How to Resize Images for iOS App Icons
(All 13 Required Sizes)

Apple requires iOS app icons in up to 13 different sizes — and submitting the wrong dimensions means your app gets rejected by App Store Connect. This guide covers every required size, explains what each is used for, and shows you the fastest way to generate them all from a single source image.

Why Does iOS Require So Many Icon Sizes?

Every Apple device renders icons at different pixel densities. An iPhone 15 Pro has a 3× Retina display, an older iPad may use 2×, and the App Store itself shows a separate large preview image. Rather than scale a single image at runtime (which can cause blurring), Apple requires you to provide pixel-perfect assets for every context.

As of iOS 17 and Xcode 15, Apple simplified the requirement — a single 1024×1024px image in your asset catalog can auto-generate all sizes. But if you're managing assets manually, deploying through older workflows, or need exact control over each size, you'll still want the full set exported individually.

Complete iOS App Icon Size Chart (2026)

Here are all the sizes Apple requires across iPhone, iPad, the App Store, and the iOS home screen. Sizes are in pixels:

Common Mistakes That Get Apps Rejected

After reviewing hundreds of App Store submissions, these are the most frequent icon-related rejection reasons:

• Missing the 1024×1024 App Store icon — this is the most common reason for rejection. It's a separate asset from the home screen icons.
• Using transparency (alpha channel) — iOS app icons must have a fully opaque background. PNG files with transparent backgrounds will cause App Store Connect to reject the upload.
• Submitting the wrong format — icons must be PNG. JPEG files are not accepted.
• Pre-rounding the corners — as noted above, Apple handles this. Your source file should be a perfect square.
• Scaling up from a small image — a 100×100px logo scaled to 1024×1024 will be visibly blurry. Always start with the largest size.

The Old Way vs The Fast Way

Before browser-based tools existed, generating all 13 sizes was a multi-step process:

Step-by-Step: Generate All iOS Icons with DenaliKit

Here's exactly how to go from a single source image to a complete iOS icon set in under a minute:

How to Import Icons into Xcode

Once you have your ZIP file downloaded and extracted, importing into Xcode takes about 60 seconds:

1. In Xcode, open your project and navigate to Assets.xcassets in the file navigator.
2. Click on AppIcon in the asset catalog.
3. In Finder, open the folder from your DenaliKit download.
4. Select all PNG files and drag them into the AppIcon slots in Xcode. Xcode will automatically match each file to the correct slot based on the filename.
5. If any slots show a warning, check that the image dimensions match exactly — hover over the slot to see the required size.

Using the Single Image Approach (Xcode 15+)

If you're targeting iOS 17 and later only, Xcode 15 introduced a simplified workflow. You can provide a single 1024×1024px image and check "Single Size" in the AppIcon asset. Xcode generates all sizes at build time. This is the recommended approach for new projects.

For projects that still support iOS 14 or 15, or if you want pixel-level control over each size, the manual approach with all 13 files gives you the most flexibility.

Icon Design Tips That Improve Conversion

Getting the technical sizes right is only half the job. A well-designed icon significantly affects download rates. Here are the principles that separate top-performing app icons from forgettable ones:

• Use a single focal element. Icons are tiny. A complex scene or detailed illustration becomes unrecognizable at 29×29px. One clear shape, symbol, or letter performs better than a busy composition.
• High contrast backgrounds. Your icon needs to stand out against both the light and dark iOS home screen. Test it on both before finalising.
• Avoid text. App name text is shown below the icon by iOS. Adding text inside the icon creates redundancy and is illegible at small sizes.
• Bold, saturated colours. Muted, pastel palettes get lost against white home screens. Strong, saturated colours attract attention.
• Check at actual size. Always preview your icon at 60×60px (2× iPhone home screen size) before finalising. What looks good at 1024px can fall apart at small sizes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the same icon for iOS and Android?

Technically yes, but it's not ideal. Android uses adaptive icons with separate foreground and background layers, and Google Play has its own size requirements (512×512 for the store listing). DenaliKit has separate presets for Android icons as well.

Does my icon need to be exactly 1024×1024?

Yes for the App Store icon — Apple enforces this exactly. For the other sizes, the dimensions in the table above are the required pixel dimensions. Being off by even 1 pixel will cause a validation error in App Store Connect.

What if my source image is not square?

You'll need to crop or pad it to a square before processing. DenaliKit's image resizer includes a crop tool that lets you define the square crop area manually, or you can pad the shorter dimension with a background color.

Are there icon requirements for macOS or watchOS?

Yes — both platforms have their own size requirements. macOS icons range from 16×16 to 1024×1024 across 10 sizes. watchOS has 5 required sizes. DenaliKit's presets cover all of these separately.

Do I need to pay to use the iOS icon preset?

The iOS App Icons preset requires a small one-time Premium upgrade — there's no subscription or recurring fee. Premium also unlocks Android icons, favicon sets, email presets, and unlimited batch processing. See pricing →