iOS App Icon Size: What Apple Actually Requires in 2026

What Apple requires: the short version

For App Store submission in 2026, Apple requires a single app icon file:

That's it for the App Store Connect submission icon. Apple scales and masks it for every context automatically — the home screen, search results, Settings, Spotlight, notifications, the App Store listing itself.

What changed with Xcode 14

Before Xcode 14 (released with iOS 16 in 2022), you had to provide a full set of icon sizes in your Xcode asset catalog: 20pt, 29pt, 40pt, 60pt, 76pt, 83.5pt, and 1024pt — each at 1x, 2x, and 3x scale — totalling over a dozen individual files. A single wrong file size would cause build failures.

Xcode 14 introduced the "Single Size" option in asset catalogs: provide one 1024×1024 PNG and Xcode generates all the required variants at build time. This is now the default for new projects, and there's no reason to use the old multi-size approach for new apps.

If you're working on an older project that still has an asset catalog with individual icon sizes, it continues to work — you don't need to migrate. But for any new project or icon redesign, the single-size approach is cleaner and less error-prone.

The rules that catch people out

No transparency

This is the most common submission blocker. If your design tool exports with an alpha channel — even if the icon appears fully opaque — App Store Connect will reject it with an error like "The app icon in the asset catalog in [AppName.app] can't be transparent or contain an alpha channel."

Fix: in Figma, export as PNG with "Include background" checked. In Sketch, make sure your artboard background is a solid color (not transparent) before exporting. In Photoshop, flatten the image and save as PNG-24 without transparency.

No pre-rounded corners

iOS applies a squircle mask to your icon automatically — the same consistent shape used across all apps. If you design your icon with your own rounded corners and export it, the result will be a rounded rectangle inside the system's rounded mask, creating a visible double-rounding effect. Export the icon as a square with sharp corners; the system handles the mask.

Correct color space

Apple accepts sRGB and Display P3. CMYK color profiles cause silent visual shifts when converted. If you're designing in a tool that defaults to CMYK (some print-focused configurations of Illustrator or InDesign do), convert to sRGB before exporting.

Exact 1024×1024 dimensions

1023×1023 or 1024×1025 will be rejected. If you're scaling or exporting from a vector source, verify the exported PNG dimensions in Finder (Get Info) or a tool like Preview before uploading.

What Xcode's asset catalog generates from your 1024px icon

From your single 1024×1024 source, Xcode automatically generates the following sizes at build time for different iOS contexts:

This is why starting from 1024px matters: downscaling from a large, sharp source produces better results at 58px than upscaling from a 120px source. Design and export at 1024×1024, let Xcode handle the rest.

Design considerations at small sizes

The technical requirements are straightforward; the design challenge is that your icon needs to work at both 1024px (App Store listing) and 58px (Settings). These are very different constraints.

At 58px — roughly the size of your thumbnail in Settings — small text becomes illegible, thin lines disappear, and subtle gradients read as flat color. Test your icon at actual rendered sizes before finalizing. In Figma or Sketch, scale your icon frame down to 60×60 and check whether the core visual reads clearly. If your icon has text, check it at this size specifically — text that looks fine at 200px often becomes unreadable at 60px.

The icons that hold up at small sizes share a few properties: simple shapes with strong contrast, bold color choices that differentiate from neighboring apps, and a single focal element rather than a busy composition. A minimalist icon that reads clearly at 58px will usually look better at 1024px too.

Android icon requirements (for reference)

Google Play uses a different spec. The App Store Connect icon and the Play Store icon are separate files:

The icon in context: what users see before they tap

In App Store search results, users see your icon, your app name, and the top portion of your first screenshot — all before tapping through. The icon and the first screenshot are doing the same visual job: establishing credibility, communicating category, and earning a tap.

A polished icon next to a raw Simulator screenshot (no background, no caption) looks inconsistent and undermines the trust the icon built. The two assets should feel like they came from the same design. For what the first screenshot should look like alongside a strong icon, see the App Store screenshot template guide — and ezscreenshots exports the screenshot at the correct dimensions for every device.

Summary

• Single file: 1024×1024px PNG, sRGB or P3, no alpha channel, square corners — App Store Connect and Xcode handle everything else
• Xcode 14+: use the "Single Size" asset catalog option — one slot, one file, no manual size variants needed
• Three common blockers: transparency/alpha channel (most common), pre-rounded corners (double-rounding effect), wrong color space (CMYK causes visual shift)
• Test at small sizes: check your icon at 60×60 — text, thin lines, and subtle gradients often break at that scale
• Android: separate file, 512×512px, PNG or JPEG, transparency allowed, max 1024KB
• Icon + first screenshot are seen together in App Store search results — they should look like they came from the same design