How do I create launch images for iPhone 6 / 6 Plus Landscape Only Apps?

60
votes

I've got an existing landscape only app that I'm trying to add iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus support for. When I was supporting iOS 6 / 7 I simply used the default-named launch portrait images with a landscape image rotated into portrait (ie. for 4" screens I created a landscape 1136x640 and then rotated to create a 640×1136 launch image.)

I'm trying to get something working for iOS 8 and iPhone 6 / 6+ and have not come up with something that works yet. Here are some things that I have tried:

  1. Follow the pattern for 4" screen launch image convention. I created [email protected] and [email protected] images. This did trick the simulator to run at proper iPhone 6/6+ resolution but when launching, the 4" screen launch image is used, not the new ones I created.
  2. Use an Asset Catalog - I create portrait launch images for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in a LaunchImages Asset, as well as a Landscape one for iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6 Plus works, but iPhone 6 just shows a black screen. (There's no way to create a iPhone 6 landscape launch image in an asset catalog)
  3. Specify UILaunchImages array in Info.plist with entries for all screen sizes (see reference https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/iPhoneOSKeys.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009252-SW28). I get similar results to an Asset Catalog here. I can get iPhone 6 Plus landscape working but not iPhone 6 landscape.
11
iosiphoneios8iphone-6
Starting from Xcode 6 (if I'm not mistaken), you can implement the launch screen ("splash") using either xibs or storyboards. It may not work for every app, but can save a lot of DefaultXXX.png headaches. – Nicolas Miari
Have a same issue. iPhone 6 shows black screen everytime. – flowmachine1
I tried to do .xib launch screen file and it's work, but I dont know how to support multi-resolution of my image for different iphone screen sizes! – flowmachine1
.xib file is only for iOS 8, for different iOS we still need image assets. – flowmachine1
Send bug report to Apple. – Shmidt

11 Answers

75
votes

I found a workaround that makes landscape only launch images work on iOS 8 GM. I ended up using the UILaunchImages array in Info.plist. The trick is to get image to show up that doesn't explicitly support landscape (iPhone 4/4S, iPhone 5/5S/5C, iPhone 6) you need to specify duplicate entries. See my example below. This is for a landscape only phone app that supports both orientations for iPad. iOS 7 will fallback to the default image names.

All iPhone launch images need to be rotated into portrait orientation as usual EXCEPT for the iPhone 6 Plus launch image. It natively supports landscape orientation launch images, so you need to leave it's launch image in landscape orientation.

Here are relevant bits of your Info.plist:

<key>UILaunchImages</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Portrait</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{320, 480}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{320, 480}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-568h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Portrait</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{320, 568}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-568h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{320, 568}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-667h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Portrait</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{375, 667}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-667h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{375, 667}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-736h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Portrait</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{414, 736}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-736h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{414, 736}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-Portrait</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Portrait</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{768, 1024}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>8.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{768, 1024}</string>
    </dict>
</array>
61
votes

The pattern has changed for the iPhone 6 etc

iPhone 6 (750x1334):

Default-375w-667h@2x~iphone.png

iPhone 6 Plus: (1242x2208)

Default-414w-736h@3x~iphone.png

[email protected] (For Landscape)

Note if you support iPad then you must rename your iPad Default images to append ~ipad e.g. Default-Portrait~ipad.png to prevent the 6 plus from picking those up because those override the 3x image.

14
votes

The following steps worked for me:

  1. Add the images to the project (root directory or Resources folder) with the following nomination (I will describe them into the Portrait launchimages): Default.png (3.5 inch), [email protected] (4 inch), [email protected] (iPhone 6), [email protected] (iPhone 6plus).
  2. Go to the target settings, App Icons And Launch Images on the General tab -> Set the Launch Image Source to not use asset catalog ('Do not use asset catalogs').
  3. Remove the LaunchImage asset from your main image asset
  4. Go to the target settings, App Icons And Launch Images on the General tab -> Set the Launch Image Source to use asset catalog
  5. The XCode 6 is going to ask you about image asset migration from the existing images. Just click to 'Migrate'.

And it worked for me for each kind of devices on iOS7, iOS8. Note: If you check the new LaunchImage asset, then you can see it is really strange. It seems to contain only a few image without the images with iPhone6 or iPhone 6plus resolution.

