Icon Glue

Icon Glue is probably the easiest way to quickly create Apple Icon Images (.icns) or Xcode asset catalogs for your macOS and iOS apps from a single 1024x1024 pixels sized PNG or TIFF image.

You can also create all iOS app icons you need for submitting apps to the App Store in just one go.

Just open your image, select what you want to create (Icon Glue will remember these settings) and save it. You can also open an macOS application bundle to easily extract its icon without having to browse through the bundle's internal folder structure.

And if you should need just a few of them: the integrated iOS and OS X icon previews allow you to create these icons individually with a simple drag'n'drop gesture.

With Icon Glue you can easily ...

✓	create .icns files, .iconset image sets and Xcode asset catalogs from a single PNG file
✓	create the optional iTunesArtwork.png images
✓	create all app icons required for your iOS apps
✓	create all icons required for the Apple Watch
✓	extract all image representations from an existing .icns file
✓	extract an application bundle's icon and export it as .iconset and/or PNG file
✓	show previews of all iOS and OS X Icons to be created and allows you to save them one at a time

Rectangular (non-square) or too small images will be adjusted accordingly to ensure that the result is always a valid, retina-compatible .icns image file.

Tryout version
Version:
Published:
File size:
MD5 Checksum:

1.4.3 (build 261) see Changelog
September 23, 2018
app. 2.1 MB
34e2c322a715e3f22ac5b9cd217fb169

You can test Icon Glue for free and with no obligation. This tryout version provides the same functionality as the full version with one exception: no files are created and written to disk. This tryout version is of course Gatekeeper-ready.

A sample set of icons created with Icon Glue (version 1.4.3) is available for download.

Errors happen and may not always be found in time, so if you should find one or if you are missing an important feature, feel free to send me an email.

IconGlue Appcast

System Requirements

IconGlue Version 1.4.4:

OS X Version 10.10.0 or later

System requirements for OS X 10.10.0

Icon Glue 1.3.3 is the last version running on Mac OS X Versions 10.7 (Lion) through 10.9 (Mavericks). Newer versions require OS X Yosemite (version 10.10.0) or later.

Version History

Version 1.4.4 Current

Published on March 06, 2019

a few minor bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements

Version 1.4.3

Published on September 23, 2018

compatibility fixes for the next major macOS update
adds missing icon sizes
a few other, minor bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements

Version 1.4.2

Published on November 27, 2017

a few minor bugfixes

Version 1.4.1

Published on November 06, 2017

spanish localization and a few minor bugfixes

Version 1.4.0

Published on September 15, 2017

you can now create Xcode asset catalogs as well
the "open" dialog can now optionally show hidden files and the contents of bundles.
Apple Watch Icons are now optional and can be selected separately
iOS 6 support option has been removed, all other iOS icon sizes have been cleaned up
various other bugfixes and improvements
Icon Glue now requires macOS version 10.10 or newer

Version 1.3.3

Published on September 11, 2017

added missing icon sizes for Apple Watch apps (iPhone/iPad notifications, iPad Pro)

Version 1.3.2

Published on May 14, 2015

added missing icon sizes for Apple Watch apps

Version 1.3.1

Published on December 15, 2014

french localisation added
bugfixes for OS X Lion (Version 10.7.x)

Version 1.3

Published on December 10, 2014

added a few icon sizes (e.g. for CarPlay)
the creation of optional icons and those only needed for iOS 6 can now be disabled
the icon preview list has been cleaned up
the window contents have been reordered and cleaned up
introduces a new, flat design for OS X Yosemite
various bugfixes

Version 1.2.2

Published on December 01, 2014

now also creates all icons required for the new iPhone 6 Plus
adds other, optional icon sizes (for toolbar, tab bar etc.)

Version 1.2.1

Published on March 01, 2014

now also creates 40/80px Settings & Spotlight Icon for iOS 7
fixes a layout bug on the icon preview screen

Version 1.2.0

Published on October 03, 2013

New Features:
A preview of all iOS and OS X Icons which are to be created has been added
This new preview allows you to export single icon files via drag'n'drop
Bugfixes:
Image files directly dropped onto the Icon Glue window did not appear immediately under "File > Open Recent"
Images created on retina macs sometimes had a resolution of 144 dpi (instead of 72 dpi)
various other bugfixes

Version 1.1.4

Published on August 27, 2013

now also creates 152px iPad app icons (Retina)

Version 1.1.3

Published on August 02, 2013

fixes a bug causing wrong image sizes on retina screens

Version 1.1.2

Published on June 18, 2013

creates 120px app icons for iOS 7 (Retina)

Version 1.1.1

Published on March 09, 2013

supports more file formats, for example JPG, PDF, PSD and TGA
file names of iPad App Icons created by Icon Glue were lower case
improved document handling (now creates an empty document when started)
PDFs always were shown with a resolution of 0 dpi
dragging images often used the wrong window to open the dropped file
the preview image was often pixelated
a few other minor bugfixes (see the bug tracker for more details)

Version 1.1

Published on March 01, 2013

Icon Glue can now also create all Icons for your iOS apps
now creates two iTunesArtwork.png images: 512x512 and 1024x1024
several minor bugfixes

Although IconGlue is being developed with the utmost care and intensively tested before being published, I cannot guarantee the suitability of this program for any purpose not described on this website. No warranty can be assumed for the performance and flawlessness of the software for all usage conditions and cases and for the results produced when utilized by the user. IconGlue is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind.

