Application icons

The following table lists the icon sizes used on each mobile platform:

Icon size

Platform

29x29

iOS

36x36

Android

48x48

Android, iOS

57x57

iOS

72x72

Android, iOS

114x114

iOS

512x512

iOS

Specify the path to the icon files in the icon element of the application descriptor file:

<icon> 
    <image36x36>assets/icon36.png</image36x36> 
    <image48x48>assets/icon48.png</image48x48> 
    <image72x72>assets/icon72.png</image72x72> 
</icon>

If you do not supply an icon of a given size, the next largest size is used and scaled to fit.

Icons on Android

On Android, the icons specified in the application descriptor are used as the application Launcher icon. The application Launcher icon should be supplied as a set of 36x36-, 48x48-, and 72x72-pixel PNG images. These icon sizes are used for low-density, medium-density, and high-density screens, respectively.

Icons on iOS

The icons defined in the application descriptor are used in the following places for an iOS application:

  • A 29-by-29–pixel icon—Spotlight search results on the iPhone and iPod Touch use this icon.

  • A 48-by-48–pixel icon—Spotlight search results on the iPad use this icon.

  • A 57-by-57–pixel icon—The iPhone and iPod Touch home screens display this icon.

  • A 72-by-72–pixel icon (optional)—The iPad home screen displays this icon.

  • A 114-by-114–pixel icon—The iPhone and iPod Touch home screen icon for the 960-by-640–pixel display.

  • A 512-by-512–pixel icon—iTunes displays this icon. The 512-pixel PNG file is used only for testing development versions of your application When you submit the final application to the Apple App Store, you submit the 512 image separately, as a JPG file. It is not included in the IPA.

iOS adds a glare effect to the icon. You do not need to apply the effect to your source image. To remove this default glare effect, add the following to the InfoAdditions element in the application descriptor file:

<InfoAdditions> 
    <![CDATA[ 
        <key>UIPrerenderedIcon</key> 
        <true/> 
    ]]> 
</InfoAdditions>
Note: The phrase, “Adobe AIR for iOS” is added to the application icons as metadata on iOS so that Adobe can track the number of AIR applications available in the Apple iOS app store. If you do not want your application to identified as an AIR application because of this icon metadata, you must unpackage the IPA file, remove the icon metadata, and repackage it as described in, Opt-out of AIR application analytics for iOS.

iOS launch images

In addition to the application icons, you must also provide at least one launch image named: Default.png. Optionally, you can include separate launch images for different starting orientations, different resolutions, and different devices. You can also include different launch images to be used when your application is invoked through a URL.

Launch image files are not referenced in the application descriptor, and must be placed in the root application directory. (Do not put the files in a subdirectory.)

File naming scheme

Name the image according to the following scheme:

basename + urischeme + orientation + scale + device + .png

The basename portion of the file name is either Default (with a capital D) or the name you specify using the UILaunchImageFile key in the InfoAdditions element in the application descriptor.

The urischeme portion is the string used to identify the URI scheme. For example, if your application can be invoked through a link such as, example://foo, then use example as the scheme portion of the launch image file name.

The orientation portion can be one of the following values indicating the orientation that the device is in when the application starts up:

  • -Portrait

  • -PortraitUpsideDown

  • -Landscape

  • -LandscapeLeft

  • -LandscapeRight

The scale portion is @2x for the launch images used for high-resolution displays. (Omit the scale portion entirely for the images used for standard resolution displays.)

The device portion is either ~ipad or ~iphone (which covers both iPhone and iPod Touch).

For iPhone, you can only include portrait aspect-ratio images. Use 320x480 pixel images for standard resolution devices and 640x960 pixel images for high-resolution devices.

For iPad, you can include both landscape (1024x748) and portrait (768x1004) aspect-ratio images. (Currently, no iPads come with a high-resolution screen.)

Examples

The following table shows an example set of launch images that you could include for a hypothetical application that supports the widest possible range of devices and orientations, and can be launched with URLs using the example:// scheme:

File name

Image size

Usage

Default.png

320 x 480

iPhone, standard resolution

Default@2x.png

640 x 960

iPhone, high resolution

Default-Portrait.png

768 x 1004

iPad, portrait orientation

Default-PortraitUpsideDown.png

768 x 1004

iPad, upside down portrait orientation

Default-Landscape.png

1024 x 748

iPad, left landscape orientation

Default-LandscapeRight.png

1024 x 748

iPad, right landscape orientation

Default-example.png

320 x 480

example:// URL on standard iPhone

Default-example@2x.png

640 x 960

example:// URL on high-resolution iPhone

Default-example~ipad.png

768 x 1004

example:// URL on iPad in portrait orientations

Default-example-Landscape.png

1024 x 748

example:// URL on iPad in landscape orientations

This example only illustrates one approach. You could, for example, use the Default.png image for the iPad, and specify specific launch images for the iPhone and iPod with Default~iphone.png and Default@2x~iphone.png.

Art guidelines

You can create any art you’d like for a launch image, as long as it is the correct dimensions. However, it is often best to have the image match the initial state of your application. You can create such a launch image by taking a screenshot of the startup screen of your application:

  1. Open your application on the iOS device. When the first screen of the user interface appears, press and hold the Home button (below the screen). While holding the Home button, press the Power/Sleep button (at the top of the device). This takes a screenshot and sends it to the Camera Roll.

  2. Transfer the image to your development computer by transferring photos from iPhoto or another photo transfer application.

Do not include text in the launch image if your application is localized into multiple languages. The launch image is static and the text would not match other languages.