Alternate App Icons in iOS

In this tutorial we will discuss approaches to set an Alternative App icon. I will try to keep tutorial crisp and concise. There are multiple reasons why one want to use alternative app icon, some of them are

• Distinction between build type like debug, release or user defined configuration(qa1, prod etc).
• White labeling a software. One code base for multiple applications share same or minor changes in functionality, colors, fonts etc.
• Seasonal greetings like during holiday seasons some companies wants to show different logo than usual like Starbuck show red background logo for Christmas.
• Marketing campaign, anniversary and celebration where companies want to reflect it on their app icon. In this case App initially comes with default logo but user is given with options to select an alter App Icon from given choices.

In this tutorial I will discuss 2 approaches

• Via Scheme
• Programmatically via code.

Via Scheme:

In this route we will create a new scheme and associate a build configuration to it. By default any new app comes with two build configurations Debug and Release. Based on the need one can create more (qa1, pre-prod etc).

To keep things simple and easy to digest I am using the the default build configurations. let’s say my main app icon is Green(🟩) and for testing builds(all builds except App Store) it is Orange[🟧]. One can…