Maintain app icon contrast when switching to grayscale mode

  1. Context & Issue
  • I am developing an iOS application.
  • My app icon uses colors that are relatively close to each other.
  • When the user enables Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → Grayscale (or similar modes), the icon becomes harder to distinguish because it loses color and contrast is reduced.
  1. Goal

When iOS switches to grayscale mode, I want the app icon to maintain good contrast between its elements so it remains clearly recognizable.

  1. What I’ve tried
  • Redesigned the icon with more contrasting colors.
  • Added strokes/outlines, but it still doesn’t look much better in grayscale.
  • Researched how iOS renders app icons when grayscale is enabled, but couldn’t find a way to override or provide an alternative icon.
  1. Specific questions
  • Is there any API or mechanism in iOS that allows providing a different version of the app icon when the user has grayscale mode enabled?
  • If there’s no direct API, are there any best practices for designing iOS app icons to ensure good contrast when converted to grayscale?
  • Do we have to design grayscale version for app icon?

Thank you!

Maintain app icon contrast when switching to grayscale mode
 
 
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