App screenshots and video: each store's rules, and what to show first

App Store screenshots and previews: the specs#

Apple's screenshot specifications ask for at least one screenshot and take up to 10 per device size, as .jpeg, .jpg or .png files. Images can't include alpha channels or transparency. Its list of required sizes names two: iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display), and the iPad 13-inch display if the app supports iPadOS. The same page contradicts itself on the largest iPhones. Its entry for iPhone with Face ID (large display) is "Required if app runs on iPhone and screenshots for iPhone with Dynamic Island (large display) aren't provided." Apple describes scaling only downward, so upload a 1320 x 2868 set as well and you meet both readings.

If the interface is the same across sizes and languages, Apple says you only need the highest required resolution, and App Store Connect scales it down for smaller devices. Upload separate sets only where the app looks different. Apple adds that iPhone Duo screenshots put a badge on your product page saying the app is made for iPhone Duo.

App previews are optional. You can upload up to three per device size and language, each 15 to 30 seconds and up to 500 MB, as .mov, .m4v or .mp4 (H.264) or .mov (ProRes 422 HQ), at up to 30 frames per second. Every iPhone size with Face ID or Dynamic Island, and iPhone Duo, takes the same video: 886 x 1920 pixels in portrait, 1920 x 886 in landscape. The iPad 13-inch size takes 1200 x 1600. Processing can take up to 24 hours.

Two placement rules catch people out. Previews always appear before screenshots on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV, even if you reorder them. And a preview in a different aspect ratio from your screenshots moves to the "A Closer Look" section of the page. The poster frame, shown when a video doesn't autoplay, defaults to the frame at 5 seconds, and Apple's asset help says it can't be edited once the asset is approved.

Google Play graphics and video: the specs#

Google lists every asset on one page, Add preview assets to showcase your app. Its Requirements are mandatory: missing them can get an app removed or suspended. Its Highly recommended items affect how eligible your assets are for Play's recommendation and promotion formats.

• Screenshots: at least two to publish, across device types, and up to 8 per device type (phones, 7-inch and 10-inch tablets, Chromebooks, Android TV, Wear OS, Android Automotive OS and Android XR). JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha, 320 to 3,840 pixels a side, with the long side no more than twice the short side.
• For the recommendation formats that use screenshots, an app needs at least four, of at least 1080 pixels: 9:16 portrait (1080 x 1920 or more) or 16:9 landscape (1920 x 1080 or more). A game needs at least three.
• Tablets and Chromebooks: at least 4 screenshots, 1,080 to 7,680 pixels, in 16:9 or 9:16.
• Feature graphic: required to publish, 1024 x 500 pixels, JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha. It is the cover of your preview video, and Play shows it in large-format collections of apps, ads included. Keep the logo, app name and main UI toward the center: Google marks cutoff zones that some formats crop.
• Preview video: one YouTube URL (not a playlist or channel), public or unlisted, not age-restricted, embeddable, with ads turned off. It shows before your screenshots and may autoplay muted for up to 30 seconds, depending on the device, settings and network.
• App icon: 512 x 512 pixels, 32-bit PNG, up to 1,024 KB.

Since June 2026, Google has moved Play Shorts, its short-form videos, into Play Console. Google's page says they are open to select partners only and currently show only in the United States.

The two stores side by side#

Apple's asset best practices say creative assets appear across the App Store in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 and later, on the product page, in search results and when an app is featured. They are optional and separate from your screenshots. In search results, a search results asset, when you set one, shows in place of your in-app events, previews and screenshots.

What screenshots may not say#

On the App Store, section 2.3 of the App Review Guidelines covers screenshots and previews:

• No prices, terms or descriptions that don't belong in a screenshot or preview (2.3.7).
• If they show items, levels or subscriptions that cost extra, they must say so (2.3.2). Apple's app preview guidance adds a required login to what a preview must disclose.
• Suitable for a 4+ age rating even if the app is rated higher (2.3.8), with fictional account details rather than a real person's data (2.3.9).
• No names, icons or imagery of other mobile platforms or app marketplaces (2.3.10).
• Previews may only use screen captures of the app itself (2.3.4), and Apple asks you not to film people handling the device.
• Creative assets, the iOS 27 header and search results images, should not include "unverifiable product claims, or specific or discounted pricing information" (2.3.14).

Apple's asset best practices go further: no specific prices or discounts, website URLs or copyright symbols, no awards the app hasn't received, and no Apple recognitions such as Editor's Choice or App of the Day. For screenshots, Apple advises against using the entire image for general accolades or calls to action.

Google's preview asset guidelines tell you not to include anything in a screenshot that reflects or suggests Play performance, ranking, accolades, awards, quotes from users, or price and promotional information, and name words such as "Best", "#1", "Top", "New", "Discount", "Sale" and "Million Downloads". Leave out calls to action such as "Download now". Taglines should not take up more than 20% of the image. Use captured footage of the app, with no fingers on a device unless the app is used off the device, and tidy the status bar: no carrier name or notifications, and full battery, Wi-Fi and signal icons.

