diff --git a/core/templates/layout.public.php b/core/templates/layout.public.php
index 593413958962c..d3ab40e1ee6d2 100644
--- a/core/templates/layout.public.php
+++ b/core/templates/layout.public.php
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 	<meta name="theme-color" content="<?php p($theme->getColorPrimary()); ?>">
 	<link rel="icon" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon.ico')); /* IE11+ supports png */ ?>">
 	<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon-touch.png')); ?>">
-	<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon-touch.png')); ?>">
 	<link rel="mask-icon" sizes="any" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon-mask.svg')); ?>" color="<?php p($theme->getColorPrimary()); ?>">
 	<link rel="manifest" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'manifest.json')); ?>" crossorigin="use-credentials">
 	<?php emit_css_loading_tags($_); ?>
diff --git a/core/templates/layout.user.php b/core/templates/layout.user.php
index cdc4335f12822..5b03b5a9c8e67 100644
--- a/core/templates/layout.user.php
+++ b/core/templates/layout.user.php
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
 		<meta name="theme-color" content="<?php p($theme->getColorPrimary()); ?>">
 		<link rel="icon" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon.ico')); /* IE11+ supports png */ ?>">
 		<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon-touch.png')); ?>">
-		<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon-touch.png')); ?>">
 		<link rel="mask-icon" sizes="any" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'favicon-mask.svg')); ?>" color="<?php p($theme->getColorPrimary()); ?>">
 		<link rel="manifest" href="<?php print_unescaped(image_path($_['appid'], 'manifest.json')); ?>" crossorigin="use-credentials">
 		<?php emit_css_loading_tags($_); ?>
diff --git a/tests/playwright/e2e/core/page-head.spec.ts b/tests/playwright/e2e/core/page-head.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5108ff1851e30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/playwright/e2e/core/page-head.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Nextcloud GmbH and Nextcloud contributors
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+ */
+
+import { expect } from '@playwright/test'
+import { test as publicTest } from '../../support/fixtures/public-share-page.ts'
+import { test as userTest } from '../../support/fixtures/random-user-session.ts'
+import { uploadContent } from '../../support/utils/dav.ts'
+import { createLinkShare } from '../../support/utils/sharing.ts'
+
+/**
+ * The page `<head>` must declare each icon exactly once: browsers pick the last
+ * matching `rel`, so a duplicate `apple-touch-icon-precomposed` silently
+ * overrides the modern `apple-touch-icon`.
+ */
+
+userTest.describe('core: page head', () => {
+	userTest('user layout emits a single apple-touch-icon', async ({ page }) => {
+		await page.goto('apps/files')
+
+		await expect(page.locator('head link[rel="apple-touch-icon"]')).toHaveCount(1)
+		await expect(page.locator('head link[rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed"]')).toHaveCount(0)
+		await expect(page.locator('head link[rel="mask-icon"]')).toHaveCount(1)
+	})
+})
+
+publicTest.describe('core: page head', () => {
+	publicTest('public layout emits a single apple-touch-icon', async ({ page, user, ownerRequest, publicShare }) => {
+		await uploadContent(ownerRequest, user, '<content>head</content>', 'text/plain', '/head-check.txt')
+		const share = await createLinkShare(ownerRequest, '/head-check.txt')
+
+		await publicShare.open(share.url)
+
+		await expect(page.locator('head link[rel="apple-touch-icon"]')).toHaveCount(1)
+		await expect(page.locator('head link[rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed"]')).toHaveCount(0)
+		await expect(page.locator('head link[rel="mask-icon"]')).toHaveCount(1)
+	})
+})