Quick answer
Google Play wants a single 512 by 512 PNG with alpha, under 1024KB. Apple wants layered artwork with a 1024 by 1024 layout for iOS, iPadOS and macOS, assembled in Icon Composer. Your Android launcher icon is a third file, built as layers at 108 by 108 dp.
The short answer
> Quick answer: Play wants one 512 by 512 PNG with alpha. Apple wants layered artwork at 1024 by 1024. Your Android launcher icon is a third file at 108 by 108 dp.
Three files, three sets of rules, and they aren't interchangeable. People upload the Play icon into Xcode and wonder why it looks wrong. I read both platforms' current pages before writing this, because Apple changed its icon model and plenty of older guides are now out of date.
Three files, three sets of rules, and they aren't interchangeable. People upload the Play icon into Xcode and wonder why it looks wrong. I read both platforms' current pages before writing this, because Apple changed its icon model and plenty of older guides are now out of date.
The Play Store upload icon
Google's requirement list is short. A 32 bit PNG with alpha. Exactly 512 by 512 pixels. A maximum file size of 1024KB. It also has to meet Google Play's own icon design specifications.
That file is not your launcher icon. Google says so directly. It's a higher fidelity, higher resolution version of the same mark.
Play uses it on your listing, in search results and in top charts, so it gets seen far more often than the listing page does.
That file is not your launcher icon. Google says so directly. It's a higher fidelity, higher resolution version of the same mark.
Play uses it on your listing, in search results and in top charts, so it gets seen far more often than the listing page does.
What Play rejects on an icon
Badges and text are the usual failure. Google bans badges or text that suggest ranking, price or Play categories, or that otherwise mislead users.
So no number one corner ribbon. No free flash. No fake unread message dot when there are no messages, which the metadata policy names directly as a misleading symbol.
Emoji, emoticons and repeated special characters are banned in the icon, the title and the developer name. ALL CAPS is out unless it's part of your brand.
So no number one corner ribbon. No free flash. No fake unread message dot when there are no messages, which the metadata policy names directly as a misleading symbol.
Emoji, emoticons and repeated special characters are banned in the icon, the title and the developer name. ALL CAPS is out unless it's part of your brand.
The icon inside your app is a different file
Android launcher icons are adaptive. You ship layers rather than a finished square, and the device applies its own mask. One phone rounds it into a circle. Another uses a squircle.
Size every layer at 108 by 108 dp. Vectors are preferred over bitmaps.
The layers must not carry their own masks or background shadows around the outline. The system adds those itself. Baking them in gives you a shadow sitting inside another shadow.
Size every layer at 108 by 108 dp. Vectors are preferred over bitmaps.
The layers must not carry their own masks or background shadows around the outline. The system adds those itself. Baking them in gives you a shadow sitting inside another shadow.
The 66 dp safe zone
Here is the number that saves you. The inner 66 by 66 dp of the layer is the masked viewport. That area is never clipped, whatever shape the manufacturer applies.
The outer 18 dp on each of the four sides is reserved. It exists for the mask and for the parallax movement.
So your logo needs to sit at least 48 by 48 dp and no more than 66 by 66 dp. Anything wider than that gets eaten on some devices. Draw the box in your design file and keep it visible while you work.
The outer 18 dp on each of the four sides is reserved. It exists for the mask and for the parallax movement.
So your logo needs to sit at least 48 by 48 dp and no more than 66 by 66 dp. Anything wider than that gets eaten on some devices. Draw the box in your design file and keep it visible while you work.
The monochrome layer
Themed icons need a third layer. If you want your icon to follow the user's wallpaper colors, you supply one monochrome version of it.
It's a single flat shape. No gradients doing the work. No color carrying the meaning.
This is where over detailed icons fall apart. An icon that only reads because of its blue to purple gradient becomes a gray blob. I'd design the monochrome layer first and let the color version follow it.
It's a single flat shape. No gradients doing the work. No color carrying the meaning.
This is where over detailed icons fall apart. An icon that only reads because of its blue to purple gradient becomes a gray blob. I'd design the monochrome layer first and let the color version follow it.
Apple changed the icon model
This is the part older guides get wrong. Apple icons are now layered artwork, not one flat square you export and forget about.
You build the foreground layers in whatever design tool you already use. Then you import them into Icon Composer, which ships with Xcode.
Inside Icon Composer you define the background, place the foreground, apply effects such as specular highlights and refraction, then preview the variants. The system handles the rounding and the shadows.
You build the foreground layers in whatever design tool you already use. Then you import them into Icon Composer, which ships with Xcode.
Inside Icon Composer you define the background, place the foreground, apply effects such as specular highlights and refraction, then preview the variants. The system handles the rounding and the shadows.
The Apple size table
Four numbers cover Apple's platforms. iOS, iPadOS and macOS use a square 1024 by 1024 px layout, masked into a rounded rectangle.
visionOS is also 1024 by 1024 px, masked into a circle, built as a layered 3D object.
watchOS is square at 1088 by 1088 px and masked into a circle. tvOS is the odd one out, a landscape rectangle at 800 by 480 px with a parallax effect running across its layers. Design once at the square layout and let Icon Composer handle each mask.
visionOS is also 1024 by 1024 px, masked into a circle, built as a layered 3D object.
watchOS is square at 1088 by 1088 px and masked into a circle. tvOS is the odd one out, a landscape rectangle at 800 by 480 px with a parallax effect running across its layers. Design once at the square layout and let Icon Composer handle each mask.
Appearances multiply the work
An iOS icon now carries six appearances. Default, dark, clear light, clear dark, tinted light and tinted dark.
You don't draw six icons. Instead you annotate one set of layers and the system generates the variants for you.
