Search code examples
htmlhyperlinkapple-touch-icon

Are apple-touch-icons always loaded by the browser?

I suppose the answer to this question is a big NO, but, just to be sure, I ask here:

Are icons like <link rel="apple-touch-icon* always loaded by browsers (I mean, also not iOS browsers)?

Solution

  • No. Browsers only load Apple Touch icons on first load.

    Protocol to test this: I created two pages with the help of RealFaviconGenerator (full disclosure: I'm the author of this site), almost identical, and served them through Apache. page1.html contains:

    <html>
    <head>
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="57x57" href="/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="114x114" href="/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="72x72" href="/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="144x144" href="/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="60x60" href="/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="120x120" href="/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="76x76" href="/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png">
        <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png">
        <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196">
        <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon-160x160.png" sizes="160x160">
        <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96">
        <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16">
        <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32">
        <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#2b5797">
        <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="/mstile-144x144.png">
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>Page 1</h1>
    </body>
</html>

    And page2.html is the same one with a different h1.

    Then, I visited page1.html, then page2.html and checked Apache's log to check HTTP accesses. Here is what I found.

    Windows Chrome 36.0.1985.125 m

    Navigate to Page 1

    "GET /page1.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.125 Safari/537.36"
"GET /favicon-32x32.png HTTP/1.1" 304 179 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.125 Safari/537.36"
"GET /favicon-16x16.png HTTP/1.1" 304 179 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.125 Safari/537.36"

    Navigate to Page 2

    "GET /page2.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.125 Safari/537.36"

    So Chrome loads some favicons on first load but do not load the icons again when it visits another page that references the same pictures.

    Android Chrome 36.0.1.1985.128

    Navigate to Page 1

    "GET /page1.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.4.2; SM-G900F Build/KOT49H) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.128 Mobile Safari/537.36"
"GET /favicon-160x160.png HTTP/1.1" 200 5703 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.4.2; SM-G900F Build/KOT49H) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.128 Mobile Safari/537.36"
"GET /apple-touch-icon-144x144.png HTTP/1.1" 200 9889 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.4.2; SM-G900F Build/KOT49H) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.128 Mobile Safari/537.36"

    Navigate to Page 2

    "GET /page2.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.4.2; SM-G900F Build/KOT49H) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/36.0.1985.128 Mobile Safari/537.36"

    Same behavior.

    iOS7 Safari

    Navigate to page 1

    "GET /page1.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 7_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/537.51.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0 Mobile/11D167 Safari/9537.53"

    In other words, Safari does not load any icon when browsing. This makes sense: it does not display any icon in its interface.

    Click the "Share" button

    (to display the "Add to home screen" option)

    "GET /apple-touch-icon-152x152.png HTTP/1.1" 200 10313 "-" "MobileSafari/9537.53 CFNetwork/672.1.13 Darwin/14.0.0"

    Definitely makes sense.

    Navigate to page 2

    "GET /page2.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 7_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/537.51.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0 Mobile/11D167 Safari/9537.53"

    Click the "Share" button

    Nothing happens. Again, this is normal, the icon was already loaded.

    Android Firefox 31.0

    Navigate to Page 1

    "GET /page1.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Android; Mobile; rv:31.0) Gecko/31.0 Firefox/31.0"
"GET /favicon-196x196.png HTTP/1.1" 200 13393 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Android; Mobile; rv:31.0) Gecko/31.0 Firefox/31.0"

    Navigate to Page 2

    "GET /page2.html HTTP/1.1" 200 662 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Android; Mobile; rv:31.0) Gecko/31.0 Firefox/31.0"