Quick answer: Android launcher icons ship at 48, 72, 96, 144 and 192 pixels (one per screen density), plus a 432×432 adaptive foreground of which only the central two thirds is guaranteed visible, plus a 512×512 PNG with no transparency for the Play Store. All of them can be generated from one 1024×1024 source.
Every size, and where it goes
| Pixels | Folder | Density |
|---|---|---|
| 48 × 48 | mipmap-mdpi | 1× (baseline) |
| 72 × 72 | mipmap-hdpi | 1.5× |
| 96 × 96 | mipmap-xhdpi | 2× |
| 144 × 144 | mipmap-xxhdpi | 3× — most phones today |
| 192 × 192 | mipmap-xxxhdpi | 4× — flagships |
| 432 × 432 | drawable | Adaptive foreground layer |
| 512 × 512 | Play Console upload | Store listing, opaque PNG |
The launcher picks the file that matches the screen instead of resampling one on every draw — which is exactly why a single PNG scaled up by the system looks soft.
The adaptive mask and the safe zone
Since Android 8 the launcher, not you, decides the icon's outline — circle, squircle, rounded square, teardrop. You provide a foreground on a 108 dp canvas and only the middle 72 dp — roughly two thirds — is safe. Everything outside may be clipped by the mask or shifted by parallax effects.
Converted-website icons are the usual victims: a logo drawn edge to edge loses its corners under a circular mask. Keep the mark inside the safe zone and the shape stops mattering.
Design for four millimetres
A launcher icon is seen at about 48 px on a crowded screen. Everything follows from that:
- One idea — a mark, a glyph, a letter. Scenes become smudges.
- No words — the app's name is printed underneath already; text inside is unreadable noise.
- Never a screenshot of the website — the most common conversion mistake, and it looks like exactly what it is.
- Contrast on light and dark — check both wallpapers; a dark mark on a transparent ground disappears at night.
- Flat — baked-in shadows fight the launcher's own elevation and date quickly.
- A recognisable silhouette — people find apps by shape and colour before they read.
The store icon is a separate asset
The 512×512 uploaded to Play Console must be a 32-bit PNG without an alpha channel and without your own rounded corners — Play masks and shadows it itself. A transparent upload is rejected; bake in a background colour.
Match the favicon
The app icon and the site's favicon should be visibly the same mark. Someone who meets you in a browser and again in the Play Store should not wonder whether it is the same product, and reviewers notice listings that look unrelated to the site they wrap.
Mistakes to skip
- A small source — upscaling a 128 px logo is visibly soft. Start from vector art or the largest raster you own.
- Too much margin — generous at 512 px, nearly empty at 48. Fill the safe zone.
- Your own rounded corners — Android masks already; you get corners inside corners.
- Transparency on the store icon — an instant rejection.
- A wide logo — it is letterboxed with dead space. Redraw it square.
Final test: put it on a real home screen beside other apps, on a light and a dark wallpaper, and glance from arm's length. If you cannot pick it out at a glance, the dimensions were never the problem.