App Icon Generator

Why iOS apps need every icon size

iOS uses different icon resolutions across the home screen, settings, spotlight, notification center, and the App Store listing. Each resolution targets a specific surface and pixel density. If you only ship a 1024 master icon, iOS will scale it on the fly and the result looks blurry next to apps that ship dedicated assets.

Apple expects developers to provide a complete asset catalog so iOS can pick the perfect bitmap for each surface. The 180x180 file is used on iPhone home screens with 3x density. The 167x167 file is used on iPad Pro. The 87x87 and 80x80 files target spotlight and settings on iPhone. Skipping any size means iOS falls back to scaling from a nearby size, which costs sharpness.

The 1024x1024 marketing icon is a separate beast. App Store Connect requires it for the listing itself and rejects builds that ship without it. It cannot contain an alpha channel, which is why this tool flattens transparency onto white before exporting that size.

App icon design tips for ASO

Your icon is the single most visible element in App Store search results, alongside your app name. A clean, high-contrast icon outperforms a busy one because users scan dozens of results in seconds. Strong silhouette beats fine detail at thumbnail size.

Pick one shape, one color accent, and one symbol. Avoid placing text inside the icon, the 29x29 settings size shrinks letters into illegible noise. Test your icon at the actual sizes iOS uses, not just at 1024. The thumbnail test is the only test that matters for conversion.

Consistency between your icon and your screenshots also lifts conversion. If your icon uses a coral accent, your first screenshot should reuse the same coral so the browse-to-tap flow feels intentional.

Common icon submission rejections

The most common reason App Store Connect rejects an icon upload is the alpha channel issue. PNGs exported from Figma, Sketch, or Photoshop often include transparency by default. Apple rejects the 1024 marketing icon if any pixel has an alpha value below 100 percent.

Other frequent rejection reasons include non-square dimensions, sizes below 1024, and icons that mimic Apple system icons or trademarks. Rounded corners are not allowed on the 1024 source, iOS applies the corner mask automatically. Submitting a pre-rounded icon causes a double-rounding effect that fails review.

This generator handles the alpha channel and dimension issues automatically. It rejects non-square sources, flattens transparency on the 1024 export, and outputs clean square PNGs at every size.

How to test your icon at thumbnail size

Drop your 180x180 export onto a real iPhone home screen. If you cannot ship it, paste the icon at 60x60 inside a Figma frame next to your competitors. The 60x60 view is what users see in App Store search on smaller iPhones. If your icon disappears next to a competitor at that size, the design needs more contrast.

Squint test, then grayscale test. Squinting blurs out detail and reveals whether the silhouette holds up. Grayscale strips your color advantage and exposes whether the shape itself is recognizable. Icons that pass both tests scale cleanly to every size in this tool.