iOS App Icon Sizes: Complete Guide for 2026

How iOS Handles App Icons

Every iOS app ships with a set of pre-rendered icon files that the operating system displays in different contexts: the Home Screen, Spotlight search results, the Settings app, notifications, and the App Store listing. Apple requires specific pixel dimensions for each of these contexts because they render at different physical sizes across iPhones, iPads, and the App Store itself.

Unlike Android, which uses named density buckets (mdpi through xxxhdpi), Apple organises its assets around a scale factor system. The base unit is a point (pt), and each device multiplies that by its scale factor to determine the actual pixel count. If you are unfamiliar with how screen density works across platforms, the complete guide to DPI covers the fundamentals.

The @1x, @2x, and @3x Scale System

Apple displays use one of three scale factors. The @1x factor maps one point to one pixel and was used by non-Retina iPads. The @2x factor (Retina) doubles the pixel count: a 60x60 pt icon becomes 120x120 px. The @3x factor (Super Retina) triples it to 180x180 px.

In practice, no currently-sold Apple device uses @1x for app icons, but the specification still appears in documentation for iPad backwards compatibility. Every modern iPhone uses either @2x or @3x, and every current iPad uses @2x.

When you place assets in an Xcode Asset Catalog, you assign each file to the correct scale slot. At runtime, iOS picks the variant that matches the device screen, avoiding any runtime scaling and keeping icons perfectly sharp.

Complete iOS App Icon Size Table

The following table lists every icon size Apple requires or recommends as of iOS 18 and Xcode 16. The Points column shows the logical size; the Pixels column shows the actual image dimensions you need to export.

The App Store icon at 1024x1024 is the single most important asset. It is displayed on the App Store product page and in search results, and it must be a PNG with no alpha channel (no transparency). App Review will reject your submission if the 1024x1024 icon contains an alpha channel.

Single-Size Icon in Xcode 15+

Starting with Xcode 15, Apple introduced support for a single 1024x1024 source icon that Xcode automatically downscales to every required size at build time. When you create a new project in Xcode 15 or later, the default Asset Catalog contains a single "All Sizes" slot in the AppIcon asset.

This dramatically simplifies the workflow: drop in one high-resolution PNG and Xcode handles the rest. However, auto-generated downscaled icons can occasionally lose fine detail or produce sub-optimal results at very small sizes (such as the 29pt Settings icon). If pixel-perfection matters for your brand, you can still override individual sizes by switching the Asset Catalog back to "individual sizes" mode and supplying hand-tuned variants.

Regardless of which approach you choose, your source image should always be exactly 1024x1024 pixels, in PNG format, with an sRGB or Display P3 colour profile. You can generate the correctly-sized asset instantly using App Image Kit.

The Asset Catalog: AppIcon.appiconset

Xcode stores app icons inside an Asset Catalog (typically Assets.xcassets). Within that catalog, the app icon lives in a folder named AppIcon.appiconset. This folder contains all of the icon PNG files plus a Contents.json manifest.

The Contents.json file is a JSON document that maps each icon slot to a filename, along with metadata such as the idiom (iphone, ipad, ios-marketing), the expected point size, and the scale factor. A simplified entry looks like this:

{
  "images": [
    {
      "filename": "[email protected]",
      "idiom": "iphone",
      "scale": "2x",
      "size": "60x60"
    },
    {
      "filename": "[email protected]",
      "idiom": "iphone",
      "scale": "3x",
      "size": "60x60"
    },
    {
      "filename": "icon-1024.png",
      "idiom": "ios-marketing",
      "scale": "1x",
      "size": "1024x1024"
    }
  ],
  "info": {
    "author": "xcode",
    "version": 1
  }
}

If you are using the Xcode 15+ single-size approach, the Contents.json contains only one entry with the "platform" key set to "ios" and a "size" of "1024x1024". Xcode generates all remaining variants during the build.

Best Practices for iOS App Icons

Rounded corners are automatic

iOS applies its signature continuous-curvature rounded rectangle (squircle) mask to every app icon at render time. You must supply a square image with no rounded corners. If you bake rounded corners into the source file, the system mask will clip them unevenly and produce a visible artefact around the edges.

No transparency or alpha channel

The App Store icon (1024x1024) must not contain an alpha channel. App Store Connect will reject uploads that include transparency. For the smaller device icons, transparency is technically allowed but strongly discouraged — iOS fills transparent areas with black, which rarely looks intentional. Always export your icons with a solid background colour.

Colour space and format

Use PNG format for all icons. Apple supports both sRGB and Display P3 colour profiles. If your brand uses vivid colours, P3 can produce richer results on supported displays. Avoid JPEG or WebP for app icons — they are not accepted by Xcode or App Store Connect.

Design at 1024x1024 first

Always design your icon at the largest size (1024x1024) and scale down. Scaling up from a smaller source introduces interpolation artefacts. At smaller sizes, simplify fine details so they remain legible — thin lines and small text tend to disappear below 80x80 px.

Test on a real device

Simulator previews do not accurately represent how icons look on physical hardware. Colours, contrast, and perceived detail differ between LCD and OLED panels. Always verify your icon on at least one iPhone and one iPad before submitting.

Launch Screens and Other Assets

App icons are only one part of the required asset set. iOS also requires a launch screen (previously called a splash screen) that displays while your app loads. Unlike icons, launch screens are now defined using a storyboard rather than static images. For a detailed walkthrough, see the iOS launch screen guide.

For general image assets beyond the icon — such as in-app graphics, tab bar icons, or onboarding illustrations — understanding the fundamentals of DPI and screen density will help you export files at the correct scale factors. Consider using vector formats where possible; the trade-offs between PNG, WebP, and SVG are covered in the PNG vs WebP vs SVG comparison.

Generate All Icon Sizes Automatically

Manually cropping and exporting a dozen icon files every time you tweak your design is tedious and error-prone. App Image Kit lets you drop in a single 1024x1024 source image and instantly download every iOS icon size in one ZIP file. All processing runs locally in your browser — your images never leave your machine.

Whether you are shipping a new app or updating an existing icon, having a reliable pipeline for generating density-correct assets saves time and eliminates the risk of submitting the wrong dimensions to App Review.