How do some Android Apps get larger than recommended icons?

Question

I followed what I believed to be the Android official icon sizes:

ldpi:  36x36px
mdpi:  48x48px
hdpi:  72x72px
xhdpi: 96x96px

My icon looks the same size as some other icons (the facebook one for example). But others, such as Trip Advisor and Kayak are moderately larger than these 2. What are these other apps doing to make their icons this size? I am fine following the guidelines, but my client is upset that their icon is not as large as these others. I have seen this behavior on several devices, but mostly ones with larger resolutions.

Thanks!

Edit: Removed icon.

Edit 2: I needed to add a 144x144 px icon into my xxhdpi folder. Issue was resolved.

Add 144x144 and 192x192 icons into `drawable-xxhdpi` and `drawable-xxxhdpi` folders — Ken Wolf, Mar 17 '14 at 18:29
@KenWolf Thanks! That was what I needed. If you want to answer longer form, I can mark this as the answer. — PFranchise, Mar 17 '14 at 18:35

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 17 '14 at 18:46

5

You'll need to add a 144x144px icon into drawable-xxhdpi and a 192x192px icon into drawable-xxxhdpi.

It seems that if you do not have these versions on a high-density display, when they are scaled up padding is added.

So the solution is to make sure you have the high-density versions in your build as well.

answered Mar 17 '14 at 18:46

Ken Wolf

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That's actually true for the rest of the icons sizes auto generated. – halxinate Apr 26 '17 at 04:43

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 17 '14 at 18:05

1

Simply because they do not follow the guidelines and android allows you to have Look at http://petrnohejl.github.io/Android-Cheatsheet-For-Graphic-Designers/

You are supposed to have 96 x 96 Canvas size 84 x 84 Actual drawing size

What other apps do is 96 x 96 of non transparent pixels

answered Mar 17 '14 at 18:05

Benoit

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Interesting. But my icon is 96 x 96 px without transparent pixels. But it does seem like there is additional padding when displayed on the phone. I am working on posting an image. – PFranchise Mar 17 '14 at 18:08

How do some Android Apps get larger than recommended icons?

2 Answers2