Quick answer: the App Store wants a 1024×1024 PNG with no transparency or rounded corners, Google Play wants a 512×512 32-bit PNG plus a required 1024×500 feature graphic, and the installed app ships a separate set of device-sized PNGs. Both stores apply the mask themselves — do not bake in rounded corners or shadows.

Store icon vs. device icon

There are two icons to design for. The store icon is a high-resolution marketing asset that appears in search results, charts, and your listing. The launcher icon is the set of small PNGs packaged inside the app for the home screen, which on Android must be adaptive and on iOS comes in a fixed grid of sizes. They share artwork but are not the same file.

Store requirements

Asset Size Format Notes
App Store icon 1024×1024 PNG, no alpha No corners; Apple masks it
Google Play icon 512×512 32-bit PNG with alpha ≤1024 KB; full square
Play feature graphic 1024×500 JPEG or 24-bit PNG, no alpha Required to publish
Play screenshots min 1280×720 JPEG/PNG 2–8 per listing
App Store screenshots device-specific, e.g. 1320×2868 (6.9") PNG One per device class

App Store

The single 1024×1024 marketing icon is the source for App Store Connect, and Apple generates the store display sizes from it. The rules are strict: flat square, no alpha channel, no rounded corners, no shadows baked into the artwork. iOS applies its own rounded-rectangle mask, so a pre-rounded icon either gets a double-rounded edge or rejected. The bundled iOS app itself still ships the device sizes — for modern iPhones that includes 180×180 for the 60pt @3x home screen slot, with 120×120 and 167×167 for older devices.

Google Play

Play's store listing icon is 512×512, 32-bit PNG with alpha, 1 MB max. Google Play applies a dynamic rounded mask with a radius of about 30% of the icon, so upload a full square with no corners and no shadows. Legacy icons that do not follow the current specification are scaled down to 75% inside the grid, which is the visible punishment for an old-style asset — the icon looks smaller than every neighbor in the list.

The feature graphic is mandatory, not optional: a 1024×500 JPEG or 24-bit PNG (no alpha) that sits above the screenshots and doubles as the cover of a preview video if you have one. It is the closest thing Google Play has to a hero banner, and it is the place for a tagline and a screenshot treatment.

Android adaptive icons

The installed Android app uses an adaptive icon with two layers: a background and a foreground, with the foreground mark kept inside the keyline grid (roughly 66% of the canvas). Launcher PNGs range from 48×48 (mdpi) through 192×192 (xxxhdpi). A single foreground that fills the square gets cropped by the launcher's mask — circle, squircle, or teardrop depending on the phone — so the logo must sit in the central safe zone.

Design judgment at tiny size

An icon is judged at 48 pixels, so the wordmark that works on a website usually fails on a phone. The discipline is to reduce to one mark, one color idea, and enough contrast to survive the home screen wallpaper. The web's favicon set is the same exercise at smaller sizes — the favicon size guide covers 16 to 512 for browsers. A launch often needs the icon, the feature graphic, and a matching social set; Neatico can build the store icon and the 1024×500 graphic together from one brand description.

Frequently asked questions

What size is the App Store icon? 1024×1024 PNG, flattened with no alpha channel. Do not round the corners; Apple applies the mask.

What size is the Google Play icon? 512×512, 32-bit PNG, up to 1 MB. Upload a full square; Google applies the rounded mask and shadow.

What is a Google Play feature graphic? A required 1024×500 JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha, shown above the screenshots and used as a preview video cover.

Why does my Android icon look zoomed out? Legacy icons are scaled to 75% of the grid. Rebuild to the current full-bleed specification and keep the mark inside the adaptive icon safe zone.