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Home » Blogs » Apple App Icon Guidelines: Sizes, Rules & Design Tips (2025)
By Gaurav Parvadiya | Last Updated On May 20th, 2025
If your iOS app icon is not designed well, your app could be rejected, and this happens much more often than most people think. Apple is very strict about UI design, and the app icon is closely examined. Actually, a lot of rejections on the App Store happen because developers fail to follow the apple app icon guidelines, mainly relating to iOS app icon size.
If you’re getting ready to launch an iOS app as a designer, developer, or product owner, this guide will help you avoid unnecessary details. It will help you create an app icon that Apple approves in 2025, and learn what are apple’s guidelines for app icons while avoiding any outdated or complicated details.
An app icon is more than just a logo, it’s the visual identity of your application on iOS and iPadOS devices. It will appear in the App Store, using Siri, in Spotlight Search, in system notifications, and on every home screen. It does more than just branding; it directs users to interact with your app as soon as they open it.
A well-made iOS app icon design should achieve the following:
A great ios app icon design is not only visually attractive, but it serves a purpose too. it seems to fit right in with the rest of the Apple products. It looks good on any device, changes its colors based on the theme, and is always sharp at every resolution. Done right, it attracts downloads. If it’s not done correctly, it can be a warning sign for Apple and can make users less interested.
Read more- 12 Tips to Get Your App Featured on Apple’s App Store
Apple allows you to customize your app icon in many ways, particularly in light, dark, and tinted mode. However, consistency remains key. As per Apple app icon guidelines, your icon should always be understandable, clear, and similar in all settings.
Dark and tinted icon designs are used on backgrounds that come from the system. Because of this, things that look nice and bright in light mode could be difficult to see or seem too intense in the dark. To keep things clear, create an icon that clearly illustrates what your app is all about. Harmonize the colors so they match the soft light icon. Stick to colors that are not too bright and choose a color scheme that matches your default icon.
When using dark mode, leave out the background in your icon since Apple will add one automatically. While making a tinted icon, use grayscale instead of colors. Apple gives these icons a faded background, and grayscale designs suit the tint best.
These best practices aren’t just aesthetic preferences, they’re part of the app icon human interface guidelines that ensure your design fits seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem. If you get it right, your app will be accepted and will appear professional on every platform.
When designing your app icon, missing even a single technical requirement can lead to instant rejection during App Store validation. Apple enforces strict rules, and following the Apple app icon guidelines is non-negotiable.
Apple looks for icons that are clear, simple, and can be scaled to any size. It should be easy to recognize your design at the smallest size (29×29 px) and still look good at the largest size (1024×1024 px). If the iOS app icon size is not clear enough or includes things that are not allowed, it might be rejected. Follow these main rules to ensure that your app is approved and easy to use.
Apple looks for icons that are clear, simple, and can be scaled to any size. It should be easy to recognize your design at the smallest size (29×29 px) and still look good at the largest size (1024×1024 px).
If the icon is not clear enough or includes things that are not allowed, it might be rejected. Follow these app icon human interface guidelines to ensure that your app is approved and easy to use.
The top rule for Apple UI design icon rules is to keep things simple. Apple icons are designed to be simple, clear, and very bold. Ensure your app icon represents the main idea of your app with a single, eye-catching graphic or shape. Avoid filling your icon with too many details, using multiple meanings, or trying to tell a story in the image.
If people have to think for more than a second about what your icon means, it’s too complicated. If an iOS app icon design is too clever or has too much going on, it can baffle users and not leave a strong impact. An easy-to-recognize icon will help your app stand out from the rest on a busy home screen.
Even when your icon is the iOS app icon size, it should remain easy to see and read. Achieve this by using bright and clear colors, and leave out any complicated or detailed parts.
You should try your icon at different resolutions to be sure it looks right. Consider the location where you will use your icon: in the results of your search, folders, notification panels, and sidebars. A picture that looks fine at 1024×1024 will not work well when scaled down to 60×60.
You can see your icon on macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and now visionOS too. Apple wants your icon to look the same across different platforms, but it should still keep its main characteristics.
To accomplish this, try to create balanced images, with the main subject in the center and a uniform use of colors. It’s important to ensure your app icon human interface guidelines looks as elegant in macOS Launchpad or the iPadOS dock as it does on iOS.
A common error designers make is adding effects such as drop shadows, rounded corners, or gloss directly to the icon image. Apple sets these effects up automatically, depending on what device and operating system you have. Putting them in manually may make your icon look wrong or cause it to be rejected.
