Icon Composer 2 and SF Symbols 8 Betas Now Available for Download

Apple has released beta versions of two key developer tools this week, giving designers and developers early access to Icon Composer 2 and SF Symbols 8 ahead of the fall software releases.

Both tools are available now through Apple's developer portal, though the download links were not prominently featured on the Design Resources page that Apple updated following the WWDC 2026 keynote earlier this week.

Icon Composer 2

Icon Composer was first introduced at WWDC 2025 as a dedicated Mac app for building app icons using the Liquid Glass design language. The tool allows developers and designers to create layered icons from a single source file, with real time preview of how those icons render across different appearances and operating systems.

Version 2 builds on that foundation with three notable additions.

Refraction

is a new layer level effect that allows light to bend through an icon's layers. Developers can control how strongly each layer picks up and transmits color and shape from content behind it, ranging from a subtle edge bend to a more pronounced lens like distortion.

New Specular Highlights

add crisp, defined highlights to each layer, with options to position them inside or outside a layer's edges. Developers can also allow Icon Composer to determine the appropriate highlight alignment automatically.

Extended Preview

lets developers see how an icon will render across both this year's and last year's operating systems simultaneously. This is particularly useful for apps that need to maintain visual consistency for users who have not yet updated to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, or macOS 27 Golden Gate.

The original Icon Composer shipped alongside iOS 26's Liquid Glass design system. That release transformed app icons from static graphics into layered, physically responsive objects that reflect and refract based on system lighting and background content. Icon Composer 2 deepens those capabilities.

SF Symbols 8

SF Symbols 8 is the companion update to Apple's system icon library, which developers use throughout their apps to ensure visual consistency with the operating system.

The update introduces new symbols corresponding to features in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.

The full library now contains more than 7,000 symbols. Those symbols support animations, rendering effects, and variable rendering capabilities that were introduced with SF Symbols 7 at last year's WWDC.

SF Symbols 7 added the Draw animation preset, which allows symbols to animate along their paths in a handwritten stroke style, along with gradient support and enhancements to the Magic Replace transition system between related symbols.

Apple's broader Design Resources portal was updated earlier this week with assets for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate. Developers looking for UI kits, templates, and design guidance for the new platforms can find those materials there.

iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, and the other updated operating systems are expected to be released to the public this fall.