Technologies are presented for synchronizing associations between application icons and application functions across platforms. According to some examples, a layout and positioning of icons for different applications that perform similar functions may be synchronized across different devices. As a result, users may associate the position of an application icon on a device display with a particular function regardless of the actual device or platform. An application equivalence map may be used to synchronize application icon layout and positioning across the different devices and platforms. In other examples, icons for different applications that perform similar functions on different devices may be positioned similarly relative to equivalent display elements or features such as display corners, built-in interface elements, and comparable features.