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Favidetect checks which of your site's favicons actually exist and which are missing. Here's how to use it, answers to common questions, and what's still being built.

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Getting started

1. Go to the Icon Checker page.

2. Paste the full URL of any public web page — for example, https://github.com — and click Check Icons. You can omit the https:// prefix; the tool adds it automatically.

3. Favidetect fetches the page, parses every icon declaration in the <head>, and requests each icon file individually. It also checks /favicon.ico and /apple-touch-icon.png at the site root — these are requested by browsers and devices by convention, even if the page does not declare them.

4. The results table shows:

Rel — the rel attribute of the link tag (or "root fallback" for conventionally requested files).
Path — the URL of the icon file.
Status — whether the file is present, missing (HTTP error), unreachable, or not an image.
Format — the detected image format (PNG, SVG, ICO, JPEG, WebP, etc.).
Size — pixel dimensions of the image.
Match — whether the actual format and size match what the HTML declaration says.

5. The usage slot summary tells you whether the browser tab, Google search result, and iOS home screen would each have an icon to use.

No registration or email needed. There are no accounts, so there is no check history — each result is a fresh point-in-time snapshot.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my favicon not showing in Google search results?

Google uses the favicon declared in your page's <link rel="icon"> tag, and as of 2024 it requires the image to be at least 48×48 pixels. Run the URL through Favidetect to confirm the icon is present, is an accepted format (PNG works best for Google), and meets the size requirement. If the icon used to appear and stopped, Google may also need a recrawl — Search Console can request that. Note that Favidetect cannot request a recrawl; that is handled through Search Console directly.

Why is my favicon not updating after I replaced the file?

Browsers cache favicons aggressively — sometimes for days or weeks. Before clearing your cache, run a Favidetect check to confirm the new file is actually being served from your server. If the check shows the new file is present, the issue is browser-side caching. A common fix is to add a version query string to your <link> tag, for example:
<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico?v=2">. This forces the browser to treat it as a new resource. If Favidetect shows the old file is still being served, the server may not have deployed the replacement yet — check your deployment pipeline.

Why does my site show a blank icon in the browser tab?

Browsers request /favicon.ico from the site root automatically, even if your page does not declare it anywhere. If that file is missing (404), the browser tab shows a blank or generic icon. Favidetect always checks /favicon.ico as a root fallback — if the result says "Missing" for that row, you need to place a favicon.ico file at your domain root, or declare a specific icon in your page's <head> using a full URL. The tool shows you exactly which of the two approaches (declared icon or root fallback) is failing.

My Apple touch icon is not showing on iOS — why?

iOS devices look for a <link rel="apple-touch-icon"> declaration in the page head. If none is found, Safari on iOS falls back to requesting /apple-touch-icon.png from the site root by convention. Favidetect checks both: any declared apple-touch-icon links, and the root fallback /apple-touch-icon.png. The recommended size for an Apple touch icon is 180×180 pixels in PNG format. Check the "iOS home screen" usage slot in the results — if it says "No icon", either the declaration is missing or the file is not reachable.

What sizes and formats should my favicons be?

There is no single answer that fits every browser and device, but a widely compatible setup is:

favicon.ico at root — 32×32 or multi-size (16, 24, 32, 48). Covers legacy browsers and the browser tab.
favicon-16x16.png — 16×16 (PNG). Used by some browsers as a secondary option.
favicon-32x32.png — 32×32 (PNG). Used by most modern desktop browsers.
apple-touch-icon.png — 180×180 (PNG). Used by iOS home screen bookmarks.
icon.svg (optional) — Scalable vector favicon for modern browsers that support SVG favicons.

Favidetect checks whatever your page actually declares, plus the mandatory root fallbacks. If a size is missing, the tool tells you exactly which usage slot is affected.

What does "Type mismatch" or "Size mismatch" mean?

When a <link> tag declares a type attribute (for example type="image/png") but the actual file served is a different format (for example a JPEG image), the tool marks it as Type mismatch. Similarly, if the sizes attribute says sizes="32x32" but the actual image dimensions are different, it is Size mismatch. These mismatches happen when an icon file was replaced with a differently sized image and the HTML was not updated. They are not necessarily critical — browsers often handle mismatches gracefully — but they indicate an inconsistency that could affect how the icon is rendered on some clients.

Known limitations

Favidetect is a brand-new tool. Several features are planned but not yet built. Here is what the tool does not do:

No accounts or check history. There are no user accounts. Every check is a one-off — there is no way to view past results or set up recurring monitoring. You must re-enter the URL each time.
No email or push notifications. The tool cannot notify you when a favicon changes or goes missing. There is no email sender configured on this domain, so no form on this site can send email either.
No payment processor connected. The Pro tier with higher rate limits, CSV export, and bulk checking is planned. Until a payment processor (Stripe or similar) is set up, Pro subscriptions cannot be purchased. See the Pricing page.
Cloudflare-hosted sites are unreachable. Because Favidetect runs on Cloudflare Workers, the runtime cannot open a TCP socket back into the Cloudflare network. Sites fronted by Cloudflare are reported as "Unreachable" — this is a platform limitation, not a result about the host's firewall. The app displays a note when this is detected.
Single URL only. The tool checks one URL at a time. Bulk checking (paste multiple URLs) is planned for the Pro tier.
Rate limit. The Free tier allows approximately 50 checks per day. This is enforced server-side.
Point-in-time snapshots. Results reflect what the tool sees at the moment of the check. Browsers, search engines, and devices may cache favicons differently and show different results.

How to contact us

Support is not yet reachable by email. The operator of this product has not established a contact address. A support channel will be added when the product has a registered contact method — including email, a contact form, or a public issue tracker.

In the meantime, if you have found a bug or have a feature request, your best option is to note it down and check back once a support channel is available. All reported issues are valuable for shaping the roadmap.

Can't reach us by phone, chat, or social media either. No support channels of any kind are configured yet. The operator is aware of this gap and will address it.