i was currently in to an app development and i have added a launcher screen in JPEG format which is displayed both in simulator and device .. but does it create any problem with apple approval guidelines ?
Update for iOS 8+: you can now use XIB-based launch assets, which is by far the best approach to reduce file size and re-use the same assets for multiple screens sizes. Also, since XIBs support JPG assets, you can always embed JPGs onto XIB files now too!
The Apple documentation pre iOS 8 (now removed), explicitly stated that only PNG is allowed for the launch image:
App Launch (Default) Images
Every app must provide at least one launch image. This image is
typically in a file named Default.png that displays your app’s initial
screen in a portrait orientation. However, you can also provide other
launch images to be used under different launch conditions. All launch
images must be PNG files and must reside in the top level of your
app’s bundle directory. (Avoid using interlaced PNGs.)
I can't speak to how accurate this document is, but it seems they are pretty specific on this point.
My advice: use 8-bit PNG's, and if your files are getting to big, simply don't include the #2x versions for the retina iPad. The 1x version upscales reasonably well on the retina iPad, and better than bloating your app by 5MB+
Yes ofcourse you can use JPEG image in Launch screen or anywhere in project.NO it absolutely does not create any problems in approval process of Apple.So go ahead and code!
Use a png if you can; not only is png artwork better visually, but iOS is optimised for png files.
While it is true Apple won't reject your app for using a jpeg, your users might.
NO you should not use jpgs
Here are apple recomendations
Note: For all images and icons, the PNG format is recommended.
The standard bit depth for icons and images is 24 bits (8 bits each for red, green, and blue), plus an 8-bit alpha channel.
You do not need to constrain your palette to web-safe colors. Although you can use alpha transparency in the icons you create for navigation bars, toolbars, and tab bars, do not use it in application icons.
You can only use PNG files for the launch images. Here is the proof.
Yes , you can choose any one from JPEG/PNG.There is no guidelines from apple to choose type of image.
For more information you can follow apple launch image guidelines.
but I assume that PNGs are more preferable because Apple seems to use PNGs virtually everywhere in iPhone OS.
Related
If i want my application to be compatible with the Retina display, am i obliged to recreate all my images by doubling their sizes? even the icon?
if you will not use high resolution images your images will look pixelated/blurr.So better to use high res images as well.Some Key points are:
Displaying graphics depending on the device model can be done by duplicating image files and adding an ‘#2x’ suffix. So, when the normal image file is named ‘button.png’, the hi-res version should be ‘button#2x.png’.
You don’t need any additional code for this. In Interface Builder or your code, assign the normal version (without the suffix) to an object. The same goes for the application icon. The resolution of the 2x icon should be 114 by 114 pixels. You will need to add a separate ‘Icon’ property in the Info.plist file for this icon.
If for some reason you do want to perform a check in your code, you can do so by checking the scale factor of the display. Older models will return a scale factor of 1.0, while the iPhone 4 will return 2.0. You can check this with:
float factor = [UIScreen mainScreen].scale;
Depending on the type of application you’re developing further optimizations can be made to utilize the new retina display the best you can.
A very good information here
hope it help you :)
You're not obligated, it just will look very pixelated if you don't.
As for the icon, I believe you are obligated to provide multiple sizes when submitting to the AppStore.
Maybe you'll want to take a look at iRetiner.
You could also check this previous stackoverflow thread : how to set image for ipad application that support retina display
A summary of the icons and what is required can be found in the human interface guidelines. I highly recommend providing high resolution artwork for the retina display even though it is not required. Your default now should be to design artwork at the higher resolution, then scale down for older devices. I doubt Apple would choose to highlight an application as new and noteworthy if it looks pixelated on the latest devices.
I have a universal app which supports both orientations and all resolutions, so there are a bunch of possible splash images (iphone & ipad, portrait & landscape (left/right), retina & std display). But there is no sense to show anything except the background image as a splash image for my app. And the background is just a simple repeated pattern, so ideally I just specify a little 10x10 pixels image and tile the screen with it.
But as I understand it's not possible, and I need to provide a bunch of pre-rendered full-screen images. So I wonder what is the minimum number of images that is required for a Universal app? Will just one Default.png be enough?
In your case i would place 4 Default png's.
And yes. You need to pre-fill your 10x10 tiles in a (or multiple) big default.png files.
two for iPad (iPad / iPad Retina) and two for iPhone (iPhone / iPhone retina).
You need to set the base name in your app plist.
Look for Launch image (iPad) then enter there DefaultiPad (or something like this). Then you should place a DefaultiPad.png and a DefaultiPad#2x.png within your project resources.
Do the same for iPhone.
Look after Launch image (iPhone) in your app plist and do the same with a different base name.
Update 1:
You can also add Default.pngs for each device orientation.
Easiest way is to go with [Basename]-Landscapen.png and [Basename]-Portrait.png.
So in the case above you can place your files with the filename DefaultiPad-Landscape.png and DefaultiPad-Portrait.png
But this will also increase your binary filesize which – maybe for your 10x10 tile case - will not be worth doing so.
Because you are asking for the minimum:
Every app must provide at least one launch image. This image is typically in a file named Default.png that displays your app’s initial screen in a portrait orientation. However, you can also provide other launch images to be used under different launch conditions.
Source: App Launch (Default) Images
However, I also would suggest to use at least 4 (iPad + iPhone each in normal and #2x).
The minimum number you can provide is zero. If your app is quick to launch, you don't need to supply one. If your app is slow to launch, make it faster by putting heavyweight stuff on a background thread and get the UI (or a plain view with your tiled pattern) on screen as fast as possible.
