I haven't updated my app in months, but I discovered my app icon color recently changed entirely on its own, and it displays inconsistently in App Store, App Store Connect, and TestFlight. Everything works fine locally during development. It's all as expected in Icon Composer and Xcode. Typically, the icon shows a white symbol on a blue background. But now, online, the white symbol is a dark red color, and there seem to be additional Liquid Glass and shadow effects that I never chose. So, somewhere in Apple's backend processing of my .icon file, it's getting malformed and rasterized with different parameters than expected? And different cached versions are being displayed in different places? On web, it's showing the incorrect version. Same in App Store Connect and TestFlight. In App Store on iOS, the incorrect version is shown in search results, but the correct version is shown on the product page. I've attached some screenshots. Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kitchenkit-grocery-organizer/id6754018760 Related threads: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/812852 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/811770 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/823078

This started with Xcode 26 beta 7, however it has continued to occur with the release candidate. Whenever I try to compile our asset catalog + icon composer icon for our AppKit/SwiftUI-based macOS app, actool fails with the following exception: *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'IBPlatformToolFailureException', reason: 'The tool closed the connection (AssetCatalogAgent-AssetRuntime) Last command: _ON_QUEUE_sendMessage:toChannelReturningError:during: Backtrace of last command: 0 -[IBAbstractPlatformToolProxy _ON_QUEUE_sendMessage:toChannelReturningError:during:] (in IDEInterfaceBuilderKit) 1 __74-[IBAbstractPlatformToolProxy sendMessage:toChannelReturningError:during:]_block_invoke (in IDEInterfaceBuilderKit) 2 _dispatch_client_callout (in libdispatch.dylib) 3 _dispatch_lane_barrier_sync_invoke_and_complete (in libdispatch.dylib) 4 DVTDispatchSync (in DVTFoundation) 5 -[IBAbstractPlatformToolProxy sendMessage:toChannelReturningError:during:] (in IDEInterfaceBuilderKit) 6 -[AssetCatalogRemoteAgentProxy compileItemsWithCatalogRelativeIdentifierPaths:tagSolutionSpace:andStickerPacksWithCatalogRelativeIdentifierPaths:options:] (in IDEInterfaceBuilderCocoaTouchIntegration) 7 -[IBICLARToolCARCompiler compileCARItems:tagSolutionSpace:options:queue:completionHandler:] (in AssetCatalogCocoaTouchKit) 8 -[IBICAbstractPlatformAdapter compileCARItems:tagSolutionSpace:options:queue:completionHandler:] (in AssetCatalogFoundation) 9 __84-[IBICAbstractPlatformAdapter compileSelectedItems:options:queue:completionHandler:]_block_invoke (in AssetCatalogFoundation) 10 __93-[IBICAbstractPlatformAdapter compileStandaloneCatalogItems:options:queue:completionHandler:]_block_invoke (in AssetCatalogFoundation) 11 __DVT_CALLING_CLIENT_BLOCK__ (in DVTFoundation) 12 __DVTDispatchAsync_block_invoke (in DVTFoundation) 13 _dispatch_call_block_and_release (in libdispatch.dylib) 14 _dispatch_client_callout (in libdispatch.dylib) 15 _dispatch_main_queue_drain.cold.5 (in libdispatch.dylib) 16 _dispatch_main_queue_drain (in libdispatch.dylib) 17 _dispatch_main_queue_callback_4CF (in libdispatch.dylib) 18 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_SERVICING_THE_MAIN_DISPATCH_QUEUE__ (in CoreFoundation) 19 __CFRunLoopRun (in CoreFoundation) 20 CFRunLoopRunSpecific (in CoreFoundation) 21 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runMode:beforeDate:] (in Foundation) 22 -[NSRunLoop(DVTNSRunLoopAdditions) dvt_spinRunLoopInMode:whileQueue:executesAsynchronously:] (in DVTFoundation) 23 -[NSRunLoop(DVTNSRunLoopAdditions) dvt_spinRunLoopInMode:whileBlockExecutesConcurrently:] (in DVTFoundation) 24 -[NSRunLoop(DVTNSRunLoopAdditions) dvt_spinRunLoopInMode:waitingForSemaphore:] (in DVTFoundation) 25 -[IBCLIImageCatalogToolPersona compileCatalogCollection:withPlatformAdapter:arguments:outputDictionary:] (in ibtoold) 26 -[IBCLIImageCatalogToolPersona invokeArguments:outputDictionary:] (in ibtoold) 27 -[IBCLIImageCatalogToolPersona runSingleInvocation:outputtingToFileHandle:andVerifyingEnvironment:] (in ibtoold) 28 IBCLIServerRunSingleInvocation (in ibtoold) 29 __IBCLIServerRunSingleInvocationWithIODirectedAtPipesAndUnlinkOnSuccess_block_invoke_2 (in ibtoold) 30 __IBCLIServerRunSingleInvocationWithIODirectedAtPipesAndUnlinkOnSuccess_block_invoke (in ibtoold) 31 -[IBCLIErrorForwarder forwardErrorOutputToDescriptor:whileInvokingBlock:] (in ibtoold) 32 IBCLIServerRunSingleInvocationWithIODirectedAtPipesAndUnlinkOnSuccess (in ibtoold) 33 main (in ibtoold) 34 start (in dyld) I can't seem to get it to compile consistently — it works fine locally. I would ❤️ a workaround, otherwise I'm not sure that we'll be able to ship an update to our app for macOS 26. FB20183399

