Is it possible to include a second app icon to be used on macOS versions prior to 11.0 Big Sur?

Question

Created Jul ’20

Replies 7

Boosts 0

Views 1.5k

Participants 6

I'm updating my app icon to match the new style used in Big Sur, and I'm wondering if it's possible to include an alternate icon for use on older macOS versions so that the app will still look at home next to their built-in app icons?

Answered by dazboj in 641358022

I've had it confirmed in my bug report that Apple will not support this:

Thank you for your feedback, it is noted. Engineering has determined that there are currently no plans to address this issue, because there are no plans to support non-Big Sur icons.

You can close this feedback by clicking on the "Close Feedback" link. Thank you.

Boost

Answer 1

Etresoft OP

Jul ’20

No. You can change your DockTile dynamically, while the app is running. So you could ship a regular icon, but show a rectangle version while running on Big Sur.

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Answer 2

aonez OP

Jul ’20

I noticed Big Sur default apps have the old icon (Catalina) in the resources. This icon is present both in the icns form and in the Assets.car. Also in this Assets.car file is present the new and rounded icon, that shows in Big Sur. If you copy/paste one of those apps to Catalina you'll see the old icon though.

So it might be possible and makes sense they give us this possibility.

2

Answer 3

vslavik OP

Aug ’20

Just add AppIcon-1016.icns file in the app bundle.

See Steve Troughton-Smith's discovery here: twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1278364051572232192 (can't make it a link: "This URL can't be included in your post"…).

1

Answer 4

fedo OP

Aug ’20

@vslavik: While this works, wouldn't it mean that the Mac App Store still shows the old icon, though?

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Answer 5

fedo OP

Sep ’20

This solution ceased to work with the latest beta. Does anyone know an alternative? I really don't want to display my Big Sur app icons in previous macOS versions. Changing the DockTile is suboptimal as it only works after the app has launched, of course.

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Answer 6

dazboj OP

Oct ’20

I'm also wanting to do this and the previous method seems to have been removed.
I have filed a Feedback suggestion report FB8768688 and suggest everyone else does too.

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Answer 7

dazboj OP

Oct ’20

Accepted Answer

I've had it confirmed in my bug report that Apple will not support this:

Thank you for your feedback, it is noted. Engineering has determined that there are currently no plans to address this issue, because there are no plans to support non-Big Sur icons.

You can close this feedback by clicking on the "Close Feedback" link. Thank you.

1