How to retrieve standard iPhone tabitem images?

iphone icons tabbar
BlueDolphin picture BlueDolphin · Jan 14, 2009 · Viewed 18.4k times · Source

I would like to use the standard icons like search, download, contact, setup, and list. Most of them existing in app like App Store, but I am not sure how to retrieve them.

Thanks

Answer

philfreo picture philfreo · Jul 14, 2009

See here: http://www.alexcurylo.com/blog/2009/01/03/extracting-sdk-icons/

For example, let’s decide we would like to have a camera image on one of our tabs. So we dig through the simulator resources, which are found at

/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator2.0.sdk/System/Library

and we find one that looks like what we want, inside the above at

/PrivateFrameworks/PhotoLibrary.framework/CameraIcon.png

But wait, it’s not quite that easy! All the allegedly PNG images in the simulator SDK are actually in Apple’s wacky iPhone variation of the PNG format, so we have to deal with that somehow...

[UPDATE: Or, on the other hand, using a camera icon for a camera-related function could actually in Apple’s eyes turn out to be a big bundle of FAIL. So be careful with how you use these icons, kids!]

Related questions

iPhone 4 Tab Bar Icons

I'm having some issues getting high resolution tab bar icons displaying correctly for iPhone 4. Basically I'm using the Apple guidelines of 96 x 64 for high resolution icons, but when I do this, my icon looks like it is being scaled many …

Read More
iPhone App Icons - Exact Radius?

I'm trying to create the icon for my iPhone app, but don't know how to get the exact radius that the iPhone's icons use. I've searched and searched for a tutorial or a template but can't find one. I'm sure …

Read More
What size should apple-touch-icon.png be for iPad and iPhone?

Are Apple touch icons bigger than 60x60 supported, and if so, what dimensions should I use for the iPad and iPhone?

Read More