How to embed a high-resolution icon in a non-Amazon-AppStore Kindle Fire app?

Asked 16/11, 2011 at 22:49 Answered 6/3, 2013 at 8:6

So it looks like the Kindle Fire supports sideloading, which is great, and supports it even without the use of ADB - a user can download an APK and tap on the "download complete" notification just as on any normal Android device.

However, when I actually try loading my app this way it looks really crappy in the Kindle's app launcher screen - it's kind of low-resolution in the "Apps" screen and it's extremely low-resolution as a recently-opened item on the home screen. It appears to be using the MDPI version of the icon in both places even though HDPI and XHDPI versions of it are available, but even one of those would look fuzzy next to the icons for the built-in gallery app / book covers / etc.

So: does anybody know where in my app (an extra manifest line, maybe?) I can embed a high-resolution app icon / book cover / etc so that the Kindle will use that instead of a crappily-upscaled MDPI icon?

Dhiman answered 16/11, 2011 at 22:49 Comment(1)

Well, at 169dpi this device is considered MDPI, no? Other than that, I don't really know where it's trying to get the large icons. – Ortegal 16/11, 2011 at 23:8

Note: the following info is now outdated.

Apparently they're doing something funky. From the docs:

How do I get a high-resolution icon for my app to display on Kindle Fire?

The icons on Kindle Fire are dynamically pulled from the Amazon Appstore for Android. Side-loaded apps cannot use this feature. Once you've submitted your app and it's live in the Amazon Appstore, your app's appropriate icon will automatically be displayed.

Ortegal answered 16/11, 2011 at 23:12 Comment(10)

Thanks, hadn't seen that. But weirdly enough, when I tried simply replacing the MDPI application icon with a 200x200 pixel version, it actually worked correctly - looked nice and high-res in both places. So the question is how to give that version to the Kindle while giving the normal-sized icon to everybody else... – Dhiman 17/11, 2011 at 3:35

Yeah, I assumed that would work. Well, I think you could provide just one really high res icon (in XHDPI or something) and let Android downscale it. – Ortegal 17/11, 2011 at 15:13

hmm... have you tried since the latest kindle update? For some reason, I am trying the same with a 200x200 (also have tried a 512x512) size icon and I can't get it to show... even when I create a xhdpi folder. Did they disable this 'sideloading of high res app icons' in the latest update? Otherwise, any idea what I am doing wrong? – Succor 17/12, 2011 at 0:21

It took a while for my high-res icon to finally start displaying. There seems to be a cache for them somewhere. – Ortegal 17/12, 2011 at 4:17

I don't think that xhdpi is relevant here... the Fire is actually an mdpi device. You can verify that in code. – Bragdon 27/1, 2012 at 4:41

I got it to work by putting 200x200 icon in the mdpi folder. For this to work, i had to restart the kindle, look like there is a caching issue. – Crystacrystal 30/1, 2012 at 8:30

Just more info: If you’re loading apps through ADB or another method, you may have noticed that the app icons on the home screen are small and fuzzy compared to the apps and books that show up through the Kindle Fire interface. As it turns out, the graphics for apps and media purchased through Amazon are loaded from a web service rather than referenced from the manifest file. So, once you get your application on the Amazon Appstore, and download it via the store, your application icon graphics appear correctly. – Inelastic 30/5, 2012 at 9:49

Putting 200x200px icon to your mdpi folder does the job but it get's cropped on the 1st gen Kindle Fire – Buzzell 9/1, 2013 at 15:31

The doc you linked to does not contain the Q+A you quoted; it's not in the Wayback Machine either. – Acosta 9/12, 2013 at 21:17

Yup, it's highly likely that this information is now out of date. I have not toyed with the Kindle in quite a while. – Ortegal 9/12, 2013 at 22:6

Just to make you aware and remind :

The Carousel icon on the kindle fire should be as referred to the Amazon Guide Lines :

Kindle Fire (1st Gen) : 322x322 px

Kindle Fire :  365x365 

Kindle Fire HD 7" : 425x425

Kindle Fire HD 8.9 : 675x675

But as per android standards , Launcher Icon Size is non rather than :

ldpi (120 dpi) (Low density screen)             36 x 36 px 
mdpi (160dpi)(Medium density screen)            48 x 48 px 
hdpi (240 dpi)(Highdensity screen)              72 x 72 px 
xhdpi (320 dpi) (Extra-high density screen)     96 x 96 px

Dextro answered 6/3, 2013 at 8:6 Comment(2)

What filename does the carousel icon have? – Figureground 6/4, 2013 at 3:32

It is grabbed from the launcher icon itself as referenced by any name say(ic_launcher.apng) in our manifest . – Dextro 8/4, 2013 at 5:6

Working fine for me but had to change the version number of the app. so that the Kindle Fire would start using the new icons otherwise it kept using the old ones. To cover as many Android devices as possible I used the following icon sizes: I believe the Fire uses 512 and 114 16X16 32x32 36x36 48x48 72x72 114x114 128x128 512x512

Luing answered 8/4, 2012 at 12:44 Comment(0)

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