Question

Is there a way (and if so, how) to fetch the icon for given app bundle id. Say I have a UIImage which I would like to contain the icon associated with the facebook app (if such is installed on my iOS device).

Answer 1

Accessing data from a user’s applications is impossible in production applications, as explicitly and thoroughly defined in the iOS Application Programming Guide provided by Apple:

For security reasons, iOS restricts each application (including its preferences and data) to a unique location in the file system. This restriction is part of the security feature known as the application’s sandbox. The sandbox is a set of fine-grained controls limiting an application’s access to files, preferences, network resources, hardware, and so on. Each application has access to the contents of its own sandbox but cannot access other applications’ sandbox.

(Link)

Although theoretically possible in practice, it would most certainly be disallowed from access to the iOS App Store as it would directly contradict the above guidelines.