it ships inside the build itself, a seasonal version costs a full rebuild, a submission, and a review. And another full round of all three to take it back down again afterward. Weigh that whole round trip against the recognition cost above before committing to one.
What tends to go wrong
Detail that disappears. Designed big, reviewed big, seen tiny.
Text on the icon that isn't the brand itself. Illegible at real size and redundant right next to the sign.
Handing over one flat image and letting the centre split it apart. The layered format is what gives you depth and the different looks; a flattened upload works but throws away most of what the format actually does.
Ignoring the tinted and dark looks. They're auto-generated from your artwork if you skip them, and auto-generated isn't the same as designed.
Planning an icon swap around a marketing deadline. It needs a full rebuild on the release schedule, plus review, twice over if it's seasonal. Decide it alongside your filing words, not afterward.
Badges and ranking claims. Explicitly banned on one side, and unverifiable claims banned on the other.
A misleading notification-style dot. Named directly as a violation.
Redesigning without testing it. Both centres let you test the icon properly. There's no good reason to just guess.