Creating right mobile icons sizes for Android, iOS and Windows applications.

I am developing a mobile application that will serve all Egyptians people for a critical national project.

It a service and management based mobile application which is related to Fuel locations finder and Customers fuel subsidy management card System.

It will be released soon by the middle of March in Google play for Android platform and by the end of March 2014 in Apple App Store for iOS application, followed by windows mobile platform in May 2014.

It is a hybrid mobile development rather than native development.

While designing the application I have faced many challenges performance, design, Architecture, cross-platform development, and Graphics especially the logo design. Designing icons especially for iOS platforms is a tricky a little bit.

There are different icons sizes related to resolution (normal and Retina’s displays), places, and naming conventions for applications targeting iOS 3, 4, 6, and 7.

However, it was easier developing the icons for Android platform, but anyway I will share icons sizes for both platforms. and Microsoft Windows mobile platform as well.

It is a good idea and practice to develop

the larger icon size first then export it to different sizes. I used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CC. Illustrator is a great tool for logos because it is vector based, so scaling the artwork are easier to scale without losing the artwork resolution.

Android platform

The following table show different icons for different displays resolutions in pixel:

Display	Launcher Icons	Action Bar Icons
Google Play	512x512	---
Double Extra High dpi (xhdpi)	---	96x96
Extra High dpi (xhdpi)	96x96	64x64
High dpi (hdpi)	72x72	48x48
Medium dpi (mdpi)	48x48	36x36
Low dpi (ldpi)	36x36	---

iOS platform

The following table shows different icons for different iDevices displays resolutions in pixel, note that iOS 7 iPhone and iPod has Retina's display support only, as all iOS 7 supported iDevices are iPhone from 4 to 5s, and 5th generation iPod touch.

OS/ Device/ Place	Standard Resolution			High Resolution (Retina Display)
	iPhone and iPod Touch		iPad	iPhone and iPod Touch	iPad
iOS 6 platform
Home Screen Icon	57x57		72x72	114x114	144x144
Settings Icon	29x29		29x29	58x58	58x58
Spotlight Icon	29x29		100x100	58x58	50x50
App icon for the App Stores	1024x1024		512x512	1024x1024	1024x1024
iOS 7 platform
Home Screen Icon		---	76x76	120x120	152x152
Settings Icon		---	29x29	58x58	58x58
Spotlight Icon		---	80x80	80x80	40x40
App icon for the App Stores		---	512x512	1024x1024	1024x1024

Windows Phone

The following table shows different resolutions in pixel for Microsoft windows platform application and marketplace icons:

Application Place	Icon Size
Application
Icon	62x62
Tile Image	173x173
Marketplace
Application icon for Windows Phone Marketplace catalog (small)	99x99
Application icon for Windows Phone Marketplace catalog (large)	173x173
Desktop application icon for Windows Phone Marketplace catalog	200x200