How can I create an app icon on iOS?

Question

How can I create an app icon on iOS?

Kim Strasser 1,321

I don't know how to create an app icon for my iOS application. I have tried to use Assets.xcassets but it's not working in Visual Studio for Mac 17.6 Preview (17.6 build 402) after adding Maui to my .csproj file:

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/I-cannot-open-Infoplist-and-Entitlement/10297547

In addition, I have tried to open Assets.xcassets when I don't add Maui to my project and it doesn't work. I just did this for testing, I need Maui in my project.

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Assetsxcassets-is-not-working-in-Visual/10295764

Is it no more necessary to use Assets.xcassets when I add Maui to my project?

How can I create an app icon for my iOS project? The app icon needs to work on iPhone and iPad.

My .csproj file:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net7.0-ios16.1</TargetFramework>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <UseMaui>true</UseMaui>
    <UseMauiEssentials>true</UseMauiEssentials>
    <SupportedOSPlatformVersion>15.0</SupportedOSPlatformVersion>
...

Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-03-07T03:54:47.8233333+00:00
For further investigation, I have several directions to confirm with you:

How did you create your project? Which template do you choose? (iOS->App->.NET or Multiplatform->App->.NET MAUI)

Can you display the default .NET icon for your App?

Is there a XSAppIconAssets key in your Info.plist?

You said you cannot open Info.plist and Entitlements.plist at DC, I saw the screenshot, there is a Source list at the top-right corner, you can try to change different type. And you can try to open the Info.plist with TextEdit, then check if you can see the source code and check if the XML format is correct.
Kim Strasser 1,321 Reputation points

2023-03-07T13:07:49.77+00:00
The issue with the arrows exists if I use the MonoGame iOS Application template(version 3.8.1.303) or the iOS->App->.NET template.

But the issue only occurs after adding these two lines to the .csproj files. Then the two arrows in the top right corner are no more displayed when I open Info.plist and Entitlements.plist.

<UseMaui>true</UseMaui> <UseMauiEssentials>true</UseMauiEssentials>

They could reproduce the issue in my other thread: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/I-cannot-open-Infoplist-and-Entitlement/10297547#T-ND10302002

Yes, I can see the default .NET icon on my iPad Air when I use the iOS->App->.NET template.

I found out that the following code is missing in the .csproj file of the MonoGame iOS project:

<key>XSAppIconAssets</key> <string>Assets.xcassets/AppIcon.appiconset</string>

After adding this code to the .csproj file the default MonoGame icon is displayed on my iPaid Air.

But I want to use several .png icon files or an .svg file for the app icon because I want that my app icon looks good on different iPhone and iPad resolutions/devices. Therefore I wanted to open Assets.xcassets so that I can add several app icon files or an .svg file to it. But I don't know how to use Assets.xcassets with Visual Studio for Mac 17.6 Preview (17.6 build 402) because Xcode opens when I double click on Assets.xcassets. In Visual Studio for Mac 2019 there was an editor for this when you double clicked on Assets.xcassets, I hope this editor comes back in a future Visual Studio for Mac release.

Is it not possible to use Assets.xcassets in current Visual Studio for Mac releases?
Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-03-09T07:48:02.47+00:00

May I know whether your issue has been solved or not? If not, please share it in here. We can work together to figure it out.

Accepted answer

1 additional answer

Your answer

Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-03-07T03:54:47.8233333+00:00

For further investigation, I have several directions to confirm with you:

How did you create your project? Which template do you choose? (iOS->App->.NET or Multiplatform->App->.NET MAUI)

Can you display the default .NET icon for your App?

Is there a XSAppIconAssets key in your Info.plist?

You said you cannot open Info.plist and Entitlements.plist at DC, I saw the screenshot, there is a Source list at the top-right corner, you can try to change different type. And you can try to open the Info.plist with TextEdit, then check if you can see the source code and check if the XML format is correct.
Kim Strasser 1,321 Reputation points

2023-03-07T13:07:49.77+00:00

The issue with the arrows exists if I use the MonoGame iOS Application template(version 3.8.1.303) or the iOS->App->.NET template.

But the issue only occurs after adding these two lines to the .csproj files. Then the two arrows in the top right corner are no more displayed when I open Info.plist and Entitlements.plist.

