BraveCLHow to prepare and inspect app icons on Mac
Turn square artwork into iOS, macOS and watchOS icon files, then inspect a generated Mac icon at its exact pixel size.
- What you'll achieve
- You will have a prepared AppIcon.appiconset with an inspectable macOS PNG.
- What you need
- IconSizeS 5.0 installed on a Mac.
- One square artwork image. The illustrated example uses a 1024 × 1024 PNG.
IconSizeS builds target-specific icon files from one square image. This guide follows a real captured session: import artwork, choose Apple platforms, prepare the icon set, and inspect the exact Mac output before you export it.
1.Open your source artwork
Select Open Artwork... and choose a square icon image. The example uses the 1024 × 1024 qr-neon.png file. The preview shows the artwork for the selected Apple platforms.
IconSizeS shows imported qr-neon artwork with iOS and macOS preview tiles. 2.Choose the Apple platforms
Under Platforms, keep iOS and macOS selected, then select watchOS to include watch icons. The preview updates to show all three targets.
The Platforms list has iOS, macOS and watchOS enabled, with three icon previews. 3.Prepare the icon files
Choose Prepare candidate to create the target-specific files. Once the preparation and inspection finish, the Artifacts section lists AppIcon.appiconset and AppIcon.icns, and the center shows a generated icon.
Prepared AppIcon.appiconset and AppIcon.icns artifacts with the icon-marketing-1024@1x.png preview. 4.Inspect the generated Mac icon
In Artifacts, select AppIcon.appiconset/icon-mac-512@2x.png. Check the file heading and its 1024 × 1024 encoded dimensions. Use Actual Pixels if you want to examine the icon at its real pixel scale before exporting.
Prepared Mac icon file icon-mac-512@2x.png selected for inspection at 1024 × 1024 pixels.
After the last step
The selected icon-mac-512@2x.png file measures 1024 × 1024 pixels, with the inspection report ready.
Tips
Choose only the Apple platforms your project needs; the preview updates with your selections.
Review individual files in the Artifacts navigator before using Export.
Use Actual Pixels to inspect pixel-level detail in a generated representation.
Watch outPreparing the icon set is not the same as exporting it; use Export separately when you are satisfied with the prepared files.
