.NET MAUI App Icons & Splash Screens

Common Pitfalls

❌ Android adaptive icon clipping

Android adaptive icons crop to a circular or squircle safe zone. If the foreground fills the canvas, it will be clipped.

<!-- ❌ Single-layer icon — foreground fills entire canvas, gets clipped -->
<MauiIcon Include="Resources\AppIcon\appicon.svg"
          Color="#512BD4" />

<!-- ✅ Composed icon with scaled foreground — stays in safe zone -->
<MauiIcon Include="Resources\AppIcon\appicon.svg"
          ForegroundFile="Resources\AppIcon\appiconfg.svg"
          ForegroundScale="0.65"
          Color="#512BD4" />

❌ Transparent splash screen Color

Some platforms ignore alpha in the splash Color and show black instead.

<!-- ❌ Transparent color — may render as black on some platforms -->
<MauiSplashScreen Include="Resources\Splash\splash.svg"
                  Color="#00FFFFFF" />

<!-- ✅ Opaque color -->
<MauiSplashScreen Include="Resources\Splash\splash.svg"
                  Color="#512BD4" />

❌ Confusing Color vs TintColor

• Color = background fill behind the icon/splash.
• TintColor = recolors the foreground image itself.

Setting only TintColor without visible foreground paths results in a blank icon.

⚠️ SVG rendering issues at build time

Complex SVGs with gradients, filters, or masks may not rasterize correctly via the Microsoft.Maui.Resizetizer MSBuild task.

<!-- Workaround: supply a pre-made PNG and skip resizing -->
<MauiIcon Include="Resources\AppIcon\appicon.png"
          Resize="false" />

⚠️ BaseSize mismatch

If your SVG viewBox doesn't match the desired logical size, set BaseSize explicitly — otherwise the output dimensions may be wrong.

<!-- SVG viewBox is 100x100 but you want 456x456 logical output -->
<MauiIcon Include="Resources\AppIcon\appicon.svg"
          BaseSize="456,456"
          Color="#512BD4" />

Best Practices

1. Use SVG whenever possible — one file, infinite scaling, smaller repo.
2. Set BaseSize explicitly when the SVG viewBox doesn't match the desired logical size.
3. Keep splash images simple — large or complex SVGs slow the build and may render with artifacts.
4. Test on real devices — emulator densities mask icon cropping, especially Android adaptive icon safe zones.
5. Use composed icons for Android — ForegroundFile + ForegroundScale="0.65" ensures the foreground stays within the safe zone.

Quick Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely fix | |---|---| | Icon appears blank or white | Check Color vs TintColor; ensure SVG paths exist | | Splash shows default .NET logo | Verify MauiSplashScreen item is in the .csproj | | Android icon looks clipped | Use composed icon with ForegroundScale="0.65" | | Build error on SVG | Simplify SVG or switch to PNG with Resize="false" | | Icon wrong size on one platform | Set BaseSize explicitly in the .csproj |

Checklist

• [ ] MauiIcon item exists in .csproj with Color set
• [ ] MauiSplashScreen item exists in .csproj with Color and BaseSize
• [ ] Android: using composed icon with ForegroundScale for safe zone compliance
• [ ] SVG sources are simple (no gradients/filters) or PNG fallback with Resize="false"
• [ ] Tested on a real device (not just emulator) for density and cropping