--- title: Design app store screenshots description: Turn plain captures of your app into App Store and Google Play screenshots and preview videos that explain the app's main benefit at a glance, sized for each store and ready to test against your current set. slug: /use-cases/app-store-screenshots page_type: use-case lead_prompt: How do I design app store screenshots with AI? target_prompts: - Can an AI marketing agent design app store screenshots? - What makes app store screenshots convert better? - How do I create screenshot variants to test in the App Store? - How do I make a preview video for my app listing? - What size and layout do App Store and Google Play screenshots need? entity: Kite category: AI marketing agent author: Devon Wells and Kite date_published: '2026-11-09' date_modified: '2026-11-09' related_integrations: - /integrations/dataforseo.md - /integrations/serpapi.md --- # Design app store screenshots ## Key Takeaways - App store screenshots are the first thing a store visitor sees, and the first three often appear right in the search results. They work best as a short sales pitch, with one clear benefit per image and a caption someone can read at thumbnail size, rather than as plain captures of your app's screens. - Kite decides what your screenshots should say by reading your App Store reviews, your positioning, and the listings of the apps you compete with, then designs each image around a real screen from your app in your brand's colors and fonts. - Kite sets every caption as exact text and renders each image at the pixel size App Store Connect or Google Play Console asks for, so the files are ready to upload. - Kite builds several screenshot sets, each leading with a different message, so you can test them against your current set with Apple's product page optimization or Google Play's store listing experiments. - Kite can also cut a vertical preview video from your screen recordings, with captions and music, and record the result of each test so the next set starts from what won. ## Why app store screenshots decide downloads Most people decide whether to download an app before they read a word of its description. They search the store, glance at the icon, the rating, and the first few screenshots, and either tap through or keep scrolling. That makes your screenshots the most persuasive part of your listing, and the part most teams spend the least time on. The usual first set is a row of plain captures: the home screen, a settings page, maybe a login screen. Those show what the app looks like, but not why anyone should want it. Screenshots that convert work more like a short ad. Each one makes a single point, says it in a caption of a few words, and backs it up with the screen that proves it. If you want to design app store screenshots with AI, the work breaks into five steps: - Decide what the set should say, starting with the benefit that matters most to the people downloading. - Pick the real screen from your app that proves each point. - Write a short caption for each screenshot and lay it out in your brand style. - Export each image at the exact size each store requires. - Upload the new set as a test against your current one, and keep whichever wins. An AI agent is well suited to this because most of the effort is research and production. Someone has to read hundreds of reviews, study what competing apps lead with, write captions that fit in a few words, and produce several versions at several sizes. That's a lot of careful, repeatable work, and it's worth redoing every few releases. Kite is an AI marketer. It researches your business, builds a growth strategy, and ships the work that brings you new customers. For an app, a lot of that work shows up in the store listing. Here's how Kite designs the screenshots. ## How Kite designs app store screenshots Kite starts with what your screenshots need to say. It reads your App Store reviews for the things customers praise and complain about, checks what it already knows about your positioning and customers, and looks at what the apps you compete with show in their first few screenshots. From that, it decides which benefit your set should lead with and which ones should follow. Then Kite designs the set. It takes real screens from your app, places each one in a layout with a short caption in your brand's fonts and colors, and renders the images at the sizes each store asks for. It usually prepares more than one set, each leading with a different message, so you have real alternatives to test. It can also make a short preview video from your screen recordings. You upload the approved sets in App Store Connect and Google Play Console and run them as a test against your current screenshots. When the test ends, you share the result with Kite. It records which version won and why it thinks it did, and that record shapes the next set. ### What makes app store screenshots convert better? App store screenshots convert better when the first one states the app's main benefit in a few words and shows the screen that delivers it. People skim, so a set that leads with your strongest reason to download beats a set that walks through features in menu order. A few principles separate a set that sells from a set that only shows: - **Lead with the outcome.** "See where every dollar went" says more than a screenshot of a transactions list with no caption. - **Make one point per screenshot.** Each image gets one benefit and one supporting screen, so a skimmer can follow the set in seconds. - **Write captions for a thumbnail.** In search results, a screenshot is about the size of a thumbnail. A caption of three to six words in large type is readable there, and a full sentence is not. - **Put the most work into the first three.** The first three portrait screenshots often appear in search results, so many people never see the rest. - **Use your customers' own words.