How to make App Store screenshots

1. Know which sizes you need first

Before you capture anything, decide which slots you are filling. For an iPhone app, the required slot is iPhone with Dynamic Island, medium (6.1" / 6.3"), at 1179 × 2556, 1206 × 2622 portrait. If your app runs on iPad, you also need iPad 13". For Google Play, you need at least 2 phone screenshots and a feature graphic.

The full list is in App Store screenshot sizes in 2026 and Google Play screenshot requirements. The short answer for most apps: one iPhone set, one iPad set if you support iPad, one Android set.

2. Capture clean screens in Simulator

The raw material is a set of plain screenshots of your app. The easiest place to get them is the iOS Simulator in Xcode.

• Pick a simulated device from the list for the slot you are filling. For the main iPhone slot, that list includes iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17.
• Save a screenshot with File, then Save Screen, or from Terminal with xcrun simctl io booted screenshot home.png.
• Tidy the status bar before you capture. xcrun simctl status_bar booted override --time 9:41 --batteryLevel 100 gives you a full battery and a neat clock.
• Fill the app with realistic sample data. Empty states and placeholder names make the app look unfinished.
• Switch off debug overlays, test banners and anything with a real person's private details.

Name the files in the order you plan to use them, like 1-home.png, 2-search.png. It saves a lot of shuffling later, and in Phonepose files named this way go straight onto the matching screen.

3. Plan a story across the screens

Apple lets you upload up to 10 screenshots per device size, and Google Play up to 8 per device type. You don't have to use them all, but each one should earn its place. Think of the set as a short story rather than a gallery of every feature.

1. The promise. What does the app do for me? One clear benefit, shown on the screen that proves it.
2. The main proof. The core feature in use, with real looking content.
3. The reason to pick this one. The feature that sets your app apart.
4. Supporting features. One per screenshot, in order of how much people care about them.
5. Reassurance. Privacy, sync, offline use, widgets, accessibility: whatever removes the last doubt.

The first few screenshots carry the most weight, because they are the ones people see before deciding whether to look further. There is a whole guide on what to put on your first three screenshots.

4. Write headlines people can read at a glance

Each screenshot gets one headline. A few rules that hold up well:

• Keep it to a few words. If it needs two lines on a phone, it is probably too long.
• Lead with the benefit, then the feature. "Never miss a bill" beats "Push notification reminders".
• Use the words your users use. Your App Store reviews and support emails are a good source.
• Highlight one key word per headline with colour or weight, not the whole line.
• Write each headline so it makes sense on its own. People see them out of order.

If you localise your app, localise the headlines too.

5. Design the set

Put the app screen inside a device frame, add the headline, and give the set a consistent background. Some practical points:

• Keep text large. Store screenshots are viewed small, so body sized text disappears.
• Use one or two fonts and a small colour palette, ideally from your app's own brand.
• Vary the layout a little across the set so it doesn't feel repetitive: a tilted device, a close crop, two devices side by side.
• A background that flows across screens can make the set read as one long picture as people swipe.
• Don't cover the app screen with text. The app itself is the evidence.

This is the step where a tool helps most. Phonepose places your screenshots on real 3D iPhones, iPads and a Pixel 10 Pro, which you can turn and pose, and has 216 templates in 18 categories as starting points. Designing is free; downloading the exported files needs Pro. You can browse the templates and 3D mockups first to see if the style suits your app. Any design tool works though, as long as you export at the exact sizes in the next step.

6. Adapt for iPad and Android

Don't stretch the iPhone design onto iPad. iPad 13" is 2064 × 2752 in portrait, a much wider shape, so re-space the layout and use an iPad frame. For Google Play, swap to an Android device frame and check the shape: the long side can't be more than 2 times the short side, and for promotion Google wants at least 4 screenshots at 9:16 or 16:9, with portrait at least 1080 × 1920.

7. Export at exact sizes

• App Store: PNG or JPEG, no alpha channel or transparency, at one of the accepted sizes for each slot.
• Google Play: PNG or JPEG (24-bit PNG, no alpha), between 320px and 3840px per side.
• The Google Play feature graphic is exactly 1024 × 500.

One easy thing to miss is the alpha channel. Some design tools save one by default, even when the image has no transparent pixels. Before you upload, run the files through the free screenshot validator. It checks the size, format and alpha channel for each store slot.

8. Upload

In App Store Connect, open your app version, scroll to the screenshot area, pick the device size and drag your files in. Put them in the order you planned. If you only fill the required sizes, App Store Connect scales your larger screenshots down for the smaller optional slots.

In Play Console, add screenshots for each device type you support in your store listing, along with the feature graphic.

9. Revisit after launch

Screenshots are not a one-time job. When you ship a big feature, change your design, or notice people asking for something your screenshots don't show, update the set. Keeping your source design around (rather than just the exported PNGs) makes that a ten minute change rather than a rebuild.