You can't do it by just providing a small image and having it tile, you have to provide an actual, pre-made image for everything you want to support. In your case:
4 images for iPad (Landscape, Portrait, Landscape 2x, Portrait 2x)
2 images for iPhone (Portrait, Portrait 2x)
Left and right are the same image, unless you do something different with those orientations. Upside-down is the same too.
If you think that's a lot, wait until you see how many icons you need.
More info is at App Launch (Default) Images
I have a few questions about screen resolution, that I'm not clear on. These questions assume they my app will be running on iOS 4.0 and up, and on either iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4.
Should the size of the splash image (default.png) be (960x640) or (480x320)?
Should the size of the app icon (Icon.png) be (57x57) or (114x114)?
What about other graphics that I may use in my app, such a graphic that represents a button? Should I always create these images for the higher resolution, and have the app scale them down? In other words, if I want a button image to be displayed on the 3GS that is 200x40 - should I create the image at 400x80, so that iPhone 4 can take advantage of it?
Thanks!
A good guide to this can be found here: http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/iphone/preparing-your-iphone-app-for-higher-resolutions/
In general you just create 2 sets of images. Your original and then a new one twice as big with #2x in the name. So for image.png at size 32x32 you would have one that is twice the resolution called image#2x.png at size 64x64. In your app just always use the image.png in Interface Builder and when loading in code.
There is no need to detect the device. These images will automatically be picked up by the OS and subbed in as necessary.
Provide both sizes (960x640 & 480x320) for the splash image using the #2x method described above
Provide both icons (57x57 & 114x114) using the #2x method
For our apps we use a combination of the #2x images and just Scaling the large images. (More information on this can be found in the above article) We use the #2x images for bar buttons, icons, etc. But for UIImageViews we often just use the Scaling. There can be a performance hit for doing this, but for most apps I'd say this is negligible. The savings in file size sometimes make scaling the only option.
Related Questions:
Retina/non-retina images in UIImageView
Making an app Retina Display friendly
You need to provide both if you want them to look nice. For example,
Default.png -> (480x320)
Amd
Default#2x.png -> (960x640)
I'm developing my software, all the ui is drawn based on 480x320 size screen, can my software run on iphone4 without any modification?
Yes it can run with no modification.
If you'd like to create "retina" assets you can create all of your images at the double resolution and include copies with '#2x' appended to the filename in your Application bundle. The iPhone will automatically load the correct images.
Example:
existing image - myImage.png
new up-sampled image - myImage#2x.png
Yes, but any images sized for the earlier iPhone models will look chunky compared to custom-designed iPhone 4 images.
Both the iPhone 4 and older devices are 320x480 points in size, which is the coordinate system that Core Graphics and UIKit uses. So your software will run the same.
Only the automatic scaling between your bitmaps and the display will be different. If you have bitmapped content or images, you can optionally provide #2x sized versions that will look somewhat smoother without the 2X scaling on iPhone 4 devices. This is nice, but optional.
What are the specifications for the icons required by Apple for a custom iPhone application published?
57x57, PNG, No Transparency, No Layers, 72 PPI
512x512, TIFF or JPEG, No Transparency, No Layers, 72 PPI
Note: iPhone OS applies rounded corners, optionally shine, and other effects
Also have a large version of your logo with the name of the application in case Apple contacts you needing a version for marketing purposes.
The icon should be a 57x57 pixel PNG. The PNGs generated by Apple have a PPI of 72.01 so I guess something in that range will work fine. Don't have a very high PPI else images are not rendered properly.
If you want to use a custom icon and not let the iPhone to apply the gloss to your icon, add a key to info.plist called UIPrerenderedIcon (is a boolean value) and make it checked.
When submitting the app to the app store, you will need a 512x512 pixel version of your app's icon (this one in jpeg or tiff format) and at least one screenshot of your app. You can have additional 4 screenshots of the app.
EDIT
Now the specs for icon (to be submitted in iTunes connect) and the app icons have changed. The icon to be submitted to itunesconnect must be 1024x1024 px.
For the app icons, you can find details here - http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/App-RelatedResources/App-RelatedResources.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH6-SW1
Also, make sure the icon files are NON-INTERLACED PNG files. Recently one of our apps' binary was marked invalid since one of the app icon files was an interlaced PNG.
From here:
To ensure that your icon can take advantage of these visual enhancements, provide an image in PNG format that:
Measures 57 x 57 pixels, with 90 degree corners (if the image measures other than this size, iPhone OS scales it)
Does not have any shine or gloss
Name your icon file Icon.png and place it at the top level of your application bundle.
As of May 2012, the official Apple Docs include this chart:
This describes the icons that must be visible in the app. The docs also say the file must be jpeg or png but doesnt specify a dpi.
You must also include a larger copy for the page in iTunes. Again, from the apple docs
full docs available here.
The new retina display is at 114 x 114 for icons.
To submit app to iTunes store you need to have following sizes:
57x57
72x72
114x114
228x228
512x512
Reference: http://ios-funda.blogspot.in/2013/02/all-icon-size-needed-for-app-store.html
The app store is looking for a 512x512 icon as well (not sure the PPI). Best bet is just to design it as vector then you can easily resize and export it as whatever.
This blog post describes all icon sizes and where are they used.
57x57 pixels png... you can choose via code to apply or not the gloss effect.
I made a complete list of the ten (10) needed app icon files in my blog post, iOS App Icons, Listed and Summarized . My information is current as of iOS 3, 4, 5, and 6. Two links take you to the crucial Apple documentation.
I show three tables, each listing the icon files needed for:
Handheld devices (iPhone, iPod touch)
Tablet devices (iPad)
iTunes & App Store
Note: iOS ignores the PPI (Pixels Per Inch) of icon images. You may
author your icon images at any PPI but their width and height, as
measured in pixels, must match the values in the tables below.
This is coming from Apple Technical Q&A QA1686 and contains also information about sizes and files types.