Google files these screenshot rules under Highly recommended: breaking them doesn't block the listing, but can limit where Play shows your screenshots. Rank and price claims are a policy matter too: Google's metadata policy lists images or text that indicate store performance, ranking, price or promotional information among its common violations.

What to show first#

So without a preview, your first screenshots are your App Store search result. With one, the preview comes first and autoplays with muted audio, so its first few seconds and its poster frame do that job, and Apple asks for those seconds to be visually compelling. Apple suggests focusing each later screenshot on one main benefit or feature, and including a Dark Mode screenshot if the app supports it. On iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 a search results creative asset can take the spot; without one, Apple shows your in-app events, previews and screenshots.

On Google Play the preview video comes first, behind a play button laid over your feature graphic, and the screenshots follow. Google asks for the core experience within the first 10 seconds of the video, and for at least 80% of it to show the real app. Both stores mute video by default, so put the point in on-screen text.

A video is not automatically better. On its product page optimization page, Apple describes a developer who tested adding an app preview as the first asset; the original page, without the video, did better. Test the order rather than assume it.

A practical order for most apps: the screen people open the app for, then the two or three features that set it apart, then signs of depth such as content, settings or integrations. Apple's advice for captions is a short phrase that adds to the image rather than describing it.

If App Store Connect shows plenty of search impressions but few downloads, these first assets are the place to look. The diagnosis page walks through it.

Localizing screenshots#

Apple asks you to localize screenshots and app previews for each market you sell in. App Store Connect takes separate sets per localization, and if a language has no preview of its own, the preview in the next best available language shows instead.

Google draws a useful line: in-game UI doesn't need to be localized per market, but taglines and text overlays should be. Its best practices ask for separate screenshots and videos for each supported language when the screenshots contain text.

One trap on Play: once you add localized graphics for a language, people viewing the listing in that language are left out of default graphics experiments, even when you only test the icon (Google). Test those languages with a localized experiment instead. The localization guide covers the rest of a localized listing.

Testing screenshots, and shipping the winner#

Only a store's own test splits visitors at random, so only a test can say which set does better. Product page optimization tests up to three treatments of the icon, screenshots and app previews against your original page, for up to 90 days, and Apple recommends waiting until a treatment is declared better or worse with at least 90% confidence. Apple's asset best practices add that header visuals can be tested the same way. Play's store listing experiments test up to two variants of the icon, feature graphic and screenshots, and Google recommends changing one asset at a time. Google's list of testable assets doesn't include the preview video.

Small apps need patience. The store test calculator estimates how many days a test needs from a week of your own numbers, and the smallest change your traffic can show. The store listing tests guide covers setting up and reading both tests.

Then the winner has to go live. On the App Store, screenshots belong to an app version: Apple's asset help has you submit them while a version is in Prepare for Submission, Invalid Binary or one of the Rejected states. A product page optimization result is the exception. You can apply a treatment to the live product page at any time. Only its screenshots and previews are applied, an icon change waits for your next version, applying stops a running test, and it can't be undone.

Apple's Asset Library helps with timing. Once the app has an approved version, you can submit images and videos for review on their own, without a new app version, and reuse them later in a version, a test or a custom product page. Apple's help gives a path to update a live version's creative assets, such as the product page header, with approved assets and no new version. It gives no such path for screenshots.

While a test runs, hold back any version that changes the assets under test: Apple warns that it may affect the results.

A screenshot checklist#

1. Upload iPhone sets at 1206 x 2622 and 1320 x 2868, and the iPad 13-inch size if the app runs on iPad. Plan iPhone Duo screenshots before April 2027. On Play, upload at least four 9:16 screenshots of 1080 x 1920 or more.
2. Make the first three screenshots, or the first seconds of a preview, show the app's main job in its real interface.
3. Give each later screenshot one benefit and a short caption. On Play, keep taglines under 20% of the image.
4. Remove prices, discounts, ranking words, awards, store badges and calls to action from every image.
5. Tidy the status bar and use fictional account data.
6. Localize the text in the images for every language you support.
7. On Play, add a 1024 x 500 feature graphic with the key elements centered, and a YouTube video with ads turned off.
8. Put the new set to a product page optimization test or a store listing experiment, and act only when the store declares a result.
9. Write down the day the new set appeared on the public listing.

Where RocketASO fits#

RocketASO reads your App Store and Google Play reports, names the fix estimated to be worth most this week, and compares installs before and after it. Each read, at 7 and 14 days, is a before-and-after read, not a controlled test; for a new screenshot set, the store's own test is the stronger evidence. Nothing reaches the store until you approve it. To start without connecting anything, run the free ASO audit on a public listing.