How to Add Favicon to Shopify: Complete Guide for E-commerce Sites

A professional favicon elevates your Shopify store's brand presence and helps customers recognize your shop across browser tabs and bookmarks. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about Shopify favicons.

Quick Shopify Favicon Setup

Adding a favicon to your Shopify store takes just a few minutes:

1. Access Your Store Admin: Log into your Shopify admin panel

2. Navigate to Themes: Click "Online Store" in the left sidebar, then "Themes"

3. Customize Your Theme: Find your currently active theme and click the "Customize" button

4. Open Theme Settings: Click "Theme Settings" at the bottom of the left sidebar (this expands additional customization options)

5. Find Favicon Section: Scroll down to find the "Favicon" or "Favicon image" section

6. Upload Your Image: Click "Select image" and either choose from existing files or upload a new favicon image

7. Save Changes: Click the "Save" button in the upper right corner

Your favicon is now live on your Shopify store, appearing in browser tabs, bookmarks, and when customers save your store to their mobile home screen.

Shopify Favicon Requirements

Shopify accepts several image formats for favicons:

Recommended Format: PNG or JPG

Minimum Size: 16x16 pixels

Recommended Size: 512x512 pixels (Shopify automatically generates smaller sizes)

Maximum File Size: 2MB (though favicons should be much smaller, typically under 100KB)

Aspect Ratio: Square images work best (equal width and height)

Shopify automatically converts and resizes your uploaded image to work as a favicon across all devices and contexts. Uploading a high-resolution square image (512x512 or larger) ensures the best quality at all sizes.

Best Practices for Shopify Favicons

Use Your Logo: If possible, your favicon should be a simplified version of your store logo for brand consistency

Keep It Simple: Complex designs become unrecognizable at small sizes. Stick to simple, bold elements that remain clear at 16x16 pixels

Choose Recognizable Colors: Use your brand's primary colors so customers associate the favicon with your store

Test on Mobile: Remember your favicon becomes the app icon when customers add your store to their mobile home screen

Use PNG for Transparency: If your logo looks better without a background, use PNG format with transparent background

E-commerce Specific Favicon Tips

Shopify stores have unique favicon considerations:

Shopping Cart Icon: Some stores use a simple cart emoji 🛒 or shopping bag 🛍️ to immediately communicate that they're e-commerce sites

Product Category: If you specialize in specific products (books, clothing, electronics), consider an emoji representing your niche

Brand Mark: If you have a distinctive brand symbol, use it even if it's different from your full logo

Seasonal Updates: Update your favicon for major shopping holidays:

• 🎄 for Christmas shopping season
• 🎃 for Halloween sales
• 💝 for Valentine's Day promotions
• 🇺🇸 for July 4th sales (US stores)

Troubleshooting Shopify Favicons

Favicon Not Appearing:

First, try clearing your browser cache (Ctrl+F5 or Cmd+Shift+R). Favicons are heavily cached, so you may be seeing an old version.

Check that you saved your changes in the theme customizer. Shopify requires clicking "Save" to make changes live.

Verify your image uploaded successfully. Try uploading a different test image to confirm the upload process works.

Wrong Image Showing:

If an old favicon still appears, it's almost always a caching issue. Clear your browser cache, and if you use a CDN or caching app, clear those caches too.

Some third-party apps might override your favicon. Temporarily disable apps to test if they're causing conflicts.

Pixelated or Blurry Favicon:

Upload a larger source image. Shopify recommends 512x512 pixels to ensure crisp display at all sizes.

Ensure your original image is sharp and high-quality. Uploading a small image and expecting Shopify to enlarge it will result in pixelation.

Favicon Different on Mobile:

This is normal. Mobile devices often use larger versions of your favicon for home screen icons. Ensure your uploaded image looks good at both small (16x16) and large (192x192) sizes.

Changing Your Shopify Favicon

To change your existing Shopify favicon:

1. Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize
2. Click Theme Settings
3. Scroll to Favicon
4. Click "Change" or "Remove" on your current favicon
5. Upload your new image
6. Click Save

The new favicon replaces the old one immediately, though some users may need to clear their browser cache to see the change.

Shopify Mobile App Icons

When you set a Shopify favicon, it automatically serves as your mobile app icon:

iOS: When customers add your store to their iPhone or iPad home screen using Safari's "Add to Home Screen" feature

Android: When customers add your store to their Android home screen via Chrome's "Add to Home Screen"

This means one favicon upload creates both your browser tab icon AND mobile app icon, giving your Shopify store a professional mobile presence.

Using Emojis for Shopify Favicons

Emojis make excellent Shopify favicons, especially for:

Quick Setup: Generate an emoji favicon in seconds with our free generator

No Design Skills: Perfect if you don't have a graphic designer or logo yet

Product-Specific Stores: A clothing store could use 👕, a jewelry store 💎, a book store 📚

Fun, Memorable: Emoji favicons are eye-catching and memorable in crowded browser tabs

Instant Recognition: Customers immediately understand what your store sells

Simply use our emoji favicon generator to create a favicon, then upload it to Shopify following the steps above.

Favicon and Shopify SEO

While favicons aren't a direct SEO ranking factor, they impact customer behavior in ways that affect your store's success:

Improved Click-Through: In search results or bookmark lists, a professional favicon makes your link more noticeable

Brand Recognition: Customers with multiple tabs open can find your store quickly by recognizing your favicon

Professional Appearance: A missing or generic favicon suggests an unprofessional or unfinished store

Mobile Home Screen: Customers who save your store to their mobile home screen see your favicon as the app icon, improving brand recall

Shopify Themes and Favicons

All modern Shopify themes support favicons through the theme customizer. However:

Free Themes: All Shopify free themes (Debut, Brooklyn, Minimal, etc.) have built-in favicon support

Premium Themes: Paid themes from the Shopify Theme Store all include favicon functionality

Custom Themes: Custom-coded themes should include favicon support, but verify with your developer

Vintage Themes: Very old themes might not have built-in favicon uploaders. In this case, you can manually add favicon code to your theme files or update to a modern theme.

Advanced: Custom Favicon Code in Shopify

For advanced users wanting more control, you can edit your theme's code directly:

1. Go to Online Store → Themes → Actions → Edit Code
2. Find theme.liquid in the Layout folder
3. Add favicon code in the <head> section:

<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="{{ 'favicon-32x32.png' | asset_url }}">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon-16x16.png" href="{{ 'favicon-16x16.png' | asset_url }}">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="{{ 'apple-touch-icon.png' | asset_url }}">

4. Upload your favicon files to the Assets folder

This method gives you precise control over favicon implementation but is generally unnecessary since Shopify's built-in favicon uploader handles everything automatically.

Shopify Plus Considerations

Shopify Plus stores have the same favicon process as regular Shopify plans. However, Plus merchants might also consider:

Multi-Store Favicons: If you run multiple Shopify stores, each can have its own unique favicon

Wholesale vs Retail: Use different favicons for separate storefronts (retail vs wholesale)

International Stores: Consider different favicons for country-specific stores to help customers identify which store they're visiting

Testing Your Shopify Favicon

After setting up your favicon, test it thoroughly:

Desktop Browsers: Open your store in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge to verify favicon displays correctly

Mobile Devices: View your store on iOS and Android to see the mobile app icon

Incognito/Private Mode: Test in private browsing to see the favicon without cache interference

Different Pages: Check that the favicon appears on product pages, collections, cart, and checkout

A properly configured Shopify favicon enhances your brand identity, improves customer recognition, and gives your e-commerce store a polished, professional appearance that builds trust and drives sales.