What size is an iOS app icon?
1024 × 1024 pixels, and square. That's the size in the specifications table of Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, and it's the same for iPadOS and macOS. Apple Watch icons are 1088 × 1088.
You don't need an icon generator for the smaller sizes. Apple says the system scales your icon down for places like Settings and notifications, and Xcode can make every size from that one 1024 × 1024 image.
Is one 1024 × 1024 image still enough?
Yes, for an iOS app. A new Xcode project uses a single size by default: you drop the image into the iOS 1,024pt image well of the asset catalog, and that's also the icon the App Store uses.
The other way is Icon Composer, Apple's tool for layered Liquid Glass icons. It makes one layered file that Xcode uses everywhere your icon shows up, the App Store included. Apple says a flattened image still works, but layers give you the most control over how the icon looks.
Do I have to use Icon Composer now?
No. Apple's Xcode docs describe both ways. If you add an Icon Composer file, it replaces the icon in your asset catalog, and Xcode makes a similar-looking version for older iOS releases when it builds. If you want your current icon to keep showing on those older releases, Apple says to stay with the asset catalog.
Icon Composer comes with Xcode. The separate download needs macOS Tahoe 26.4 or later.
What corner radius should an iOS app icon have?
None. Give Apple a square. iOS applies the rounded mask itself, so the corners match the rest of the system and the shape of the device. Apple asks for square, unmasked artwork and says artwork that's already masked makes the edges look jagged and spoils the highlights. The Icon Composer guide says the same: don't export the canvas mask.
Apple doesn't publish a radius, so you don't need one. Keep the important part of the design near the middle, so the corners never cut into it.
Can an iOS app icon have a transparent background?
Keep the main icon opaque. Apple says a background layer should be full-bleed and opaque, and the Liquid Glass guide says icons with irregular shapes get a background from the system, so see-through areas won't look the way you drew them.
The dark version is the exception. In an asset catalog, Apple asks for the dark icon with a transparent background so the system's background shows through. If you check a dark icon here, expect a transparency warning.
What about dark, clear and tinted icons?
People can choose default, dark, clear or tinted icons for their Home Screen. You can design each one, and the system generates any you don't provide. Apple asks you to keep the same core design in all of them, so people still find your app when they switch.
Which colour spaces and file types work?
The HIG lists sRGB, Gray Gamma 2.2 for greyscale, and Display P3 for wide colour. For layers you bring into Icon Composer, Apple prefers vector files such as SVG or PDF, and PNG for raster artwork because it's lossless.
Where does the App Store get my icon?
From your build. App Store Connect Help says you add the icon in Xcode, with Icon Composer or an asset catalog, and then upload the build. To change the icon after release, you upload a new version and submit it for review.
What does this checker look at?
- Size: whether it's exactly 1024 × 1024 pixels.
- Shape: whether it's square.
- File type: PNG, JPEG or something else.
- Transparency: whether any pixel is see-through.
- Corners: whether the corners are see-through while the edges aren't, which means the icon was rounded before export.
Then it shows the icon with a rounded mask at Home Screen size and smaller, on a light and a dark wallpaper. It all runs in your browser, and the file isn't uploaded.
What can't this tool check?
- Icon Composer files. They're layered, and a browser can't open them. Icon Composer can also export a flattened version, which Apple describes as being for marketing.
- Liquid Glass. iOS adds highlights, refraction and translucency to layered icons, and Apple says they can look different between system versions. The preview can't copy them.
- Dark, clear and tinted looks. The system makes these from your icon. Preview them in Icon Composer or on a device.
- The colour profile. Browsers convert colours when they draw an image, so the checker can't tell sRGB from Display P3. Check it in your design tool.
- A rounded shape on a solid square. The corner check only sees corners that are see-through. If you rounded the icon on a white or black background, it won't notice, but the preview will show the leftover corners as a thin rim.
- The design itself. Whether it reads at small sizes, uses text, or looks like another app. Apple's design guidance covers that.
- Xcode's own checks. If Xcode or App Store Connect disagrees with this page, they win.
Rules from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, Xcode documentation and App Store Connect Help, checked October 21, 2026.