Most "app icon generators" online are just glorified image resizers. You drop in a 1024×1024 PNG, they spit out smaller versions of the same file. That's it.

That works fine if your icon is already fully designed. But what if you're in the middle of building an MVP and just need something that looks like a real app?

The problem with placeholder icons

When you create a new iOS or Android project, the default placeholder is a gray grid. It's immediately recognizable as "this app is not finished." If you're demoing to a client, a stakeholder, or running a TestFlight build — that gray grid signals unpolished before anyone taps a single screen.

A real icon takes 5 minutes to set up. There's no reason to ship without one.

What your icon actually needs to output

iOS and Android have strict requirements, and they differ from each other.

iOS expects an AppIcon.appiconset folder with a Contents.json manifest so Xcode knows which file maps to which context.…