Complete Guide to Android App Icons in 2025

Understanding Android Icon Densities

Android devices come in various screen sizes and densities. To ensure your app icon looks crisp on all devices, you need to provide multiple versions of your icon at different resolutions.

The Five Density Buckets

• mdpi (160 dpi) - 48×48 px - Baseline density
• hdpi (240 dpi) - 72×72 px - 1.5x baseline
• xhdpi (320 dpi) - 96×96 px - 2x baseline
• xxhdpi (480 dpi) - 144×144 px - 3x baseline
• xxxhdpi (640 dpi) - 192×192 px - 4x baseline

Adaptive Icons (Android 8.0+)

Introduced in Android 8.0 (API level 26), adaptive icons allow your app icon to display in different shapes across different device models. They consist of two layers:

• Foreground layer - Your main icon design
• Background layer - A solid color or simple pattern

File Structure

Your Android project should have the following structure for launcher icons:

res/
  mipmap-mdpi/
    ic_launcher.png
  mipmap-hdpi/
    ic_launcher.png
  mipmap-xhdpi/
    ic_launcher.png
  mipmap-xxhdpi/
    ic_launcher.png
  mipmap-xxxhdpi/
    ic_launcher.png

Best Practices

1. Start with a large canvas - Design at 512×512 px or larger
2. Use simple shapes - Complex details get lost at small sizes
3. Test on real devices - Check how your icon looks on different screens
4. Follow Material Design - Use Google's icon design guidelines
5. Avoid text - Text in icons is hard to read at small sizes
6. Use PNG format - With transparency for best results

Using Our Tool

Our Android Icon Generator automatically creates all five density versions of your icon. Simply upload your high-resolution logo (at least 512×512 px), and we'll generate perfectly sized icons for all Android devices.