diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6b4a1cb..e11ad37 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ This:
 1. copies the app to `~/.local/share/meetrec`,
 2. creates a venv and installs all dependencies,
 3. installs the `meetrec` (GUI) and `meetrec-cli` launchers into `~/.local/bin`,
-4. installs the XDG desktop entry (`~/.local/share/applications/meetrec.desktop`),
+4. installs the XDG desktop entry and icon (app menu shows **MeetRec** with its own red mic icon),
 5. pre-downloads the `small` Whisper model (first run is otherwise slow).
 
 Options:
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ install.sh            install / uninstall into a local prefix
 bin/meetrec           GUI launcher (installed into ~/.local/bin)
 bin/meetrec-cli       CLI launcher (installed into ~/.local/bin)
 share/applications/meetrec.desktop   XDG desktop entry
+share/icons/hicolor/                app icon (SVG + PNG fallbacks)
 android/              native Android app (Kotlin + whisper.cpp JNI)
 ```
 
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 69169b8..eef5b5a 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ if [ "$UNINSTALL" = 1 ]; then
     rm -rf "$APP_DIR"
     rm -f "$BIN_DIR/meetrec" "$BIN_DIR/meetrec-cli"
     rm -f "$DESKTOP_DIR/meetrec.desktop"
+    find "$PREFIX/share/icons/hicolor" -name 'meetrec.*' -type f -delete 2>/dev/null || true
     if command -v update-desktop-database >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         update-desktop-database "$DESKTOP_DIR" 2>/dev/null || true
     fi
@@ -150,12 +151,20 @@ if [ -x "$PREFIX/share/meetrec/whisper-cpp/bin/whisper-cli" ]; then
     echo "    (whisper.cpp engine installed — select 'whisper-cpp' to use the GPU)"
 fi
 
-echo "==> Installing XDG desktop entry"
+echo "==> Installing XDG desktop entry and icon"
 install -m 0644 "$SCRIPT_DIR/share/applications/meetrec.desktop" \
     "$DESKTOP_DIR/meetrec.desktop"
+for f in "$SCRIPT_DIR"/share/icons/hicolor/*/apps/meetrec.* \
+         "$SCRIPT_DIR"/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/meetrec.svg; do
+    rel="${f#"$SCRIPT_DIR"/share/icons/}"
+    install -Dm 0644 "$f" "$PREFIX/share/icons/$rel"
+done
 if command -v update-desktop-database >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     update-desktop-database "$DESKTOP_DIR" 2>/dev/null || true
 fi
+if command -v gtk-update-icon-cache >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    gtk-update-icon-cache -q -t -f "$PREFIX/share/icons/hicolor" 2>/dev/null || true
+fi
 
 if [ "$DOWNLOAD_MODEL" = 1 ]; then
     echo "==> Pre-downloading Whisper model '$MODEL' (first run only, can take a while)"
diff --git a/share/applications/meetrec.desktop b/share/applications/meetrec.desktop
index bba3f05..1e875c8 100644
--- a/share/applications/meetrec.desktop
+++ b/share/applications/meetrec.desktop
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Name=MeetRec
 GenericName=Meeting Recorder
 Comment=Record in-person meetings and transcribe them with Whisper
 Exec=meetrec
-Icon=audio-microphone
+Icon=meetrec
 Terminal=false
-Categories=Audio;
+Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;
 Keywords=meeting;recording;recorder;transcription;transcript;whisper;audio;microphone;
 StartupNotify=true
diff --git a/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/meetrec.png b/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/meetrec.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b97e34d
Binary files /dev/null and b/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/meetrec.png differ
diff --git a/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/meetrec.png b/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/meetrec.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9fc962b
Binary files /dev/null and b/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/meetrec.png differ
diff --git a/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/meetrec.png b/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/meetrec.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36f3c51
Binary files /dev/null and b/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/meetrec.png differ
diff --git a/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/meetrec.png b/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/meetrec.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d53cc97
Binary files /dev/null and b/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/meetrec.png differ
diff --git a/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/meetrec.svg b/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/meetrec.svg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0911c5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/meetrec.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<svg width="128" height="128" viewBox="0 0 128 128" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
+  <title>MeetRec</title>
+  <defs>
+    <linearGradient id="bg" x1="0" y1="0" x2="0" y2="1">
+      <stop offset="0" stop-color="#e74c3c"/>
+      <stop offset="1" stop-color="#922b21"/>
+    </linearGradient>
+  </defs>
+
+  <rect x="4" y="4" width="120" height="120" rx="28" fill="url(#bg)"/>
+
+  <!-- microphone: capsule + cradle -->
+  <rect x="50" y="18" width="28" height="42" rx="14" fill="#ffffff"/>
+  <path d="M 36 48 v 8 a 28 28 0 0 0 56 0 v -8"
+        fill="none" stroke="#ffffff" stroke-width="9" stroke-linecap="round"/>
+
+  <!-- waveform: voice becoming transcript -->
+  <g fill="#ffffff">
+    <rect x="32" y="96" width="8" height="14" rx="4"/>
+    <rect x="46" y="91" width="8" height="24" rx="4"/>
+    <rect x="60" y="95" width="8" height="16" rx="4"/>
+    <rect x="74" y="91" width="8" height="24" rx="4"/>
+    <rect x="88" y="96" width="8" height="14" rx="4"/>
+  </g>
+</svg>
\ No newline at end of file