How to create App Store screenshots, step by step

Found a store listing whose screenshots you love? You don't have to rebuild it by hand. Drino Shots' Design from an image looks at screenshots of that listing and recreates the look as an editable set: the layout, colors, fonts, text styles, badges and decorations, with your app's screenshots in the phones. Every part stays editable, so you change what you want and keep the rest.

1. 1

   Screenshot a listing you like

   Take a screenshot of the App Store or Google Play page, or save its screenshots. Up to five images, separate or one image of the whole set.

2. 2

   Open Design from an image

   In the editor, or with the button under the title of the template gallery. Drop the images in, or paste a screenshot with ⌘V, then choose whether to design into the open project or a new one.

3. 3

   Let AI rebuild the design

   In about 15 seconds you get the same kind of layout, color palette, lettering and elements, laid out on your slides with your screenshots.

4. 4

   Make it yours

   Rewrite the headlines for your app, swap colors or fonts, move phones and elements, then export every size like any other design.

Design from an image is part of Pro and the App Pass, and each design uses 3 AI requests. Use it for inspiration, not imitation: replace any brand names, logos or claims from the reference with your own.

• At least one and up to 10 screenshots for each display size.
• .jpeg, .jpg or .png, with no transparency.
• Exact pixel sizes. One iPhone size is required; App Store Connect scales it down for smaller displays. The App Store screenshot sizes guide lists them all.
• An iPad set only if your app runs on iPad.
• One set per language you localize the app into, if you want localized screenshots; otherwise every language shows the main ones.

1. 1

   Decide what the set says

   List the five to eight things people get from your app and put them in order of importance. The first screenshot carries your main promise; each one after it adds one more reason to install.

2. 2

   Capture clean screens

   Use the Simulator or a real device. Fill the app with realistic sample content (no lorem ipsum, no real people's data), and tidy the status bar: full battery, full signal, a neutral time.

3. 3

   Write the captions

   Give each screenshot a headline of two to six words that says what the person gets, not what the feature is called: “Split bills in seconds” beats “Bill splitting”. Add a subtitle only when it helps.

4. 4

   Design the slides

   Place each capture in a device frame (or show the screen alone), add the caption and a background. Keep one type style, one color system and the same layout logic across the set. A template gets you there faster, or rebuild a design you like from a screenshot.

5. 5

   Export the sizes

   Export the required iPhone size, and the 13-inch iPad size if your app runs on iPad. Check that the files have no transparency and the exact pixel dimensions.

6. 6

   Upload in App Store Connect

   Open your app, pick the version you're preparing, and drag the files into the screenshot area for each display size, in the order you want them shown. Switch the language at the top to upload localized sets.

• Text too small to read in search. In search results each screenshot is a thumbnail; a caption that needs zooming isn't read.
• Opening with a login or splash screen. Apple's App Review Guidelines ask for screenshots that show the app in use, and a sign-in form sells nothing.
• Every slide in a different style. A set that looks like one piece reads as one product.
• Showing what the app doesn't do. Screenshots must match the app people download; promising more leads to rejections and bad reviews.
• A phone layout in the iPad set. Show the iPad interface on iPad screenshots.

Pick a template, or let AI rebuild a listing you like from a screenshot, upload your captures (they drop into the slides in order), and edit the text on the canvas. AI can write captions from your screenshots and translate them, and each language and each device (iPhone, iPad, Android) can have its own screenshots while sharing the design. When you export, choose the sizes and languages and you get every file at its exact pixel size.