App icon sizes: iOS 1024×1024 and Google Play 512×512
An iPhone, iPad or Mac app icon is designed on a 1024×1024 px square canvas and the system scales and masks it, while Google Play needs a separate 512×512 px 32-bit PNG store icon of up to 1,024 KB that you upload as a full square without rounded corners or shadow.
What size is an app icon on each store?
The short answer: 1024×1024 px for Apple, 512×512 px for the Google Play store listing. The table collects the official specs for every platform as of November 2026.
| Platform | Canvas size | Shape after the system mask | Format and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iOS, iPadOS, macOS | 1024×1024 px | Rounded rectangle | Layered (Icon Composer) or a flat image; default, dark, clear and tinted appearances |
| visionOS | 1024×1024 px | Circle | Layered, 3D |
| watchOS | 1088×1088 px | Circle | Layered |
| tvOS | 800×480 px | Rounded rectangle | Layered, parallax |
| Google Play store icon | 512×512 px | Rounded square, radius 30% of the icon | 32-bit PNG with alpha, sRGB, up to 1,024 KB, no shadow |
Apple's icons support sRGB, Gray Gamma 2.2 and Display P3 (wide colour, except visionOS). Google Play's store icon is sRGB.
How does the iOS icon work now?
Since the layered icon system, iOS, iPadOS, macOS and watchOS icons are built from a background layer and one or more foreground layers. The system adds Liquid Glass effects (specular highlights, refraction, translucency) that adapt to size and can look different between system versions.
You have two formats:
- An Icon Composer file (recommended). You import foreground layers into Icon Composer, which ships with Xcode, set the background colour or gradient, and annotate the default, dark and mono (clear and tinted) variants. You control which elements get the glass effect.
- A flat bitmap such as PNG. The system tries to split it into a foreground and a background layer so it can build the dark and tinted variants. It applies glass effects only to large, simple shapes, not to thin lines or text.
App Store Connect has no separate icon upload: the icon is part of the build. If you want to change it after release, you upload a new version and submit it for review.
What are the iOS appearances?
On iOS, iPadOS and macOS, people can set Home Screen icons to default, dark, clear or tinted. Apple lists six appearance slots: default, dark, clear light, clear dark, tinted light and tinted dark. If you do not design a variant, the system generates it. Apple's advice:
- Keep the core shapes the same in every appearance so people can still find your app.
- Base the dark icon on the light one, with complementary colours and no very bright images.
- Alternate icons in iOS and iPadOS need their own dark, clear and tinted variants, and go through review like the main icon.
What are the Google Play icon rules?
From the Android Developers icon specification and Play Console Help:
- Final size 512×512 px, 32-bit PNG, sRGB, max 1,024 KB.
- Shape: a full square. Google Play applies the mask dynamically; the corner radius equals 30% of the icon size.
- Shadow: none. Google Play adds the drop shadow. Lighting and shadows inside the artwork are fine.
- Background: pick an opaque colour. Transparent areas show the Play UI colour.
- Logos: if the logo's shape matters, place it on the keyline grid instead of stretching it to full bleed. Illustrated artwork usually works full bleed.
- Not allowed: text or graphics that suggest ranking, deals or install incentives, participation in a Play program, or anything misleading, such as a fake notification dot.
The store icon is not your launcher icon. The launcher icon is the adaptive icon in your app bundle; the Play store icon should be a higher-resolution version of the same design.
How do I make an icon that reads at small sizes?
Both stores show your icon tiny in search results and charts, next to rival icons. A few tests catch most problems:
- The thumbnail test. Shrink the icon to the size it has in a search result on a phone. If you can no longer tell what it is, it has too much detail.
- The squint test. Blur it. One clear silhouette should remain.
- The neighbour test. Place it next to the top ten icons in your category. If it blends in by colour or shape, change one of the two.
- The text test. Apple advises text only when it is essential to the brand; it does not localize and gets too small to read. A single letter can work as a mnemonic.
- The appearance test. View the dark and tinted versions on iOS. A logo that depends on one colour may disappear in tinted mode.
Apple also advises illustrations over photos, no very thin lines, no copies of standard UI, and no replicas of Apple hardware.
Can I test icons before I commit?
Yes, on both stores. On the App Store, product page optimization can test up to three alternate icons against the original, as long as all of them are already in the live app binary as alternate icons and sized at 1024×1024 px. On Google Play, store listing experiments can test the icon as one asset of a default graphics or localized experiment.
Common mistakes
- Uploading an icon with pre-rounded corners. Both stores mask it again, which leaves odd edges.
- Adding a drop shadow to the Google Play icon. Play adds its own.
- A transparent background on Google Play, which shows the Play UI colour behind it.
- Badges like "New", "Sale" or "#1" on the icon. Google Play's metadata policy bans them, and Apple asks you to avoid context words like "New".
- Assuming the iOS icon can change without a release. It cannot; it ships in the binary.
How do I see how my icon compares?
The Uptika Search mirror shows your search result card, icon included, next to the apps that rank above you for a keyword you track, and the Rival log records the day a competitor changes its icon. Listing X-Ray is free and reads any public listing without sign-in. The Free plan tracks one app in one storefront: start free.
Related specs: App Store screenshot sizes, Google Play screenshot and feature graphic sizes and App preview video specs.
Questions
What is the App Store icon size?
1024×1024 px. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines give a 1024×1024 px square layout for iOS, iPadOS and macOS (and visionOS), 1088×1088 px for watchOS and 800×480 px for tvOS. The system scales the icon down for Settings, notifications and other places.
What is the Google Play icon size?
The Google Play store icon is 512×512 px, 32-bit PNG with alpha, sRGB, and at most 1,024 KB. Google Play applies rounded corners (radius 30% of the icon size) and a shadow itself.
App icon size in pixels for iPhone and Android?
Design the iPhone icon at 1024×1024 px and let Xcode and the system produce the smaller sizes. For Android, upload a 512×512 px icon to the Play store listing; the launcher icon inside the app is a separate adaptive icon defined in the app bundle.
Do I need to round the corners of my app icon?
No, on either store. Apple masks iOS, iPadOS and macOS icons into a rounded rectangle and says to provide square, unmasked layers. Google Play masks its 512×512 icon and adds the shadow, and asks you not to round the corners yourself.
Can I change my app icon without an update?
On the App Store, no: the icon ships in the app binary, so you need a new version and a review. You can test alternate icons that are already in the binary with product page optimization. On Google Play, the store icon is a listing asset you change in Play Console.