When you update to WordPress 4.3 you now have the ability to add icons, or favicons to your site without a plugin or uploading files. These will show up in your browser on the tab, as well as places like Pinterest Rich Pins.

I go through how to add you icon in WordPress 4.3 step by step below.

How to add an icon / favicon to your WordPress Site

Update 9/1/2015 – Earlier, Pinterest was not pulling in my favicon from my WordPress icon on my Rich Pins from either one of my sites, but it now seems to be working. But if you have trouble, try out the Real Favicon Generator Plugin from, my older tutorial for how to install a favicon using a plugin .

Update 9/10/2015 – WordPress JetPack icon still seems to be a little glitchy. Maybe it has to do with Genesis, but I’ll be switching back to Favicon by Real Favicon Generator when I have time.

Start by reading my directions about how to use my WordPress tutorials.

If you this is your first time to use my tutorials, welcome! Start by reading How to read my WordPress tutorials.

Make sure you have an image saved in the correct size for the WordPress icon.

Icons must be square and at least 512 px wide and tall, or 512 px x 512 px, for adding to WordPress 4.3.

This is of course a different size from and favicon / icon WordPress plugin I’ve used before!

I didn’t have a file this size, so I modified my favicon/icon file by opening it in the free photo editing software Pixlr. Then I opened a new image and made it 512 x 512 and a transparent background. I then enlarged my original icon to fill 512 x 512 as much as possible, copied my entire original icon and pasted it into the new image and saved it. I was lucky that my icon sized up well, but even if it gets a little blurry, I’m going to guess that most of the time your icon will be shown in a much smaller size. If you need help resizing your logo or icon, my Pixlr tutorials on making a Facebook header have instructions on how to use Pixlr.

If you don’t have an icon yet, and need help making a quick icon or favicon, check out my tutorial on how to make an icon or favicon.

Before making any changes, don’t forget to backup your site.

If you haven’t already, update to WordPress 4.3.

Deactivate any plugins you might be currently using. (I would wait to delete them, in case the new method doesn’t work for some reason.) Depending on how you added your icon before, and how your browser is caching it, your old icon may or may not disappear from your tab. Try looking at your site in incognito or another browser (for example Firefox or Chrome.)

From your dashboard go to

> Appearance > Customize

At the top

> Site Identity

> Select File

> Upload Files

> Select Files

Browse to find your file.

> Open

> Select

> Save and Publish

Close the customizer by clicking on the X.

Your icon should now display in your tab both when you view your dashboard, view your page as admin, and when others view your page! If you were successful and were using a plugin before, don’t forget to delete your old plugin and files. Also, after making changes to your site, especially if you make changes to plugins, it’s a good idea to resave your permalinks.

> Settings > Permalinks

> Save changes

I hope these directions work for you! Please leave a comment (if the comments on this post are closed, comment on my latest post) or contact me and let me know if you run into a difficulty. I’ll do my best to make sure my directions are clear and still up to date. However, I am not a WordPress developer and unfortunately I can not provide technical support. If you need more help, a place to start is the WordPress support forums. And check out all my WordPress tutorials.