Please keep in mind that the release of new versions on the App Store takes some time to to pass the review process, so bugfixes will not be immediately available. The current average review time of the App Store (as a rough guide value) is available on appreviewtimes.com.

Which OS X Icons are created by Icon Glue?

.iconset collections created by Icon Glue contain these images:

Image size (72dpi)	File name	Examples of usage
16x16	icon_16x16.png	Spotlight, Finder Sidebar (small)
32x32	icon_16x16@2x.png
32x32	icon_32x32.png	Finder Sidebar (large), Toolbars
64x64	icon_32x32@2x.png
128x128	icon_128x128.png	Dock, Finder Preview
256x256	icon_128x128@2x.png
256x256	icon_256x256.png	Finder Preview
512x512	icon_256x256@2x.png
512x512	icon_512x512.png	CoverFlow
1024x1024	icon_512x512@2x.png

See also: Human Interface Guidelines: App Icon on developer.apple.com
Please note: .icns files created by Icon Glue are only compatible with MacOS X Version 10.6 and newer

Which iOS Icons can be created with Icon Glue?

Icon Glue (version 1.4) creates these iOS App Icons:

Asset	Device	File name	Image size (72dpi)
App Icon	iPhone/iPod	AppIcon40x40@2x.png AppIcon40x40@3x.png	80x80 120x120
	iPad Pro, iPad, iPad mini	AppIcon76x76.png	76x76
	iPad Pro 12,9"	AppIcon83.5@2x	167x167
Optional	iPhone Notification	AppIcon20x20@2x.png AppIcon20x20@3x.png	40x40 60x60
	iPhone Spotlight/Settings	AppIcon29x29.png AppIcon29x29@2x.png	29x29 58x58
	iPhone Settings	AppIcon29x29@3x.png	87x87
	iPhone Spotlight	AppIcon40x40@2x.png AppIcon40x40@3x.png	80x80 120x120
	iPad Notifications	AppIcon20x20.png AppIcon20x20@2x.png	20x20 40x40
	iPad Settings	AppIcon29x29.png AppIcon29x29@2x.png	29x29 58x58
	iPad Spotlight	AppIcon40x40.png AppIcon40x40@2x.png	40x40 80x80

Icon Glue also creates these Apple Watch icons (starting with version 1.3.2):

Verwendung	Gerät	Dateiname	Bildgröße (72dpi)
Home Screen	38mm/42mm	AppleWatch40x40@2x.png	80x80
Short-look Notifications	38mm	AppleWatch86x86@2x.png	172x172
Short-look Notifications	42mm	AppleWatch98x98@2x.png	196x196
Long-look Notifications	38mm	AppleWatch40x40@2x.png	80x80
Long-look Notifications	42mm	AppleWatch44x44@2x.png	88x88
Notification Center	38mm	AppleWatch24x24@2x.png	48x48
Notification Center	42mm	AppleWatch27x27@2x.png	55x55
App Icon	iPhone 4.7"	AppleWatch29x29@2x.png	58x58
App Icon	iPhone 5.5"	AppleWatch29x29@3x.png	87x87

Other icons:

Device	Asset	File name	Image size (72dpi)
All devices	App list in iTunes	iTunesArtwork.png	512x512
All devices	App list in iTunes	iTunesArtwork@2x.png	1024x1024
CarPlay	-	AppIcon120x120.png	120x120

See also:

Apple: Human Interface Guidelines: App Icon
Apple Q&A #1686: App Icons on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch

How can I restore the iconutil and sips utilities from my OS X Installation archive?

iconutil and sips are both command line utilities and – as part of the OS X "BSD subsystem" – automatically installed with OS X. Its only purpose is to create and process so called "Apple Icon Image" files (.icns) and is required by Icon Glue.

Normally this tool is always available on installations of OS X Lion and newer, that's why Icon Glue uses it to ensure all created .icns files and icon sets are valid.

But it theoretically may be that - for whatever reason - this tool is missing on your system, so you have to restore it to use Icon Glue. To do so, you'll need the Installation Archive you've downloaded from the Mac App Store. The BSD subsystem is located inside this bundle and needs to be extracted first:

either download the most recent installation bundle from the Mac App Store or locate the one you've used for this OS X installation
IMPORTANT: this package has to be of the exact same version as your current OS X installation!
do a right-click on this application bundle and choose "Show Package Contents" from the contextual menu
navigate to this subfolder: Contents/SharedSupport/
there you will find a disk image called InstallESD.dmg
double-click this image file to mount it

Inside this disk image you'll find a folder called Packages, which contains the desired installation package called BSD.pkg. You should copy it to somewhere else (for example to your desktop or Downloads folder) before you start its installation by double-clicking it.

After the installation has been finished, these tools should be available here:
/usr/bin/iconutil
/usr/bin/sips

How can I open hidden files?

Since version 1.4 Icon Glue is able to show hidden files and the contents of so called "bundles" in its "open file" dialogs. These options are reachable via the "Options" button inside these dialogs, alternatively the following keyboard shortcut can be used:

CMD + SHIFT + ,

In some casses the dialog is not updated updated immediately. In this case just navigate to another folder - for example to one of the sidebar bookmarks - and then go back to see the desired result.