Your icon needs to be a flat square PNG without the use of visual tricks. Allow the system to help you improve your writing. As a result, your app icon will fit the Apple app icon size requirements across all platforms.
While adding your app’s name or initials to the icon might seem attractive, Apple advises against it. The text is hard to read when the icon is small and ends up making the icon look crowded. Rather, rely on a symbol, logo, or shape that is both unique and easy for people to understand.
This approach fits well with Apple’s goals of simplicity and recognizability, since icons need to work and be easy to see in every situation, including when the screen is dimmed.
App icons should not include any photos. They take up a lot of space, add noise to the image, and do not look good when resized. Instead, make sure to use graphics that are sharp and have well-defined edges and solid shapes.
The icon should be designed so that it keeps its shape and clarity on any screen, whether on a Retina display or as a small macOS icon.
Apple asks that your icon fit several iOS app icon sizes, and you can achieve this in two main ways:
For macOS and tvOS, you need to supply all the required sizes manually. At the moment, a 1024×1024 icon is all that visionOS needs. To get your icon approved by Apple, you must be very accurate in its design.
Make sure your icon takes up the entire square and does not have any transparent or extra space. Any use of transparent areas or “cutouts” will cause your entry to be rejected. The Apple app icon guidelines are shaped using a standard rounded rectangle mask. Your task is to make sure the photo looks good inside the mask, without reshaping it yourself.
It is important to test your app icon inside the rounded mask so that it does not get cut or misaligned when shown.
Small details might not show up clearly or can add clutter when the image is viewed at a low resolution. Reduce the details in the design when trying to make it smaller. A simple outline often looks better than a detailed picture. For instance, the Safari icon looks different at 512×512 pixels than at 16×16, but it still has the same shape and color.
Always preview your design on different browsers and make any necessary changes.
Apple makes it possible for apps to have additional icons, and users can switch between them using the setAlternateIconName API. They can be designed for holidays, come in light and dark modes, or show your most recent branding changes. All alternate icons should be created with the same size and format as your main icon.
Using this feature the right way can increase how much users engage with the site.
You should design something that looks good, functions well, works well on every platform, and fits well within Apple app icon guidelines. If you stick to these guidelines, you are more likely to get approved by the App Store and make a good first impression on users.
Read More: App Store Screenshot Sizes & Guidelines
Apple has many different sizes for its icons. The interface for the home screen, settings, and Spotlight is not the same and requires different elements. These are the sizes you should be ready to use:
Your master icon should look sharp and clear at 1024px, and after that, you can export it in the other sizes needed. It’s better not to resize small images yourself, as this may make them blurry and cause problems with their appearance.
Apple’s icon design standards are precise and purpose-driven, aiming to ensure visual consistency across the iOS ecosystem. According to the app icon human interface guidelines, clarity, simplicity, and scalability are non-negotiable. Designers must focus on clean visuals, while developers ensure proper formatting and exports. Founders and marketers benefit by creating a strong first impression. Following the Apple app icon guidelines and adhering to iOS app icon size requirements helps prevent rejection and builds user trust from the very first interaction.
What are the basic requirements for app icons according to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines?
Apple requires that app icons are simple to use, easy to recall, and easy to identify. The ad images need to be PNG files, flat and square, without transparency, in full RGB mode, and at 1024×1024 px.
How can I ensure my app icon stands out on the App Store?
Use a strong color, avoid lots of design details, and use one main graphic. Use as few words as possible and try displaying your icon at a very small size to check if it is still clear. A strong icon should be able to be tapped without any question.
What are the common mistakes to avoid when designing an app icon?
Adding rounded edges on your own instead of using effects, adding shadows, using your own photos, inserting your brand’s name in the text, or designing in just a single size of icon. Transparency? Total no-go.
How should I handle the different icon sizes required by Apple?
Try to use export tools or Xcode asset catalogs. Figma, Sketch, and MakeAppIcon are just a few tools that can help generate all the icons and also give them relevant names.
Can I use transparency in my app icon design?
Apple won’t accept an app that has transparent windows. Both your icon and the canvas background should be the same size, and Apple will auto-mask them for you.
Gaurav is the founder and CEO of Twinr, a tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience and a passion for SaaS. With a Master's degree in Computer Science, he specializes in no-code development, driving innovation in the mobile app industry. When he's not busy growing the company, you'll find him writing about tech, growth, software development, e-commerce, and occasionally sneaking in a game of badminton.