Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone downloading low-res versions of apps?

upsguy27

upsguy27

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
1,210
19
Utah
I just got a replacement iPhone 4, set it up as stock, no restoring from a backup, and when I synced all my apps some of them, like Epicurious, Engadget, and others are the low-res versions of the app. Yet most of the apps I synced are the high-res versions. I already tried redownloading the apps and while they're downloading they have a high-res icon, but when they finish it goes back to the low-res version.

I also just bought The Sims 3 Ambitions from the app store straight from my phone and when it downloaded, it too was low-res. Could it be possible the App Store is mistaking my iPhone 4 for a device with a 360x480 screen? Has anyone else had this problem?
 
Thought the app store downloads were the whole thing with all versions (iphone, retina, ipad) regardless of the device downloading them; the only difference is when they are installed and run, when the device-specific artwork etc is used.

Edit; Oh. Wait; are you talking about the icons only (just looked at the link...) I guess you've tried the obvious restarting springboard / iphone?
 
Googlyhead said:
Thought the app store downloads were the whole thing with all versions (iphone, retina, ipad) regardless of the device downloading them; the only difference is when they are installed and run, when the device-specific artwork etc is used.

Edit; Oh. Wait; are you talking about the icons only (just looked at the link...) I guess you've tried the obvious restarting springboard / iphone?
Click to expand...

No, I mean the whole app, it's all low res. It looks like an app not updated for the new iPhone, except in the store it is.
 
The app store is pulling the icon off their own servers, which if you open up the iTunes store on the computer you see a big app icon, they just shrink it down for the phone display, which is why it's high res.

The developer had to update the phone app icon to make high res when you install it to the phone.

Hope this makes sense.
 
Ya it's annoying, I use qStatus a lot and it's one of the only apps that I have that have yet to update (it's the only low-res icon on my home screen)
 
MasterTick said:
The app store is pulling the icon off their own servers, which if you open up the iTunes store on the computer you see a big app icon, they just shrink it down for the phone display, which is why it's high res.

The developer had to update the phone app icon to make high res when you install it to the phone.

Hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...

Drewsky87 said:
Ya it's annoying, I use qStatus a lot and it's one of the only apps that I have that have yet to update (it's the only low-res icon on my home screen)
Click to expand...

No... what? Neither of you are understanding what my problem is. I download an app that has been updated for the iPhone 4, NOT JUST THE ICON, and when it downloads for some reason the app uses all of the low res textures and graphics.
 
Is your phone jailbroken? If so, perhaps that messed things up a bit? (Note: This is not to say jailbreaking is wrong or dangerous — just that it perhaps did something to affect the way icons load on your phone.)
 
upsguy27 said:
No... what? Neither of you are understanding what my problem is. I download an app that has been updated for the iPhone 4, NOT JUST THE ICON, and when it downloads for some reason the app uses all of the low res textures and graphics.
Click to expand...

The apps you are downloading aren't high res.
 
japanime said:
Is your phone jailbroken? If so, perhaps that messed things up a bit? (Note: This is not to say jailbreaking is wrong or dangerous — just that it perhaps did something to affect the way icons load on your phone.)
Click to expand...

It used to be, now I'm running a fresh install of 4.2. No it's not the beta, I had a fresh install of 4.1 before and it did the same thing.

Drewsky87 said:
Yep, I just checked and the Engadget app and Epicurious havn't been updated so maybe you're just assuming that they've been updated when they actually haven't.
Click to expand...

No.... they both are, go in the store and look at the icons. So is NFS Shift, and other apps that I've had that used to be high res.
 
I already explained why the icons in the app store are higher res than the app on the phone.

And the Engadget app was updated in February. Before iOS 4 was even available. What's so hard about this?
 
MasterTick said:
I already explained why the icons in the app store are higher res than the app on the phone.

And the Engadget app was updated in February. Before iOS 4 was even available. What's so hard about this?
Click to expand...

Because all of these apps were high res BEFORE. About a month ago, the App Store started downloading new apps low res. I didn't think much about it until I restored and now half my apps are low res. Before I restored, all my apps were all high res. Now some are not, and all future apps I get from the App Store aren't high res either. Why would EA come out with The Sims 3 Ambitions a week ago and not make it high res?
 
I am having this problem also. For example, the Fandango application is high res icon in the App Store - however, the icon on my iphone is low res. I have the iPhone 4.

I deleted the app, and you can CLEARLY see the icon retina image difference in the app store. Once downloaded, it appears to be less quality. I just saw this today.
 
upsguy27 said:
Because all of these apps were high res BEFORE. About a month ago, the App Store started downloading new apps low res. I didn't think much about it until I restored and now half my apps are low res. Before I restored, all my apps were all high res. Now some are not, and all future apps I get from the App Store aren't high res either. Why would EA come out with The Sims 3 Ambitions a week ago and not make it high res?
Click to expand...

So you're saying that if you go and download, say, twitter, facebook, Apple Store app or Apple Remote right now then the icons on your phone will be low-res?
 
I too am annoyed some apps haven't updated for the iPhone 4. However I found a program "iPhone Explorer" that lets you change the icons of 3rd party apps. Pretty cool. I updated the Engadget the App to a high resolution one so it matches the sweet Retina display capabilities. I did a couple others in photoshop like DirecTV's app, and Chase Banks. My icons look so much better than the 57pixel version.s
 
TOOFY said:
I am having this problem also. For example, the Fandango application is high res icon in the App Store - however, the icon on my iphone is low res. I have the iPhone 4.

I deleted the app, and you can CLEARLY see the icon retina image difference in the app store. Once downloaded, it appears to be less quality. I just saw this today.
Click to expand...

All app icons in the App Store appear hi-res regardless of whether there is a retina icon for the app or not. This was a part of 4.1 update.
 
This is what he's talking about:

Image 1: Engadget app appears to be high-res because of app icon in the store. This DOESN"T mean the app has retina support. It just appears that way because developers upload a high-res icon for iTunes App store when they submit an app.

photo1x.png



App on the homescreen: It clearly has no retina icon. Just because the icons on the app store are high-res, it doesn't mean they are retina supported apps.


photo2n.png
 
See how I made my own in photoshop and used iPhone Explorer to replace the lower resolution versions. You don't even have to jailbreak to do this. I replaced MacLife, Tech Crunch, Tuaw, and Engadget.

highicon.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back