App store screenshots and the feature graphic

This guide covers each store's rules in 2026, the order that works, and a way to produce everything in Canva in one afternoon.

Google Play's rules

Two rules that catch a lot of people:

• the longest side cannot be more than twice the shortest side. A 1080 × 2400 screenshot, a common ratio on today's phones, goes over the limit. Use 1080 × 1920 (9:16) and nobody has to crop anything;
• for the app to be eligible for store recommendations, Google asks for at least 4 screenshots at 1080 pixels or more on the shortest side, at 1080 × 1920 vertical or 1920 × 1080 horizontal.

Video is optional and goes in as a YouTube link.

The feature graphic

It is the 1024 × 500 horizontal banner shown at the top of the listing in some places in the store and when the app has a video. It is required, and many small apps upload anything there.

What works: the brand color, the app's name and a short sentence about what it solves, with the main element in the center. The store may crop the edges or cover it with the video button, so do not put anything important in the corners.

The App Store's rules

Apple accepts 1 to 10 screenshots per screen size, in JPEG or PNG, no transparency, and scales the images down on its own for smaller iPhone sizes.

On its specifications page, Apple currently marks as required the screenshot for the iPhone with Dynamic Island, medium screen, and the 13-inch iPad one if the app runs on iPad. That table has changed more than once in recent years, so check the official page (it is in the sources) on the day you export.

Besides screenshots, you can upload up to three short preview videos. They are optional.

Screenshots are part of the version. To change them, you submit them with a new version of the app. The promotional text, at 170 characters, changes at any time without review.

The order that works

Think of the screenshots as a sequence of posters, not a photo album of screens. An order that works for most business apps:

1. The main result. What the person gets: "Order your pizza in 3 taps", with the menu screen;
2. The screen that sets you apart. Order tracking, the schedule with free slots, the loyalty card;
3. How easy it is to pay. Card, local payment methods, no need to call;
4. What brings people back. History, reordering in one tap, promotion alerts;
5. Proof of trust. A screen with the business's address, hours and contact.

If you only make two good ones, make 1 and 2.

Captions: the sentence above the screen

Almost every well-ranked app uses a short sentence above the phone image. The rules for it:

• three to six words, readable in the search thumbnail;
• the benefit, not the feature: "Book without calling" works better than "Scheduling module";
• a large, bold font, with strong contrast against the background;
• one idea per screenshot.

What to avoid in the images: "#1", "best app", an award badge you did not win, and screens of features the app does not have. Both stores treat a misleading listing as grounds for rejection, and Google's metadata policy forbids this kind of performance claim in the listing.

How to make them in Canva

1. Take the screenshots on your own phone, with the app open and realistic data: products with photos, real names, no "test 123". Prefer a device with a clean status bar, without twenty notifications at the top;
2. Create a 1080 × 1920 px design for Google Play and another at 1206 × 2622 px for iPhone;
3. Paint the background with the brand color or a light gradient;
4. Write the caption in the top third;
5. Place the screenshot below, inside one of Canva's phone frames or just with rounded corners and a light shadow;
6. Duplicate the page for each screenshot and change only the screenshot and the sentence. That way they all look consistent;
7. Download as PNG or JPG. Check that no transparency was left in the background, because both stores reject it.

For the Google Play feature graphic, create another 1024 × 500 px design with the same color and the same font.

A shortcut that saves time: make the iPhone set first, then use Canva's resize feature to generate the 1080 × 1920 version. Review them one by one, because text sometimes moves.

Common mistakes

• a screenshot of the empty app, with no data, showing a white screen with one button;
• screenshots in another language or with sample text left over from a template;
• the same image five times, only changing the color;
• small lettering that can only be read by zooming in;
• old screenshots, from a version that has since changed. The store and the user notice.

Where this fits on Fabapp

On Fabapp, the app you describe is published at its own address and can become a native app for both stores, submitted under your own developer account. You upload the screenshots and the feature graphic directly in Play Console and App Store Connect, on the app's listing.

The fastest way to take the screenshots is to open the published app on your own phone, or install the test build, with real data entered. The publishing walkthrough is in the guide Publishing your app to the stores.

The summary

• Google Play: a required 1024 × 500 feature graphic, 2 to 8 screenshots, and 4 at 1080 px to be eligible for recommendations;
• App Store: 1 to 10 screenshots per screen size, no transparency, checking on Apple's page which size is required that day;
• the first two screenshots decide it: the main result and what sets the app apart;
• a short caption, with the benefit, readable in the thumbnail;
• make everything from a single template in Canva and change the screenshot and sentence on each page.