Apple will apply the mask to give your icon rounded corners once you’ve uploaded your artwork. It is required that your icon be submitted with squared corners. This means that when you are designing your app icon in Adobe Illustrator, you do not need to add rounded corners to your design. A mask will be applied on the OS end to give the icon rounded corners. App icons are to be designed with squared corners. This is because Apple applies a mask to each icon that gives it a rounded corner. All app icons in the iOS operating system have rounded corners. One thing you may have noticed about app icons on the iOS platform is that they all have similarly rounded corners. Make sure to check the developer guidelines for the complete list!

This is just a summary of some of the more important guidelines to abide by. Apple advises against using imagery with lots of details that are difficult to make out at small sizes, as well as interface icons that can be misleading.

Avoid using photos, screenshots, and interface elements.

The name of your app will be displayed within the operating system, below the app icon, so it would be redundant to include the name of the app in the icon.

Avoid using words unless they’re part of your logo.

Don’t let your background draw too much attention from the focus point. Use a simple background and avoid transparency.Pick a single idea or concept that you’d like to communicate and focus on that. Trying to communicate too much creates confusion. In summary, here are some best practices for designing app icons for the iOS platform… It is highly recommended that you read through these guidelines before proceeding so that you can be sure that you’re abiding by them when creating your design. Apple has outlined a series of design guidelines for designing app icons for their operating system.

Phone icon illustrator