Google Play Icon Requirements: 512 × 512 PNG Specs and Policy Rules

Quick answer: Google Play requires a 512 × 512 px, 32-bit PNG app icon in the sRGB color space, no larger than 1,024 KB. Upload a full square without rounded corners or a drop shadow; Google Play applies the mask (a 30% corner radius) and the shadow itself. Its metadata policy also bans icon text or badges suggesting ranking, price, promotions or Play programs.

The Play Store icon is a separate asset from the launcher icon inside your app. You upload it in Play Console as part of your store listing, and Google Play shows it on the listing, in search results and in top charts.

Two rows trip people up most often. The first is size: the spec is exactly 512 × 512, so the 1024 px master you made for the App Store has to be exported again at 512, and a 192 px launcher icon scaled up will look soft. The second is shape: if you round the corners yourself, Google Play's mask lands on top of yours and you get odd corners or a thin light halo around the icon.

For a side-by-side of every icon size both stores and both platforms need, see the app icon size guide.

Since 2019, Google Play has used one uniform icon shape for every app. You upload a full-bleed square, and Play applies the rounded mask and a drop shadow dynamically, so icons stay consistent across layouts, form factors and devices. That has three practical consequences:

1. Don't bake in rounded corners. Fill the whole 512 × 512 canvas. Google's own examples mark rounded final assets as the wrong approach.
2. Don't add an outer drop shadow. Shadows and lighting inside the artwork are fine; Google points to Material guidance for keeping them consistent with Android.
3. Use the keyline grid for logos. If your mark has a distinctive shape, such as a circle or a shield, don't stretch it to the edges. Place it on the keyline grid over a full-bleed background.

Illustrated artwork usually works best full bleed. Minimal logos work best centered on the keylines over a solid or gradient background. Icons that were never updated to the 2019 specification were moved to a "legacy mode" and scaled down to 75% (384 px) inside the frame, which is why some older listings still look shrunken.

Google Play screenshots and the feature graphic must be JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha. The app icon is different: Play Console lists it as a 32-bit PNG with alpha, so a transparent icon uploads without an error. That doesn't make it a good idea. Google's icon guidance says transparent areas display the background color of the Google Play UI, which changes between light and dark themes and between surfaces.

Example: a white logo on a transparent background vanishes on a light listing page, and a black logo on transparency vanishes in dark theme. Pick a brand background color with no transparency and let Play apply the shape.

Google Play's metadata policy covers your app title, developer name and icon together. These elements can get a listing rejected, so leave them out of the icon:

• Ranking or performance claims, such as "#1", "App of the year" or "Best of Play".
• Price and promotional information, such as "10% off", "$50 cash back" or a "Free" ribbon.
• Google Play program references, such as "Editor's choice" or "New" badges.
• Misleading symbols, such as a notification dot that suggests new messages when there are none.
• Emojis, emoticons, repeated special characters or ALL CAPS that aren't part of your brand.
• Content unsuitable for a general audience, such as prominently depicted graphic violence.

A quick test: if an element would be false next month, or only makes sense as an ad, it doesn't belong in the icon. Put offers and launch news in your store listing text and promotional content instead.

Two separate assets carry your app's face on Android, and they follow different rules:

Keep both visually identical so people recognize your app after installing it. The adaptive icon has its own geometry (108 × 108 dp layers, roughly the inner 72 dp visible after masking, and a smaller safe zone for the logo), covered in the Android adaptive icon guide.

1. Start from a square master, ideally 1024 × 1024 or vector, so you can export sharp sizes for both stores.
2. Fill the canvas with an opaque background and place the logo on the keyline grid, or go full bleed for illustrated artwork.
3. Export a 512 × 512 PNG in sRGB. If your design tool offers a color profile option, choose sRGB rather than Display P3.
4. Check the file. On a Mac, sips -g pixelWidth -g pixelHeight -g space -g hasAlpha icon-512.png prints its size, color space and whether it has an alpha channel.
5. Keep it under 1 MB. Flat colors compress well; grain, noise and photographic textures inflate PNG files quickly.
6. In Play Console, open your app's store listing under Store presence, replace the app icon and save. The change goes through review before it appears on Google Play.

If you also need launcher assets, a generator that outputs the Play icon, adaptive layers and the monochrome themed layer together saves you from re-exporting each density by hand. ScreenShipper's free icon generator does that in the browser.