One Logo, Every Platform - Chris

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One Logo, Every Platform<br>How to Ship App Icons in One Go

Chris<br>Jun 06, 2026

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Designing an app icon often starts with one simple file: a logo on a 1024×1024 canvas.<br>The trouble starts after that.<br>A real app does not need just one icon. It needs a complete set for iPhone, iPad, macOS, Android, and the web. Each platform expects different sizes, different filenames, and in some cases different rules.<br>The most common example is transparency.<br>macOS icons can use transparent backgrounds. That is why cut-out artwork, shadows, and floating shapes often look great on desktop.<br>iOS is different. The App Store icon must be a full square image without transparent pixels. You should not pre-round the corners either. The system does that later.<br>So a designer usually ends up with separate exports: one opaque set for iOS and other platforms, and another transparent set for macOS.<br>That works, but it is not a clean workflow.

One Logo, Every Platform<br>One go instead of separate sets

This is where 2ico by beaver tools makes the process easier.<br>Drop your main icon into 2ico, and it creates the full icon package in one go: Apple AppIcon.appiconset, Android launcher icons, adaptive icons, favicons, touch icons, and manifest files.<br>Instead of resizing images by hand or editing Contents.json, you get a ready-to-use icon pack next to your source file.<br>The unique -alpha feature

The real advantage is the -alpha pairing.<br>Use your normal opaque icon as:<br>MyApp.png<br>And the transparent macOS version as:<br>MyApp-alpha.png<br>Drop both files into 2ico at the same time.<br>2ico automatically uses the opaque file for iOS, iPadOS, Android, and web. The -alpha file is used only for the macOS icon slots.<br>That means you can keep the correct platform behavior without building separate icon sets and merging them manually.<br>Bottom line

Cross-platform app icons should not require a pile of manual exports.<br>With 2ico, the normal case is simple: drop in one icon and get the full pack. And when macOS needs transparency while iOS needs opacity, the -alpha feature keeps everything in one go.

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