iOS : Icon occasionally fails to transfer to device

Question

Does anyone know why this happens? My project uses a local network, so it doesn't make sense to test it on just one device, so I want to install it on 20. The way I do this is I build it once and then load it onto each device using the organizer. However, about every 3 or 4 transfers, the icon fails to transfer with it, and instead I am left with a white icon only on the home screen. If I launch it, and then check the multitask bar, the icon is there (and it is shown faded out on the home screen while the multitask bar is active). If I transfer the app again, the icon comes just fine. The devices are all 32 GB iPad 2.

The dimensions of the icon are correct (72x72 RGB24), and the name of the icon is correct (Icon-72.png). I noticed that there are two entries in my info plist: Icon files and Icon files (iOS 5). My deployment target is 5.0, so should I erase the first one? This program is big and takes a long time to transfer and install so I dislike loading it twice. What can I do?

Psychiatrist

I don't know WHY this happens, so I won't submit my reply as an answer. However, I have had similar issues but removing the image files completely and then adding them again fixed the problem. It did happen several times before the images finally "took" and stopped disappearing. (Upvoting this question for a better solution/explanation) – Clearance

I've seen this happen in the simulator to ALL the apps. Normally, after a few more builds it corrects itself. I've also see it happen on my device with iOS 5.1 installed. I've had it clear up after a restart though. I think this is a bug in system itself and not related to any of our code. – Yawl

@ThomasHajcak Yes, lately I am noticing that as well. Very odd... – Psychiatrist

Might be worth pasting this URL into the Apple bug report – Kiehl

Answer 1

In newer versions of Xcode it doesn't seem to be happening. So I will chalk it up to a quirk in Xcode.

Psychiatrist

Answer 2

The App icons (retina and normal) need to be placed on the root of your application. To fix the problem I found that the best is to start the process from scratch:

1. remove the icons from your project
2. clean the build
3. delete Derived Data (Organizer->Projects) *
4. remove the icons from the app info plist file (Icon files and Icon files iOS5).
5. drag the icons into the Summary App Icon section
6. Build

* I do not know if this step is needed but I do it anyway while troubleshooting.

Judicial

That is what I did in the first place. It only fails to transfer occasionally so it is weird. – Psychiatrist