<UseMaui>true</UseMaui> <UseMauiEssentials>true</UseMauiEssentials>

They could reproduce the issue in my other thread: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/I-cannot-open-Infoplist-and-Entitlement/10297547#T-ND10302002

Yes, I can see the default .NET icon on my iPad Air when I use the iOS->App->.NET template.

I found out that the following code is missing in the .csproj file of the MonoGame iOS project:

<key>XSAppIconAssets</key> <string>Assets.xcassets/AppIcon.appiconset</string>

After adding this code to the .csproj file the default MonoGame icon is displayed on my iPaid Air.

But I want to use several .png icon files or an .svg file for the app icon because I want that my app icon looks good on different iPhone and iPad resolutions/devices. Therefore I wanted to open Assets.xcassets so that I can add several app icon files or an .svg file to it. But I don't know how to use Assets.xcassets with Visual Studio for Mac 17.6 Preview (17.6 build 402) because Xcode opens when I double click on Assets.xcassets. In Visual Studio for Mac 2019 there was an editor for this when you double clicked on Assets.xcassets, I hope this editor comes back in a future Visual Studio for Mac release.

Is it not possible to use Assets.xcassets in current Visual Studio for Mac releases?
Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-03-09T07:48:02.47+00:00

May I know whether your issue has been solved or not? If not, please share it in here. We can work together to figure it out.

Answer 1

Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Microsoft External Staff

Hello,

The issue with the arrows exists if I use the MonoGame iOS Application template(version 3.8.1.303) or the iOS->App->.NET template. I want to use several .png icon files or an .svg file for the app icon

Base on iOS->App->.NET template project testing, you can refer to the following steps to change the default icons:

Designing multiple icon images with 20x20, 29x29,40x40,58x58,60x60,76x76,80x80,87x87,120x120,152x152,167x167,180x180,1024x1024 sizes
Double-clicking the Assets.xcassets file in your project by VS for Mac, it will prompt you to open edit assets by Xcode
Selecting Assets in Xcode, there is an image set named "AppIcon", all default icons are in this set.
Replacing the default icon images with your icon images in first step.

In Visual Studio for Mac 2019 there was an editor for this when you double clicked on Assets.xcassets, I hope this editor comes back in a future Visual Studio for Mac release.

You can provide feedback and suggest this featureto product team with Visual Studio for Mac. Please see Visual Studio for Mac: Report issues & bugs - Visual Studio for Mac | Microsoft Learn

For the Info.plist and Entitlements.plist issues, you can follow the progress at DC- Opening Info.plist and Entitlements.plist is not always working as expected in Visual Studio for Mac 2022 - Visual Studio Feedback.

Best Regards,

Wenyan Zhang

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Kim Strasser 1,321 Reputation points

2023-03-09T12:16:33.77+00:00

I have added the icons in Xcode-->Assets-->AppIcon. In addition, I have created Xcode-->Assets-->Image to add my launch screen images. The launch screen and the app icon work on my iPad Air.

I have created an app icon png image (1024x1024) in the vector graphics software Inkscape for testing and I used an app icon generator tool to create the different icon sizes. I have seen that the generated png icon images have the color profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1 when I right click on an image. Is it necessary that my iOS icon and launch screen png images have the color profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1? Will it not work without the color profile on iOS?

My original png image (1024x1024) file that I created in Inkscape doesn't have a color profile, only the generated files have the color profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1.
Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-03-14T07:32:00.3466667+00:00

Hi @Kim Strasser you can create a new thread for your new issue and attach the link here to let me know, then we can work together to figure it out.
In this way, it will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well.
Kim Strasser 1,321 Reputation points

2023-03-14T19:46:51.6566667+00:00

I have added my app icon in different sizes to Xcode-->Assets-->AppIcon. The png images don't have the color profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1 when I right click on the images-->Properties but the icon is displayed correctly on my iPad Air. I created my icons in Moho Studio.
Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,416 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-03-15T07:50:26.49+00:00

It sounds like the issue is solved, it displayed correctly, right?
Kim Strasser 1,321 Reputation points

2023-03-15T11:31:34.0433333+00:00

Yes, the icon is displayed correctly.

Answer 2

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How can I create an app icon on iOS?

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