Use the new asset catalog flag in Xcode 26 so we can preserve original app icon look pre iOS-26

[data-sync-user]

Xcode 26 Betas originally did not provide a flag to preserve the original flat icon look (i.e. falling back to .xcasset catalog) for same-name App Icons inside the project. This led to a border / liquid glass effect being applied to a “flattened” version of the app icon for < iOS 18.

Example: Not ideal

!Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 12.09.44 PM.png|width=69,alt="Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 12.09.44 PM.png"!

Example: Desired appearance

!Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 12.10.16 PM.png|width=90,alt="Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 12.10.16 PM.png"!

Note that the device is displaying icons in Dark mode (from long pressing the iOS home screen > Edit). You should not be able to see the shine anymore after we use the new flag.

Asset Catalog Other Flags: --enable-icon-stack-fallback-generation=disabled

Read more here:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79686691/how-do-i-add-icon-composer-glass-app-icons-to-my-existing-pre-ios-26-app-and-su

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[data-sync-user]

➤ Isabella commented:

QA Notes: Please test how the app icon looks on each supported iOS version, for iPhone and iPad.

You can switch icon modes with long-pressing the iOS homescreen until the icons jiggle, then going to EDIT in the top left, then selecting Customize.

!customize.png|width=282,alt="customize.png"!

To Test:

• iOS 26: Expect to see our iOS 26 Liquid Glass app icon version. Note shadows on the fox for Light, shine on the rounded border for Dark, and a different clear/tinted look from iOS 18 and older.

LightDarkClearTinted!26light.png|width=86,alt="26light.png"!!26darkalt.pngwidth=101,alt="26darkalt.png"!!26clear.png|width=89,alt="26clear.png"!!26tinted.png|width=93,alt="26tinted.png"!

• iOS 15, 16, 17, and 18: Expect to see our old flat icons, the same ones before iOS 26 was released. No shadows on the fox in Light, no shine/borders on Dark, etc. A low-fidelity simple fox icon is shown when using Tinted.

LightDarkTinted!18light.png|width=81,alt="18light.png"!!18dark.png|width=94,alt="18dark.png"!!18tinted.png|width=85,alt="18tinted.png"!

• Last point: Please report what happens on iOS 26 devices when selecting an alternate color icon from Settings > App Icon and switching to Clear and Tinted. We expect to see iOS 18 behaviour since the alternative icons do not use the liquid glass effect. I’m curious to know if there’s a shine / border glass effect applied to the icon anywhere.

LightDarkClearTinted!26altlight.pngwidth=86,alt="26altlight.png"!!26altdark.pngwidth=76,alt="26altdark.png"!!26altclear.pngwidth=87,alt="26altclear.png"!!26alttinted.pngwidth=92,alt="26alttinted.png"!

[data-sync-user]

➤ Alina Moldovan commented:

Verified the above scenario using V9000 (62414) build

• iOS 26 Results (iPhone 16 Pro)

LightDarkClearTinted!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.10.24 AM.pngwidth=291,alt="Screenshot 20251006 at 2.10.24 AM.png"!!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.10.57 AM.pngwidth=291,alt="Screenshot 20251006 at 2.10.57 AM.png"!!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.11.27 AM.pngwidth=291,alt="Screenshot 20251006 at 2.11.27 AM.png"!!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.12.05 AM.pngwidth=291,alt="Screenshot 20251006 at 2.12.05 AM.png"!

• iOS 18.6.2 Results (iPhone 15+)

LightDarkClearTinted!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.19.01 AM.jpegwidth=304,alt="Screenshot 20251006 at 2.19.01 AM.jpeg"!!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.18.22 AM.jpegwidth=300,alt="Screenshot 20251006 at 2.18.22 AM.jpeg"!|!Screenshot 20251006 at 2.19.56 AM.jpeg|width=298,alt="Screenshot 202510-06 at 2.19.56 AM.jpeg"!

• iOS 16.0.3 Results (iPhone 14+)

LightDarkClearTinted!IMG_A0BC0FBC49C71.jpeg|width=302,alt="IMG_A0BC0FBC49C71.jpeg"!|-

• iOS 15.7 Results (iPhone 6s)

LightDarkClearTinted!IMG_7704A8E449EC1.jpeg|width=307,alt="IMG_7704A8E449EC1.jpeg"!|-Related to the last point please see the video below. To me, it looks like we have a shine / border glass effect applied to the icon.

[^ScreenRecording_10-06-2025 02-44-17_1.MP4]

[data-sync-user]

➤ Isabella commented:

Hi Alina Moldovan , thank you for all the screenshots, this looks great!

I actually think the shine applied on iOS 26 to the alternate app icons is the new standard behaviour. It looks ok to me, Apple just applies it automatically even though we didn’t customize the assets yet. Now the icon seems to match all the others. So no need to file a bug ticket in my opinion. 🙂

[data-sync-user]

➤ Alina Moldovan commented:

Marking bug as QA Verified as per previous comments.