Develop

Design requirements

Updated: Jun 4, 2026

App icons

Portal renders app icons at 192-280dp (much bigger than phones or tablets) and uses a non-standard launcher. Three things need to be the case for your icon to be shown:
RequirementWhat to do
Use a large PNG
Supply a 512x512px (or larger) PNG in mipmap-xxxhdpi/. Adaptive icons (mipmap-anydpi-v26) are not supported; use a regular PNG.
Declare icon in manifest
Add android:icon to your activity in AndroidManifest.xml. For Portal TV, use android:banner instead. Without either, your app won’t appear on the home screen.
Size flexible
Icons larger than needed get scaled down automatically. Missing or low-res icons are a problem, oversized ones are fine.
Note: Portal only reads from mipmap-xxxhdpi/ (other density folders are ignored). Icons exceeding 192dp (or 280dp on Portal+ / Portal TV) are down sampled automatically.

Design guidelines

This section covers what you need to know to make your app look and feel native on Portal. Note the below is only a short summary, a detailed, machine-readable version is available through our AI Tooling.
RequirementWhat to do
Dark theme and system overlay
Portal’s system overlay is white with no background. Light apps make it invisible, so always use a dark theme. Background: #1A1A1A. Surfaces: #2B2B2B. Set darkTheme = true and dynamicColor = false.
Color
Use Meta blue (#0866FF) for primary actions with near-white text (#F0F0F0). Body text is #DADADA on dark backgrounds. Never use pure black (#000000) or pure white (#FFFFFF).
Text and typography
Use Inter in Normal, Medium, or Bold weights only (no Light or Thin). Body text at 18sp, headings at 24sp Bold. Never go below 14sp.
Touch targets
Make all touchable elements at least 52dp tall (use min-height, not fixed). Leave 16dp between buttons. Buttons are pill-shaped with Meta blue fill.
Screen layout
Reserve the top 64dp for the system overlay. Use 16dp padding on all other sides, 16dp between sections, and 8dp within sections. Design for landscape first.