** The phrases people use in reviews are the phrases the next customer will recognize. Kite applies these principles using evidence from your app. It reads your most recent App Store reviews and groups them into what people praise and what they complain about. If dozens of reviewers say a budgeting app finally lets them split bills with a roommate, "Split bills in one tap" is a stronger first caption than "Powerful budgeting tools." Complaints are useful too. If reviewers keep saying setup takes too long and you've since fixed it, a screenshot showing the new two-step setup answers the doubt directly. Kite also opens the App Store and Google Play pages of the apps you compete with and studies their screenshots. It notes which benefit each one leads with, how much text they use, and whether they show the app on a phone or as a bare screen. That tells Kite which messages are already crowded in your category and where your app can stand apart. The result is a plan for each set: the order of the screenshots, the benefit each one makes, the screen that proves it, and the caption. You see that plan before Kite designs anything, so you can change the message while it's still cheap to change. ### Design each screenshot around a real screen from your app Kite builds every screenshot around a real capture of your app, because the stores want screenshots that show the app in use and customers trust what they can see. You upload your screen captures to Kite in the Kite web app, or share them in Slack, and Kite designs around them. For each screenshot, Kite places your capture in a layout with the caption, a background, and, if you want it, a phone frame around the screen. It uses your brand's colors, fonts, and logo from what it has already learned about your brand, so the set looks like it belongs to your company rather than to a template. Where a screenshot needs extra artwork, such as an illustration behind the phone or a background in your brand colors, Kite can generate it or edit an existing image to fit. Kite sets the captions as exact text over the design rather than asking an image model to draw the words. That keeps every letter correct and in your brand font, which matters when a single typo would sit at the top of your listing for months. It also keeps your app's screens pixel for pixel as you captured them. A set usually has a consistent look from the first screenshot to the last, with the same caption position and background treatment, so a visitor reads it as one story. Some teams prefer a panoramic set, where one background runs across several screenshots. Kite can design either, and it explains which one it recommends for your app and why. ### What size do App Store and Google Play screenshots need to be? Each store has its own size rules, and Kite renders every image at the exact pixel size the store accepts, so you can upload the files without resizing them. The requirements below are the ones App Store Connect and Google Play Console list as of October 2026. Both stores update them as new devices come out, so check the current numbers in each console before you upload. On the App Store: - **iPhone.** Apple's largest iPhone size is the 6.9-inch display, in portrait at 1320 by 2868, 1290 by 2796, or 1260 by 2736 pixels (or the same sizes turned sideways for landscape). Screenshots at that size meet Apple's iPhone requirement, and Apple scales them down for smaller iPhones, so one set can cover every iPhone size. - **iPad.** Apps that run on iPad also need 13-inch iPad screenshots, at 2064 by 2752 or 2048 by 2732 pixels. - **How many.** You can upload from one to ten screenshots for each device size and each language, as JPEG or PNG files. On Google Play: - **Phone.** You need between two and eight screenshots, as JPEG or 24-bit PNG files without transparency. Each side must be between 320 and 3,840 pixels, and the long side can be no more than twice the short side. To be eligible for some of Google Play's featured placements, you need at least four screenshots that are at least 1,080 pixels on the short side, so 1080 by 1920 pixels is a common choice. - **Tablets and other devices.** Google Play accepts separate screenshot sets for 7-inch and 10-inch tablets, Chromebooks, and other device types. - **Feature graphic.** Every Google Play listing also needs a 1024 by 500 pixel feature graphic, which Kite designs in the same style as the screenshots. Because the two stores use different shapes, Kite lays out each set for each store rather than stretching one set to fit both. A caption that sits comfortably on a tall iPhone screenshot may need to wrap or shrink on a wider Google Play image, and Kite adjusts the layout so it still reads at thumbnail size. ### Make a preview video for your app listing A preview video shows your app in motion, and Kite can make one from your screen recordings with captions, music, and your brand's fonts and colors. Upload a few short recordings of the app doing what your screenshots promise, and Kite plans the order of the shots, writes the captions, and edits them into a vertical video. Apple calls these app previews. You can add up to three for each device size and language, each 15 to 30 seconds long, and Apple asks that they show footage captured from the app itself. So Kite builds an app preview from your recordings and adds captions and music around them rather than filling it with generated scenes. Kite makes videos at the length and shape you ask for, so tell it the device size you're targeting, and check the exact video resolution App Store Connect lists for that device before you upload. Google Play works differently. It takes a link to a YouTube video rather than an uploaded file, and the video plays from your listing's feature graphic. Kite can make that version longer or more like an ad, since Google Play doesn't limit it to footage from the app. You receive a playable video file, and Kite can also give you the editable project if you want to change it later. ### Test screenshot variants in the App Store and Google Play The best way to know whether new screenshots work is to test them against your current set, and both stores let you do that for free. Kite prepares the variants, and you run the test in each store's console. On the App Store, the feature is called product page optimization. You can test up to three alternative versions of your product page against your current one, changing the screenshots, the app preview, or the icon, and Apple splits your store traffic between them. On Google Play, the feature is called store listing experiments, and it works much the same way for screenshots, the feature graphic, the icon, and the listing text. A useful test changes one idea at a time. If one variant leads with "Split bills in one tap" and another leads with "See where every dollar went," the winner tells you which benefit your customers care about more. If the variants also change colors, layout, and screenshot order, you learn that one version won but not