App Store screenshot generator

App Store and Google Play screenshot sizes in 2026

Both stores publish their rules, and both changed them in the last few years. Most of the size tables you find online still list a dozen iPhone sizes you no longer have to make. Here is what the stores ask for now, checked against their own documentation in October 2026.

App Store (iPhone and iPad)

Apple's screenshot specifications accept JPEG or PNG, from 1 to 10 screenshots per device size, with no transparency and no alpha channel. For iPhone you need one set, not eight:

Every smaller iPhone and iPad size is scaled down by App Store Connect from the larger one, so a single 6.9" set covers every iPhone a customer might own. You can still upload smaller sizes if a screen looks wrong when scaled, but you do not have to.

The alpha rule catches more people than the sizes do. A PNG exported from a design tool or a browser is usually RGBA even when every pixel is opaque, and App Store Connect can refuse it. This generator writes 24-bit RGB PNGs with no alpha channel at all, so the files go straight in.

Google Play (phones)

Google's preview assets help page asks for JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha. Each side must be between 320 and 3,840 px, and the long side can be at most twice the short one. You can add up to 8 screenshots per device type, and a listing needs at least 2 across device types to publish. To be eligible for promotion in Play's recommendations, Google wants at least 4 phone screenshots at 1080 px or more, in 9:16 portrait (1080 x 1920 minimum) or 16:9 landscape. That is why the export here uses 1080 x 1920.

Tablets and Chromebooks have their own slots on Play, at 9:16 or 16:9 and between 1,080 and 7,680 px. If your app is phone only, you can leave them empty.

What makes a screenshot convert

Most people decide from the search results, not the product page. On the App Store, Apple's product page guide says that when there is no app preview video, the first one to three screenshots appear right in search results, depending on their orientation. Google gives the same advice from the other side: put your app's real interface in the first three.

So treat the first three as the whole pitch:

• Lead with the reason to download. The screen that shows the core job your app does goes first. Settings, onboarding and sign-in go last, or nowhere.
• One idea per screenshot. Apple's guide asks you to focus each later screenshot on one main benefit or feature. A slide that tries to say three things says none of them at thumbnail size.
• Show the app in use. App Review guideline 2.3.3 says screenshots should show the app in use, "and not merely the title art, login page, or splash screen". Text overlays are allowed. Fill the screens with realistic content, not empty states.
• Include dark mode if you have it. Apple suggests at least one screenshot of the dark appearance when your app supports it.

Writing captions

A caption has about a second to land, and at search-result size it is the only text anyone reads. Keep the headline to three to six words and make it about the person, not the feature: "Plan a trip in a minute" beats "AI itinerary generator". Use the subheadline for the one detail that makes the headline believable.

Google's guidance is to use taglines only when they add something and to keep them under 20% of the image. With a two-line headline and a one-line subheadline, the layout here stays well inside that. If your text wraps to three lines, cut words rather than shrinking it.

Read your captions in order, without the pictures. They should make sense as a short story about what the app does. If two slides say the same thing, drop one.

Localising screenshots

Apple recommends localising screenshots along with the description and keywords for every market you sell in. Google says the in-app UI does not have to change per market, but any tagline or text overlay should be translated. In practice that means one set of slides per language, with the same screenshots and new captions.

Translated captions often run longer than English ones, especially in German and French, so check that each headline still fits in two lines. A locale you have not added shows your primary language's listing, which is fine to start with. Localise your biggest markets first.

Making them from a real build

Capture raw screenshots from the iOS Simulator on an iPhone 17 Pro Max (or any 6.9" device) and from an Android emulator, with realistic data on screen and a clean status bar. Drop them in above, add captions, and export every size at once. For the rest of the submission, our guide on how to publish an app on the App Store walks through the listing, review and release.

If you build on NativeExpress, you can skip the capture step. It ships a Maestro flow that generates the store screenshots, sized for both stores, along with a store listing playbook and release checklists. The sample screens in this tool come from that app.