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The part people actually look at

App Store screenshots

You get up to ten. Most people see two. Everything that has to be understood about your app has to survive in those two, at the size of a thumbnail, usually without anyone reading a word.

WHAT A SEARCH RESULT SHOWS3 to 10rarely seen1 and 2 carry the whole argument.Large type, one idea, legible at this size. Not a raw capture of a busy screen.

What a search result shows before anyone scrolls or taps. Two and a bit, at thumbnail size, is the whole first impression.

The short version

If you read nothing else.

  1. 01

    First two carry everything

    Assume nobody scrolls. They usually do not.

  2. 02

    Poster, not a capture

    Large type, simplified UI, one promise.

  3. 03

    One idea per panel

    Three points in one image is zero points.

  4. 04

    Captions say what you get

    Not what the feature is called.

  5. 05

    Check it at thumbnail size

    If it is unreadable small, it is unread.

The first two are the advert

In search results Apple shows the first two or three screenshots inline, and a large share of visitors decide from that alone without ever opening the product page. Whatever your app is for has to be legible there.

That means the first screenshot is not a screenshot. It is a poster: one clear promise in large type over a simplified version of your interface. A raw capture of a busy screen is unreadable at that size and says nothing.

Design the first two for a thumbnail in a list, not for a phone held in your hand.

One idea per screenshot

Each panel should make exactly one point, with a short caption that could be read at arm's length. Three features crammed into one image means none of them register.

Order them by what a stranger needs to believe, in order: what it does, why it is better, then the details. The sequence is an argument, not a tour of your tabs.

Caption in words, not feature names

"Split the bill in two taps" is a caption. "Advanced bill splitting engine" is a feature name and it persuades nobody.

Write what the person gets. Short enough to read in the time it takes to scroll past, which is about a second.

Use the app preview video carefully

An app preview video autoplays in the first slot on the product page, which means it replaces your strongest still image for anyone who lands there. That is worth it when the app is genuinely better in motion, such as a game or a drawing tool, and a loss when it is not.

If you ship one, make the first frame work as a still, because that is what shows before it plays and in every context that does not autoplay.

What people ask

Questions.

How many App Store screenshots should I use?

Upload all ten, but design the first two as though they are the only ones.

Apple allows up to ten per device size. There is no penalty for using all of them and they help anyone who does scroll, but search results show only the first two or three and many visitors decide from those. Put your entire argument in the first two and let the rest support it.

Do App Store screenshots affect search ranking?

No. They are not indexed and carry no keyword weight. What they affect is whether the people who already found you install, which is the half of the problem keywords cannot solve.

Should screenshots be real captures of my app?

They should be honest about what the app does, and Apple's guidelines require that. They do not have to be raw captures. Framing a simplified version of the screen with a caption is standard, expected, and far more readable at the size people actually see.

Is an app preview video worth making?

It is worth it when the app is better understood in motion, like a game, a camera or a drawing tool. It autoplays in the first slot and replaces your best still image, so for an app whose value is a clear static idea it can cost more than it gains.

The rest of it

Everything else on the listing.

When you want the numbers

Check your listing against your category.

The App Rating checker scores any App Store app out of 100 against the leaders in its own category. Free, no account, no card.

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