Favicon Checker
Paste a URL and see the icons that site declares, which of them actually load, and what is missing for browser tabs, iOS home screens and installable web apps.
What the favicon checker looks at
| Check | What it looks for | When it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Icons declared in HTML | <link rel="icon"> in <head> | Only the /favicon.ico fallback is left |
| Browser tab icon loads | A 16x16 or 32x32 icon that returns an image | Tabs show a blank page icon |
| iOS home screen icon | apple-touch-icon at 180x180 or larger | iOS uses a screenshot of the page |
| Web app manifest icons | 192x192 and 512x512 icons in the manifest | Android installs get a low-resolution icon |
| All declared icons load | Every declared href returns an image | Broken links stay silent 404s |
| Sizes match the files | sizes attribute equals the real pixel size | Browsers may pick the wrong file |
| Tab icon resolution | A tab icon of at least 32x32, or an SVG | The icon looks soft on high-density screens |
| Icon Safari can render | A PNG or ICO alongside any SVG | Safari has no icon to draw |
| Safari pinned tab icon | rel="mask-icon" pointing at a single-colour SVG | Pinned tabs fall back to the ordinary tab icon |
Every check below runs on the URL you enter; the pinned-tab check only appears when the site declares a mask-icon.
How to use
- 1Enter the site you want to inspect, for example example.com.
- 2We fetch that page’s HTML and its web manifest, if it links one.
- 3Every declared icon is then loaded in your browser to confirm it exists.
- 4Read the checklist and fix anything reported as missing or broken.
How it works
A favicon can fail in ways that are invisible until someone looks at the markup: a link tag pointing at a 404, an apple-touch-icon that is too small, or a manifest with no 512px icon. Browsers quietly fall back — usually to /favicon.ico, and on iOS to a screenshot of the page — so the site looks fine to its owner. The checker reads what the page declares and then loads each icon, which is the only way to tell a declared icon from a working one.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my favicon not showing up?
The usual causes are an old icon stuck in cache, files that are not where the link tags point, and a browser falling back to /favicon.ico because no icon was declared. Running a URL through this checker shows which of those it is: nothing declared, declared but 404, or present but the wrong size.
Does a site still need favicon.ico?
Not if you declare PNG icons properly, but keep one anyway. Browsers request /favicon.ico on their own, and so do some crawlers and bookmark services, so without it those requests log a 404 even when your declared icons work.
Why does iOS show a screenshot instead of my icon?
iOS only uses a declared apple-touch-icon for the home screen. If the page has none, or the file is smaller than 180x180, iOS falls back to a screenshot of the page instead of scaling up a smaller icon.
Can it check pages that need a login?
No. The checker reads the public HTML the same way a browser that is not signed in would, so anything behind authentication looks like an anonymous visitor sees it.
Is the URL I check stored or shared?
No. The page HTML is fetched once to read its icon tags and is not kept. Icons are then loaded directly by your browser, which is also what lets us measure their real pixel size.