You do have to check them though. A mark that sits on a white background disappears in the clear appearances. Apple's guidance also says to lighten a black background so the icon doesn't blend into the display behind it.
You don't draw six icons. Instead you annotate one set of layers and the system generates the variants for you.
You do have to check them though. A mark that sits on a white background disappears in the clear appearances. Apple's guidance also says to lighten a black background so the icon doesn't blend into the display behind it.
Three files, and only one goes to Play
Keep them straight. The 512 PNG goes into Play Console as a store asset. Your 108 dp layers live in the Android project as the launcher icon. The Apple layers live in Xcode.
Nothing is shared automatically between the three.
Most teams draw one mark and then export it three ways. That's the right order. Draw the mark, then meet each platform's file rules, rather than designing around a single export you already have.
Nothing is shared automatically between the three.
Most teams draw one mark and then export it three ways. That's the right order. Draw the mark, then meet each platform's file rules, rather than designing around a single export you already have.
What survives at small sizes
The icon does most of its work small. A search result row. A home screen. Or a settings list.
So test it small, not at 512 pixels on a large monitor.
One shape. Two colors. No wordmark unless the word is two letters long. Fine lines vanish and text turns into a smudge. Our post on common icon mistakes walks through the ones that show up most.
So test it small, not at 512 pixels on a large monitor.
One shape. Two colors. No wordmark unless the word is two letters long. Fine lines vanish and text turns into a smudge. Our post on common icon mistakes walks through the ones that show up most.
File format traps
Play wants a 32 bit PNG with alpha at 512 by 512, under 1024KB. That's specific, and the uploader enforces every part of it.
A JPEG won't do. Neither will a 1024 pixel file scaled down badly.
Export at the exact size rather than letting a tool resample for you. I checked one of mine after export and found a save preset had flattened the alpha channel, which turned a rounded mark into a white square.
A JPEG won't do. Neither will a 1024 pixel file scaled down badly.
Export at the exact size rather than letting a tool resample for you. I checked one of mine after export and found a save preset had flattened the alpha channel, which turned a rounded mark into a white square.
Where the two stores differ most
Play applies no mask of its own to your store icon. What you upload is what appears, sitting inside Play's frame.
Apple masks everything, on every platform, and the mask shape changes between iPhone, watch and visionOS.
So an Apple icon has to work as a rounded rectangle and as a circle. A design that leans on a corner detail survives on iPhone and loses that corner on Apple Watch. Test the circle version early, before the corner detail becomes the identity.
Apple masks everything, on every platform, and the mask shape changes between iPhone, watch and visionOS.
So an Apple icon has to work as a rounded rectangle and as a circle. A design that leans on a corner detail survives on iPhone and loses that corner on Apple Watch. Test the circle version early, before the corner detail becomes the identity.
Testing before you upload
Put the icon on a real home screen next to the apps you use daily. That comparison is the honest one.
Then look at it in dark mode. Then look at it at the size a search row gives it.
I compared two versions of the same mark this way and the busier one lost every single time. A device frame mockup makes this quick when you don't want to build and install first.
Then look at it in dark mode. Then look at it at the size a search row gives it.
I compared two versions of the same mark this way and the busier one lost every single time. A device frame mockup makes this quick when you don't want to build and install first.
Keeping the set in sync
Icons drift apart. Somebody updates the Play asset for a rebrand and the launcher icon stays old for two releases.
Keep all three source files in one folder, versioned alongside the app.
When the mark changes, change all three in the same commit. Your store listing checklist should carry the icon as three separate items rather than one.
Keep all three source files in one folder, versioned alongside the app.
When the mark changes, change all three in the same commit. Your store listing checklist should carry the icon as three separate items rather than one.
The check before you upload
Play: 512 by 512, 32 bit PNG with alpha, under 1024KB, no badges, no ranking or price text, no misleading symbols.
Android launcher: layers at 108 by 108 dp, logo between 48 and 66 dp, no baked masks or shadows, monochrome layer supplied.
Apple: layered source in Icon Composer with a 1024 layout for iOS, checked in the dark and tinted appearances. Then build the mockups that show it sitting in place.
Android launcher: layers at 108 by 108 dp, logo between 48 and 66 dp, no baked masks or shadows, monochrome layer supplied.
Apple: layered source in Icon Composer with a 1024 layout for iOS, checked in the dark and tinted appearances. Then build the mockups that show it sitting in place.
Frequently asked questions
What size is a Google Play app icon?
512 by 512 pixels, saved as a 32 bit PNG with alpha, under 1024KB. That is the store listing icon, not the launcher icon inside your app. The launcher icon is a separate set of adaptive layers sized at 108 by 108 dp. Play Console rejects the upload outright if the pixel dimensions or the file size are wrong, so fix those before anything else.
Do I still export a flat 1024 pixel PNG for the App Store?
Apple's current model is layered artwork assembled in Icon Composer, which ships with Xcode. The layout size for iOS, iPadOS and macOS is still 1024 by 1024 pixels, but you supply layers instead of one finished square. Older guides that stop at a flat export are out of date.
Why does my icon look cropped on some Android phones?
Different manufacturers apply different mask shapes to the same adaptive icon. Only the inner 66 by 66 dp of a 108 dp layer is guaranteed to survive every mask. Move your logo inside that box and the cropping stops. The outer 18 dp on each side is reserved for the mask and the parallax movement, so treat it as bleed rather than usable space.
Does an app icon need text on it?
Almost never. At the size a search result gives it, a word turns into a smudge. Google also bans text that suggests ranking, price or store categories. Our [icon design guide](/blog/app-icon-design-that-drives-installs) covers what to use instead of words.
Can I use the same icon file for both stores?
You can use the same artwork, but not the same file. The formats, the sizes and the layer structure all differ. Export separately for each store, then check each one on the device it ships to rather than on your monitor.
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