why. Kite builds its variants so each one tests a different message, and it labels each set with the idea it's testing. Kite can also design a set for each kind of customer you serve. Apple lets you create custom product pages, each with its own screenshots and a unique link, and Google Play lets you create custom store listings for different audiences. You can point an ad aimed at freelancers to a page whose screenshots lead with invoicing, and an ad aimed at families to one that leads with shared budgets. Kite doesn't have access to your App Store Connect or Google Play Console accounts, so it can't read the test results on its own. When a test ends, share the results with Kite, either by pasting the numbers or uploading a screenshot of the results page. Kite records whether each variant won, lost, or was inconclusive, along with what it thinks the result means, and keeps a list of ideas for the next round. The next time you ask for screenshots, it starts from what your customers have already responded to. For the rest of your listing, including the app name, subtitle, keywords, and description, see [Improve your app store listing](/use-cases/app-store-optimization.md). ## What you get - **A screenshot plan.** For each set, you see the order of the screenshots, the benefit each one makes, the screen that proves it, and the caption, along with the reviews and competitor listings that shaped it. - **Finished screenshot sets.** You get designed screenshots in your brand style, rendered at the exact sizes App Store Connect and Google Play Console accept, ready to upload. - **Variants worth testing.** Each alternative set is built around one message and labeled with the idea it tests, so the result tells you something you can use. - **A Google Play feature graphic.** It's designed in the same style as the screenshots, at the size Google Play requires. - **A preview video.** When you ask for one, you get a vertical video built from your screen recordings, with captions and music, plus the editable project if you want it. - **A record of what won.** Kite saves the result of each test and what it learned, so each new set builds on the last one. ## How to get started Tell Kite which app you want new screenshots for and share links to its App Store and Google Play listings. Then upload a few screen captures of the screens you think matter most. You might say, "Our App Store screenshots are just plain captures. Design two new sets we can test against them," or, "Make a 20-second app preview from these recordings." Kite reads your reviews and your competitors' listings, then brings back a screenshot plan for you to review. Once you agree on the plan, it designs the sets, shows you every image, and makes the changes you ask for. When you approve them, Kite gives you the files at each store's sizes. You upload the approved screenshots and start the test yourself in App Store Connect or Google Play Console. You don't need to connect any other product for Kite to research, design, or render the screenshots. You can work with Kite in the Kite web app or in Slack. ## Integrations used to design app store screenshots Kite reads your App Store listing, your recent reviews, and your competitors' public store pages with its own research tools, and it designs and renders the screenshots and video with its own image and video tools. So most of this work needs nothing connected. Search data providers add a wider view of the store search results, which helps when you want to know which apps your screenshots appear next to. ### See which apps you compete with in store search - [DataForSEO + Kite](/integrations/dataforseo.md): Look up App Store and Google Play search results for the searches your customers use, along with app details and reviews, to find the listings your screenshots appear beside. - [SerpApi + Kite](/integrations/serpapi.md): Search the App Store and Google Play by keyword and read the details, ratings, and reviews of competing apps before deciding what your screenshots should lead with. ## Common questions ### Can AI edit a screenshot of my app? Yes, but for store screenshots, the most useful work happens around the screenshot rather than inside it. Kite keeps the capture of your app exactly as it is, because Apple asks that screenshots show the app in use and customers should see the real product. It then adds the caption, background, phone frame, and any supporting artwork, and renders the finished image at the store's size. Captures work best when they show realistic content, such as a full budget or a week of logged habits, so it's worth filling a test account with good example data before you take them. ### What are Apple's guidelines for App Store screenshots? Apple asks that screenshots show the app in use, not just a title screen, a login page, or a splash screen. You can add text and images on top, such as captions and backgrounds, as long as the screenshots represent what the app actually does. Your listing will also be reviewed against Apple's wider rules on accurate metadata, so avoid claims the app can't back up. Kite writes captions from what your app does and what your reviewers say about it, which keeps them accurate. ### How many screenshots should I make? Make at least as many as the store needs for a full listing, but put most of your effort into the first three. The App Store allows up to ten screenshots per device size and Google Play allows up to eight per device type, but many visitors only see the first few in search results. A set of five to eight screenshots is common, with the strongest benefits first and supporting features later, and Kite designs as many as you want to upload. ### Can Kite make screenshots in other languages? Yes. Both stores let you upload a different set of screenshots for each language, and captions written for one market often read awkwardly when translated word for word. Kite can write the captions for each language you serve and render a set for each one, using captures of your app in that language if you provide them. ### Which tools do app teams use for screenshots and store listings? App teams use a mix of design tools, screenshot generators, and app store optimization tools that track keyword rankings and run audits. Kite covers the research, writing, design, and rendering in one place, and it remembers what won in earlier tests. For a wider look at the options, see The best ASO tools for small app teams (coming soon).