How do you make App Store screenshots?
Published
Short answer
Design one set at 1290 × 2796 pixels, Apple’s 6.9-inch iPhone size — Apple reuses this set, scaled down, for every smaller iPhone display1 (source 1), so a second design pass usually isn’t needed. Capture raw screens from a simulator or device at that resolution, decide what each screen should say and which one goes first, then lay a repeated headline position, background and device frame over the raw captures so the set reads as one product rather than six one-offs. Export as PNG with no transparency, one to ten images per localisation, and keep the source file editable so the next release doesn’t mean starting over.
Key points
- Design at 1290 × 2796. It is one of three accepted portrait sizes for the required 6.9-inch class1 (source 1), and it matches the native resolution of several current iPhone simulators, so raw captures need no resampling before you build on top of them.
- You do not design six sizes. Apple states that when a screenshot size is missing, it uses scaled versions of the set from the next size up1 (source 1), which is why one 6.9-inch set covers the rest of the iPhone lineup.
- A screenshot of a login screen or splash screen is a documented rejection risk: Apple’s review guidelines require screenshots to show the app in use, not merely title art, a login page, or a splash screen3 (source 3).
- The first one to three images are the ones shown in search results when no app preview exists2 (source 2), so the opening screen carries weight the rest do not. How much text to put on it, though, is judgement: nothing here about headline length comes from a published study.
- Shotluma’s export covers iPhone only — 1290 × 2796 and 1242 × 2688 PNGs. It does not produce iPad sizes or Google Play–compatible sizes, so either of those still needs a separate tool.
Choose the one size to design at
Apple requires one iPhone screenshot set, at its 6.9-inch display class, in one of three accepted portrait sizes: 1260 × 2736, 1290 × 2796 or 1320 × 2868 pixels1 (source 1). An app that also runs on iPad needs a separate 13-inch set at its own dimensions — see the full size table for every accepted size and how the iPad requirement works.
Of the three iPhone sizes, 1290 × 2796 is the practical default, because it is the native resolution of several current iPhone simulators — a raw capture lands at exactly that size with no resampling. That is a workflow convenience, not an Apple requirement; any of the three sizes satisfies the rule equally.
Capture the raw screens
Every screenshot in the set starts from a real capture of the app, not a mockup. Apple’s own guidance for building a product page puts it plainly: use images captured from your app’s UI to visually communicate your app’s user experience2 (source 2). Its review guidelines go further and rule out the two most common shortcuts: a screenshot may not be merely the title art, a login page, or a splash screen3 (source 3).
- Run the app on a simulator or device set to the resolution you chose, so nothing gets resampled later.
- Populate each screen with realistic content — empty states and placeholder text read as unfinished in a screenshot.
- Clear notification badges and set a clean status bar before capturing, so the same reviewer detail doesn’t repeat across every frame.
- Capture one clean screen per feature you plan to show, plus a couple of spares — it is cheaper to over-capture now than to re-run the simulator later.
Decide what the set should say
Apple’s product-page guidance is specific about scope: focus each subsequent screenshot on a main benefit or feature so that you fully convey your app’s value2 (source 2). In practice that means picking one idea per screen and writing a short headline for it before touching layout — a screenshot trying to explain two features usually explains neither well.
Write the headline for every screen before you design any of them. A short list of “screen → one-sentence claim” pairs is easier to edit for accuracy and tone than headlines drafted one at a time inside a design tool, and it gives you a plan to hand to the design step.
Design without a designer
Apple’s review guidelines explicitly allow building on top of a raw capture: screenshots “may also include text and image overlays”3 (source 3), named alongside input aids such as an animated touch point. A headline, a background and a device frame around a real capture all sit inside that allowance.
What makes a set look designed, without a designer, is repetition rather than skill. This is a practice, not an Apple rule: pick one headline position and reuse it on every screen, pick one background treatment — a single color or one gradient — and reuse it across the set, and pick one device-frame style and keep it identical from first screen to last. Varying any of those three per screen is the single most common thing that makes a self-made set look like six unrelated images stapled together.
Shotluma is a free, MIT-licensed tool built around exactly this step: it needs no account, runs entirely in the browser, and its AI drafts a set inside a real editor, so the headline text, gradients, shapes and device frames it places stay editable layers rather than a flattened image. It exports iPhone sizes only — it does not produce iPad sizes or Google Play–compatible sizes.
Export and upload without a rejection
- Format: export as
.png,.jpgor.jpeg1 (source 1). - No alpha channel: images can’t include transparency1 (source 1). A PNG exported with a transparent background from a design tool is a common, silent cause of a failed upload — flatten onto an opaque background before export.
- Exact pixel size: the file must match one of the accepted dimensions exactly. App Store Connect does not resize an off-by-one-pixel file for you.
- Count: one to ten screenshots per localisation1 (source 1).
Upload one full set per localisation you support, translating the headlines rather than reusing the English text with a translated app underneath. If the app runs on iPad, upload the separate 13-inch set alongside the iPhone one — the two are independent requirements, not one design stretched to fit both.
Keep the set re-editable for the next release
A screenshot set gets touched again the moment the app’s UI changes or a headline needs a rewrite, so the deliverable worth keeping is not the ten flattened PNGs — it is the project file underneath them, with headline text, background and device frame as separate layers over the raw capture.
- Keep text as live, editable text — not text baked into a raster image — so a copy change doesn’t mean re-placing it by eye.
- Keep the background and frame as their own layers, reused across every screen, so a rebrand or color change is one edit instead of ten.
- Recapture only the raw screens that actually changed between versions, and drop them back into the same layered file.
- Save the project file itself somewhere durable — a design tool’s cloud project, or the file you’d hand to Shotluma’s editor next time — not just the exported ZIP.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if a screenshot’s pixel dimensions don’t exactly match an accepted size?
The dimensions have to match one of the accepted values exactly1 (source 1); App Store Connect does not crop or resize a mismatched file for you. Check the exported pixel dimensions before uploading rather than after a rejection.
What exactly can I add on top of a real screenshot without it being rejected?
Apple’s review guidelines name text and image overlays, an animated touch point or Apple Pencil to demonstrate input, and extended on-device functionality such as Touch Bar as permitted additions3 (source 3). What is not allowed is a screenshot that is merely title art, a login page, or a splash screen with no app underneath it.
Do I need a separate screenshot for Dark Mode?
Apple’s product-page guidance suggests including at least one screenshot that shows the Dark Mode experience if the app supports it2 (source 2). It is a suggestion in Apple’s own materials rather than an upload requirement, so treat it as worth doing if Dark Mode is a real part of the app’s experience.
Do I need an app preview video as well as screenshots?
That is a separate asset with its own specifications, outside what this guide covers. This guide, and Shotluma, only produce screenshots.
Sources
- 1Screenshot specifications — App Store Connect Help — Apple Developer, iPhone display size table, file format and count rules. Read .
- 2Creating Your Product Page — Apple Developer, Screenshots section. Read .
- 3App Review Guidelines — Apple Developer, Guideline 2.3.3, Performance — Accurate Metadata. Read .