Just posted this feedback regarding macOS 26 "Tahoe" (FB19853155) - please support with additional submissions if you share my view. I will miss the beautiful and individual designed icons of the past! "macOS 26 is enforcing squicles for app icons, falling back to a grey background for 3rd party apps without a compliant AppIcon asset. As a result many original app icons are reduced in size and hard to distinguish because they share the same background color. Although I respect Apple's strive for an iOS-like UI on Macs, a smooth transition path would be more user- and developer-friendly ... e.g. with some info.plist property to opt-out icon migration, potentially ignored by a future macOS version. The current solution causes a bad usability, and makes the system look inconsistent as many - especially free - software will not be updated with new icon designs. Please reconsider this bad design decision!"

Composer icons can be loaded with NSImage's imageNamed: but I haven't figured out how to make it load any variation other than the light style. Is this even possible? Thank you!

I have an issue when trying to upload my app through transporter saying the icon has an alpha channel and the format is wrong. I have changed this to make it the correct dimensions and not transparent etc but the same issue is coming up. Any advice on what to do?

Several app developers are struggling with the inability to provide a separate app icons that looks nice on older macOS versions while at the same time provide Icon Composer icons that look great on macOS Tahoe 26. An ability to provide separate icons is super important to those who have app icons that follow the curvature of the default icon borders (as the corner rounding radius is different for Sequia and Tahoe). Take a look at this for example: https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/issues/7564#issuecomment-3042061547 Question: Is there a definitive/recommended way to address this issue? How can a developer add a glass icon variant that looks good on Tahoe and provide a bitmap icon for older macOS versions? Some background info: Prior to Xcode 26 beta 4, one could add an App Icon to Assets to be used as app icon for legacy macOS versions (Sequia and older) and use a new Icon Composer icon (placed in the project root) for macOS Tahoe 26. Enabling "Include all app icon assets" under target settings ensured that older macOS versions would use the old app icons while Tahoe the new Icon Composer glass one. Since Xcode beta 4 this technique no longer works. Xcode instead insists on populating Assets.car with Icon Composer generated variants, disregarding the App Icon provided in Assets. Although the App Icon in Assets makes its way to a .incs file in the app bundle's Contents/Resources folder, but that is not used by macOS anymore and is there for some compatibility purposes. The Assets.car file (which matters) only contains the variants generated by Icon Composer and does not contain the png icons provided in the Assets.

Getting macOS app icons from Icon Composer working in Xcode 26.x appears to have caused widespread confusion. I've certainly had more than one headache from it. Here's what works for me: Drag the .icon file from Icon Composer into the Xcode Project Navigator, dropping it at the same level as Assets.xcassets — not inside it. In the Project Navigator, click the top-level project item to open the Project Editor. Select your app target and open the App Icons and Launch Screen section. Enter the icon name (without the .icon extension) in the App Icon field. In that same section, leave App Icons Source unchecked. Go to the Build Phases tab and expand Copy Bundle Resources. Delete the Assets.xcassets entry, leaving only the .icon file. Clean the build folder (⇧⌘K) and run. Your icon should now appear in the Dock. It appears that Icon Composer icons and even the presence of the Asset Catalog icons in Copy Bundle Resources are mutually exclusive right now. Including the Asset Catalog appears to suppress the Icon Composer icon. Removing it lets the Icon Composer icon through. Note: If your app depends on other assets in the Asset Catalog, this approach won't work for you. In that case, fall back to the traditional method — export all required sizes from Icon Composer and import them into the Asset Catalog. Hopefully Apple addresses this conflict soon.

Hi. On my iOS app, both the app store and the device are making changes to my app icon to make it look more Liquid-Glass. See attached image showing my original icon, and then how it appears on the app store and on devices. There is an added bevel/3d effect. I'd like to not have this happen. Did anybody figure out how to turn this off? So that the icon appears as submitted. I've played around with Icon Composer a bit but haven't managed to turn this off there. And would prefer to just submit the png's. Thank you!

Hello, I made my app icon with Icon Composer and added the .icon file directly to my Xcode project. I noticed that the icon preview in Icon Composer looks one way, while the icon shown on the App Store looks different. Details: I am using the .icon file directly in the project I am not using an exported PNG for the app icon I did not add a separate background image The background was set with fill in Icon Composer The preview in Icon Composer looks as expected The App Store version has a different appearance I would like to ask whether this difference may come from: App Store processing caching or a recommended Icon Composer setup for background fill If anyone has seen something similar, I would appreciate any guidance. I can also share screenshots of the Icon Composer preview and the App Store result.

