How to Prepare App Store & Google Play Screenshots (Exact Sizes for 2026)

App store screenshots are the single highest-leverage asset in your store listing. Users decide in under 3 seconds whether to download — and screenshots do more convincing than any description text.

I've submitted apps to both the App Store and Google Play at Brenqo, where I build white-label restaurant ordering apps. After doing this across 15+ app submissions, I've built a process. This guide shares exactly what I do, including the size requirements, common mistakes, and how to handle the image prep efficiently.

Why screenshots matter more than you think

The App Store conversion rate for a typical app is somewhere between 1–3%. Optimising your screenshots is one of the few levers entirely within your control that can move that number. A/B tests by large app studios consistently show 15–30% conversion improvements from screenshot changes alone.

The actual content of your screenshots — what you show, the order, the captions — is a separate topic. This guide focuses on the technical side: getting the right file at the right size, ready to upload without rejection.

App Store (iOS) screenshot requirements 2026

Apple requires screenshots for each device class you support. You can get away with fewer if you use one size to cover a range, but the more you customise, the better.

Required sizes

iPhone (mandatory)

iPad (if you support iPad)

Rules:

• PNG or JPEG only (no WebP, no AVIF)
• Max 500MB per screenshot (you won't hit this)
• Up to 10 screenshots per device
• Portrait or landscape (match your app's orientation)
• No alpha channel / transparency — use a solid background

The practical shortcut

Apple allows you to submit 6.9" or 6.7" screenshots and use them to cover smaller sizes. Most teams do this — design for the largest iPhone, test that it looks reasonable scaled down, submit once. Only make separate sets if you have content that genuinely needs to be different per device.

Google Play screenshot requirements 2026

Google is more flexible but still has specific requirements.

Phone screenshots:

• Minimum: 320px on shortest side
• Maximum: 3840px on longest side
• Aspect ratio: between 16:9 and 9:16
• Format: JPEG or PNG (24-bit PNG, no alpha)
• File size: Max 8MB each
• Quantity: 2 minimum, 8 maximum

Recommended resolution: 1080 × 1920 px (portrait) or 1920 × 1080 px (landscape)

Tablet screenshots (optional but recommended):

• 7" tablets: 1080 × 1920 px minimum
• 10" tablets: 1920 × 1200 px minimum

Feature graphic (mandatory):

• 1024 × 500 px
• This appears above your screenshots in some views — treat it like a banner ad for your app

Icon:

• 512 × 512 px
• PNG, 32-bit with alpha

The image prep workflow I actually use

Here's my process for each submission:

Step 1: Capture at full device resolution

Use the simulator or a physical device. For iOS, Command+S saves a screenshot directly from the simulator at the correct resolution. For Android, use Android Studio's emulator screenshot function.

Don't scale up from a smaller screenshot — always start from native resolution or higher.

Step 2: Design your frames in Figma or similar

Most professional store screenshots are designed — they have a device frame around the actual screenshot, caption text overlaid, a branded background. Raw screenshots rarely convert as well as designed ones.

Export your Figma frames at 1x first, then check the pixel dimensions match the requirements above. Figma's export settings let you specify exact dimensions.

Step 3: Resize to exact platform requirements

This is where a lot of developers waste time. You have a 1290×2796 Figma export but the submission form wants 1242×2688. Or your designer worked at a slightly different canvas size.

I use SnapResizer for this step — drop in the screenshot, enter the exact target dimensions, download. It takes less time than opening Photoshop and finding the Image Size dialog.

Key settings to get right:

• Keep aspect ratio OFF when you're hitting an exact pixel target for a specific device frame — a few pixels difference at the edges won't matter visually
• Export as PNG — both stores prefer PNG for screenshots
• No compression artifacts — lossless matters here because Apple and Google will recompress on their side anyway

Step 4: Name your files clearly

Before uploading, name files descriptively: iphone-69-screenshot-01-homescreen.png. This saves confusion when you're uploading 30+ files across device sizes.

Step 5: Upload and validate

Both stores will tell you immediately if a file fails their size/format checks. Common rejection reasons:

• Wrong pixel dimensions (even 1px off on some older App Store requirements)
• Alpha channel in a PNG (remove it — use a solid background)
• JPEG artifacts on text-heavy screenshots (use PNG instead)

Common mistakes

Submitting at the wrong iPhone size Apple's requirements changed in 2024 to require 6.9" screenshots for newer devices. If you're working from an old submission checklist, double-check the current specs on Apple's developer documentation.

Forgetting the Google Play feature graphic This is mandatory but easy to skip when you're focused on screenshots. A missing feature graphic will block your submission.

Using WebP or AVIF Neither store accepts these formats for screenshots in 2026. PNG or JPEG only, regardless of what format you use everywhere else.

Designing at 72dpi vs 72ppi DPI doesn't matter for screen — pixel dimensions are what count. A 1242×2688 file at any DPI is accepted as long as the pixel count is right. Don't let Photoshop's DPI setting confuse you.

Not testing dark mode If your app supports dark mode, consider whether your screenshots show the right variant. Apple's screenshot guidelines don't require both, but if your app's main experience is dark, show the dark version.

Quick reference card

Save this for your next submission:

APP STORE
iPhone 6.9":  1320 × 2868 (required)
iPhone 6.7":  1290 × 2796
iPhone 6.5":  1242 × 2688
Format: PNG or JPEG, no alpha

GOOGLE PLAY
Phone:        1080 × 1920 (recommended)
Feature:      1024 × 500 (mandatory)
Icon:         512 × 512 (PNG with alpha OK)
Format: PNG or JPEG, max 8MB

Wrapping up

Store screenshots are a technical exercise and a marketing one. Get the technical side right first — correct sizes, correct formats, no transparency on the screenshot files — then focus on making the content compelling.

The resize step is genuinely fast if you have the right tool. What I used to do with an ImageMagick command or a Photoshop save-as is now a 30-second drag-and-drop.