Delivering Mobile Apps

Applies only to Mobile Apps

Use Custom Splash Screens

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By default, mobile applications have a custom splash screen displaying the main color defined in the app creation wizard. This splash screen is displayed after the Operating System loads your app (black screen) and after the WebView finishes loading the content (white screen).

It is possible to change the look of your app even before it is fully loaded by customizing the native splash screen. This way you make sure that the end-user has a fluid experience from the moment they open your app by replacing the black to white screen transition with an image of your choice.

Before you start

To use a custom image as the native splash screen of your app, you need to create PNG versions of your custom image for all the Android/iOS splash screen sizes.

Customizing the native splash screen

To use a custom image as the native splash screen of your app:

Create a ZIP file containing all the PNG versions of your custom image for all the Android/iOS splash screen sizes.
In the Data tab of the main Module of your app, right-click the Resources folder and import the ZIP file as a Resource.

Leave the Deploy Action property as Do Nothing.
In the properties of the app module add the Splash Screens JSON template to the Extensibility Configurations property:
In the JSON template that you added to the Extensibility Configurations property, replace <path_to_resources_file> with the name of the ZIP file and replace each one of the <path_to_splash_screen_image>.png with the corresponding splash screen PNG image location inside the ZIP file. After this step, you should get a JSON similar to the following:

Ensure that you define the splash screen and the PNG image path for all sizes and densities available, otherwise, you'll get an error when generating your mobile application.
To make this change available to users, publish and generate a new mobile application package and distribute it.

Devices screen sizes and densities

For Android

Width (px)	Height (px)	Density
240	360	port-ldpi (120 dpi)
320	480	port-mdpi (160 dpi)
480	720	port-hdpi (240 dpi)
640	960	port-xhdpi (320 dpi)
960	1440	port-xxhdpi (480 dpi)
1280	1920	port-xxxhdpi (640 dpi)
360	240	land-ldpi (120 dpi)
480	320	land-mdpi (160 dpi)
720	480	land-hdpi (240 dpi)
960	640	land-xhdpi (320 dpi)
1440	960	land-xxhdpi (480 dpi)
1920	1280	land-xxxhdpi (640 dpi)

For iOS

For iOS, the splash screen sizes depend on the Mobile Apps Build Service (MABS) version that you use to generate your mobile app packages.

MABS 4.0 or later

If you are using MABS 4.0 or later, you must use splash screen sizes based in launch storyboard images.

Width (px)	Height (px)	Default Filename
2732	2732	Default@2x~universal~anyany
1278	2732	Default@2x~universal~comany
1334	750	Default@2x~universal~comcom
2208	2208	Default@3x~universal~anyany
2208	1242	Default@3x~universal~anycom
1242	2208	Default@3x~universal~comany
1334	1334	Default@2x~iphone~anyany
750	1334	Default@2x~iphone~comany
1334	750	Default@2x~iphone~comcom
2208	2208	Default@3x~iphone~anyany
2208	1242	Default@3x~iphone~anycom
1242	2208	Default@3x~iphone~comany
2732	2732	Default@2x~ipad~anyany
1278	2732	Default@2x~ipad~comany

MABS 3.3

If you are using MABS 3.3, you must use splash screen sizes based on the legacy launch images.

Width (px)	Height (px)	Device
320	480	All non-retina iPhones and iPods
640	960	iPhone 4/4s (portrait)
640	1136	iPhone 5/5s/SE (portrait)
750	1334	iPhone 6/6s/7/8 (portrait)
1242	2208	iPhone 6+/6s+/7+/8+ (portrait)
2208	1242	iPhone 6+/6s+/7+/8+ (landscape)
1125	2436	iPhone X (portrait)
2436	1125	iPhone X (landscape)
768	1024	All non-retina iPads (portrait)
1024	768	All non-retina iPads (landscape)
1536	2048	All retina iPads (portrait)
2048	1536	All retina iPads (landscape)

Splash screens JSON Templates

Find below two templates that you can copy and paste to the Extensibility Configurations property of your module. Choose only one of them, depending on the Mobile Apps Build Service (MABS) version you are using to generate your mobile app packages, and copy the whole template. The templates include definitions for both Android and iOS.

In each template, <path_to_resources_file> is the path to the ZIP file and each <path_to_splash_screen_image>.png is the path to the PNG version of your custom image specific to a certain splash screen size.
The snippet inside the "splashscreens" tag defines the splash screen image location in the ZIP file for every splash screen size for both platforms ("android" and "ios").
The last part of the template uses a "preferences" tag to set a preference, "SplashScreenDelay", that applies to both mobile platforms ("global" tag), and that displays the native splash screen for 3 seconds before automatically hiding it. To make sure the native splash screen is shown, you must define this preference since the default value for "SplashScreenDelay" is 0.

JSON template for Android and iOS using MABS 4.0 or later

{
    "resource": "<path_to_resources_file>",
    "splashscreens": {
        "android": [{
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-ldpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-mdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-hdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-xhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-xxhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-xxxhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-ldpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-mdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-hdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-xhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-xxhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-xxxhdpi"
        }],
        "ios": [{
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~universal~anyany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~universal~comany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~universal~comcom"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@3x~universal~anyany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@3x~universal~anycom"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@3x~universal~comany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~iphone~anyany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~iphone~comany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~iphone~comcom"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@3x~iphone~anyany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@3x~iphone~anycom"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@3x~iphone~comany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~ipad~anyany"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "defaultName": "Default@2x~ipad~comany"
        }]
    },
    "preferences": {
        "global": [
            {
                "name": "SplashScreenDelay",
                "value": "3000"
            }
        ]
    }
}

JSON template for Android and iOS using MABS 3.3

{
    "resource": "<path_to_resources_file>",
    "splashscreens": {
        "android": [{
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-ldpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-mdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-hdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-xhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-xxhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "port-xxxhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-ldpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-mdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-hdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-xhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-xxhdpi"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "density": "land-xxxhdpi"
        }],
        "ios": [{
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "320",
            "height": "480"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "640",
            "height": "1136"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "640",
            "height": "960"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "750",
            "height": "1334"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "1242",
            "height": "2208"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "2208",
            "height": "1242"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "1125",
            "height": "2436"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "2436",
            "height": "1125"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "768",
            "height": "1024"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "1024",
            "height": "768"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "1536",
            "height": "2048"
        },
        {
            "resource": "<path_to_splash_screen_image>.png",
            "width": "2048",
            "height": "1536"
        }]
    },
    "preferences": {
        "global": [
            {
                "name": "SplashScreenDelay",
                "value": "3000"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Further customization of splash screen behavior

You can further customize the behavior of the native splash screen by adding new preferences, in the Extensibility Configurations, using the following syntax:

{
    "preferences": {
        "<target-platform>": [
            {
                "name": "<preference>",
                "value": "<preference-value>"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Where <target-platform> is the target mobile platform that can be set as global, android or ios. The table below lists the possible values for <preference> and <preference-value>.

Preference	Possible Values	Platform Support
AutoHideSplashScreen	True or False	iOS and Android
SplashScreenDelay	Number	iOS and Android
FadeSplashScreen	True or False	iOS and Android
FadeSplashScreenDuration	Number	iOS and Android
SplashMaintainAspectRatio	True or False	Android
SplashShowOnlyFirstTime	True or False	Android

See the descriptions of the available splash screen preferences to learn how they work.

Do not forget that you must publish and generate a new mobile application package and distribute it in order to make the splash screen preferences visible to the end-users.