Hello, I created my app icon with Icon Composer and use the .icon file directly in my Xcode project. The preview in Icon Composer looks as expected, but the icon on the App Store has a different appearance. For reference: .icon file is used directly no separate background image was added background was set with fill in Icon Composer the difference appears on the App Store side Has anyone seen this before? I’m trying to understand whether this is related to App Store processing, caching, or Icon Composer background setup. I’ve attached: Any guidance would be appreciated.

We have found that on iOS 26 beta some of our app icons built from an Xcode 16 asset catalog containing a single 1024x1024 .png file have a Liquid Glass effect applied to them while others have not. The documentation states that If you choose not to use Icon Composer, you can still use an AppIcon asset catalog in your project containing individual app icon images and let the system apply the Liquid Glass material. and If you prefer, you can take advantage of the system’s automatically generated treatment that is applied to all app icons. Is there any insight into how the system treats app icons that have not yet been updated with Icon Composer?

After I upgraded to iOS 26, most of the App icons with white backgrounds appeared blurry, as if they had been blurred by Gaussian filtering. However, some of them were normal. As shown in the picture, if you observe carefully, you will notice that the DeepSeek Chrome Photos icon is blurry, while Expo Go and LightBlue are normal. Is this a bug of the system? Does anyone have the same problem?

When creating an icon using icon composer, I cant upload a build to testflight/App Store connect. Running on device from Xcode works fine, but as soon as I archive and upload to App Store Connect, I get an error saying the icon contains an alpha channel

Hi, I am working on app at the moment that uses Icon Composer for all of its icons and variations. I want to add an iMessage App to my project however I get validation errors from App Store Connect even if I add an imessage app to my asset catalog and include all app icon assets. Is there any way to do this at the moment natively with Icon Composer? If not how do I manually overwrite the icon JUST for iMessage and not for my entire iOS app?

Hi everyone 👋 I’m a new iOS developer working on my first app and I’ve run into a frustrating visual bug involving my app icon during the launch/close transition. Issue: When I use Icon Composer (the new tool introduced for iOS 26) to generate my app icon, I consistently see a thin white border or “fringe” around the icon only during the transition animation (when the app opens or closes). It disappears once the animation ends. What I tested and confirmed: • I exported the exact same design directly from Adobe Illustrator as a 1024×1024 PNG, fully opaque, RGB color mode, background color filling the entire canvas (no transparency, no borders, no rounded corners). • When I place that exported PNG directly into the AppIcon asset catalog in Xcode, the icon renders perfectly — no white fringe appears, just a slightly darker shade of blue during transitions (expected and acceptable). • But when I generate the icon using Icon Composer, the white edge always appears, even if I disable effects, use full coverage layers, or only keep a flat color layer. Notes: • Tested on iOS 26 (latest beta) using Xcode 16. • The issue seems specific to Icon Composer’s export format or metadata — maybe it’s not stripping alpha correctly or something related to the squircle mask? • I followed all recommended specs: 1024×1024 px, PNG, sRGB, no transparency, exported from Illustrator at 72ppi with solid background. Even tested without the logo, just the icon made with icon composer Is anyone else experiencing this issue with Icon Composer exports? Is there an official recommendation to avoid this during transitions or should I simply avoid Icon Composer for production icons for now and stick with Illustrator / Figma exports? Thanks so much Here’s a visual example:

I am trying to make an app icon 20 x 20 pixel dimension. I cannot get the icon to be sized this way. It gets blurry. I have used adobe express + illustrator. I have not been able to size it. It is a 400 x 400 dimension png. I want the proportion to be 20 x 20 without losing the clarity.

Hey guys! I downloaded Apple’s Icon Composer to build my iOS 26 app icon. I exported my SVG from Illustrator (and verified it through Canva and the W3C validator). However, when I import it into Icon Composer, it looks really weird . There are these bubble-like artifacts appearing in the center. Here's my orignal svg icon file trace-logo.txt Any help will be appreciated! Best, Justin

I have a project, and I prepared an app icon. But I don't know where to drag the .icon, please help me out!

Hi, I just had V1.0 of my app approved on the App Store and I immediately noticed that the icon preview is broken. It looks good in Xcode, on-device and also in the App Store link preview. The icon was built with Icon Composer. Here's the difference (left is App store): Has anyone encountered the same issue and found a solution?

I'm having a strange issue with my iOS app icon rendering in the App Store - it seems to be low-res and clipping part of the image. I updated the icon in Icon Composer to apply the liquid glass overlay for the new build. It looks fine on the device and the asset itself isn't corrupted. I think it might be a resolution issue since the small icon thumbnails in App Store Connect have the same problem, but they look fine when I click through to the larger preview. Has anyone else run into this and figured out a fix?