11
votes

For iPhone 6:

750 x 1334 (@2x) for portrait
1334 x 750 (@2x) for landscape

For iPhone 6 Plus:

1242 x 2208 (@3x) for portrait
2208 x 1242 (@3x) for landscape

or you can go through this link it may help you

http://matthewpalmer.net/blog/2014/09/10/iphone-6-plus-launch-image-adaptive-mode/

11
votes

If you are using only Images.xassets "Launch Screen File" should be empty. It helped me.

"Launch screen file" is empty

4
votes

This is a follow-up to @AlexArgo's answer that extends it so that landscape-only, iOS 9-supporting apps show appropriate launch images on iOS 9 iPhones. As with that answer, no asset catalog, storyboard, or xib is required.

Without these additions, the behavior we saw was that launching our landscape-only app on an iOS 9 iPhone displayed the same image as for iOS 8, but the image was rotated 90-degrees clockwise and distorted by being stretched to the opposite-orientation's dimensions.

Pre-fix iOS 9 iPhone launch screen: Pre-Fix iOS 9 iPhone Launch Screen

There are 2 parts to this solution:

  1. Add the below iOS 9 items to your Info.plist's UILaunchImages array before the iOS 8 items from @AlexArgo's answer.

  2. Add the new launch images referenced in the below iOS 9 items (eg. Default-iOS9-568h) to your app. The new launch images are actual "landscape"-orientation images (wider than they are tall), unlike the images referenced by @AlexArgo's iOS 8 items that started as landscape images but were then rotated to the portrait orientation before being added to the app. Note that both sets of images must remain in the app for this solution to work on iOS 8 and 9 simultaneously.

    <key>UILaunchImages</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>9.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-iOS9</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{320, 480}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>9.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-iOS9-568h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{320, 568}</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
        <string>9.0</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
        <string>Default-iOS9-667h</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
        <string>Landscape</string>
        <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
        <string>{375, 667}</string>
    </dict>
    ...(pre-iOS 9 items)...
</array>

Post-fix iOS 9 iPhone launch screen: enter image description here

2
votes

To work with ipad (landscape and portrait mode), you need to add the UILaunchImages~ipad key in your info.plist :

<key>UILaunchImages~ipad</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
            <string>7.0</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
            <string>Default-Landscape</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
            <string>Landscape</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
            <string>{768, 1024}</string>
        </dict>
        <dict>
            <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
            <string>7.0</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
            <string>Default-Portrait</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
            <string>Portrait</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
            <string>{768, 1024}</string>
        </dict>
        <dict>
            <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
            <string>7.0</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
            <string>Default-Landscape</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
            <string>Landscape</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
            <string>{748, 1024}</string>
        </dict>
        <dict>
            <key>UILaunchImageMinimumOSVersion</key>
            <string>7.0</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageName</key>
            <string>Default-Portrait</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageOrientation</key>
            <string>Portrait</string>
            <key>UILaunchImageSize</key>
            <string>{768, 1004}</string>
        </dict>
    </array>
1
votes

For all iPhones except the plus, there is no separate launch screen for landscape-only apps. You set the orientation in the plist as Deepak described, and then you set your portrait launch screen to the rotated version of your landscape launch screen.

This is how it's always been, and the only thing that has changed is that the plus now supports a separate, distinct landscape launch screen. All other devices still only support portrait launch screens regardless of your app's starting orientation.

1
votes

What I've done is change my project to NOT use an asset catalog for launch images, and use the old technique for iOS7 and earlier. This gets the launch images working for iOS7 and earlier.

To get them also working for iOS8 so that you can get the correct resolution, and have your app recognised as being built for the new iPhone 6/+, you also need to create a new LaunchImage XIB and tell Xcode to use that.

What appears to happen is that launching the app on an iOS8 device uses the new XIB technique, and launching it on an iOS7 or earlier device uses the images you've grown to know and love.

This for me seems to work. It's ugly IMO, but it works.

Hope this helps some people.

0
votes

you just add [email protected], then it will fix itself for Landscape as well. I've also a landscape-only app for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and it works without problems!

-4
votes

To start your application in landscape mode, edit your Info.plist file to add the UIInterfaceOrientation key with the appropriate value (UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight or UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft), as bellow code. This provides a hint to the system to set the orientation of the status bar appropriately at launch time.

Listing 1: Starting your application in landscape mode

<key>UIInterfaceOrientation</key>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight</string>

for more info click here