# App Store screenshot best practices: what goes in the first three

> Markdown version of https://storeglow.app/app-store-screenshot-best-practices/, updated 2026-10-30. Storeglow, https://storeglow.app/

Search shows up to three screenshots. What each should do, what 2,394 top apps do (98% show three portrait), and Apple's rules.

Search shows up to three screenshots, and that's all most people see before they decide to tap. Here's what each of the three should do, what top apps do, and Apple's rules in Apple's words.

By [Marius Gehler](https://storeglow.app/about/) · Published 30 October 2026 · Checked 30 October 2026

**97.8%** of top apps fill search with three portrait screenshots

**1.5%** start in landscape and show one

**0.7%** have fewer than three

**7** screenshots in a top app's set (median)

**The short answer:** Treat the first three as one story: the promise, the main action, the reason to pick you. Show the app in use, with a headline of a few words that's readable at thumbnail size.

Apple: “Depending on the orientation of your screenshots, the first one to three images will appear in search results when no app preview is available, so make sure these highlight the essence of your app.” [Creating your product page](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/product-page/)

## What search shows of your set

In App Store search on an iPhone, portrait screenshots sit three in a row, each about 111 points wide. A landscape first screenshot takes the whole row, about 350 points wide, and the others stay hidden. Of the 2,394 top free apps in our [screenshot study](https://storeglow.app/app-store-screenshot-study/) (30 October 2026), 97.8% show three portrait screenshots there, 1.5% show one in landscape, and 0.7% have fewer than three, which leaves part of the row empty.

At 111 points, a screenshot is about as wide as a thumb. Only big headlines can be read; interface text can't. That's why the headline, not the screen behind it, carries the message in search.

## Slot by slot

| Screenshot | Its job | Seen in |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **1. The promise** | What the app does for people, in two to five words, over the screen that delivers it. If someone sees only this one, they should know what they'd get. | Search and the product page; of a landscape set, the only one search shows |
| **2. The main action** | The one thing people do most in your app, shown being done: the workout running, the budget filling up, the level in play. | Search (portrait sets) and the product page |
| **3. The reason to pick you** | What sets the app apart from the results next to it: a feature the others lack, or proof such as an award. Not a login screen, not a settings page. | Search (portrait sets) and the product page |
| **4 and on** | One benefit or feature each. Apple: “Focus each subsequent screenshot on a main benefit or feature so that you fully convey your app’s value.” | The product page, for people who swipe |

This order is our advice, not Apple's rule. Apple asks only that the first ones highlight the essence of your app and that each later one focuses on one benefit. A game may rather lead with play than with a headline, and an app people already know by name can lead with what's new.

## Apple's rules for every screenshot

- **Show the app in use**: Guideline 2.3.3: “Screenshots should show the app in use, and not merely the title art, login page, or splash screen.”
- **More than half in use**: “App Review takes the set of screenshots submitted for each supported device into account, and will approve only those submissions where more than half of screenshots show the app in use.” The rest can be marketing images.
- **Text on top is fine**: “You can include messaging and other visuals, as long as the primary app functionality in the screenshot isn’t obscured.”
- **No prices**: Guideline 2.3.7: “Metadata such as app names, subtitles, screenshots, and previews should not include prices, terms, or descriptions that are not specific to the metadata type.”
- **Up to 10**: Per display size and language. Top apps show 7 (median); the [study](https://storeglow.app/app-store-screenshot-study/) has the numbers by category.
- **Dark Mode**: “If your app supports Dark Mode, consider including at least one screenshot that showcases what the experience looks like for users.”
- **Per language**: “Screenshots can be tailored to a localization.” A headline translated into a longer language has to stay readable in search too.

## Check the three before you upload

1. **Look at them small**: Put the three side by side at search size, next to the apps you compete with. The free [App Store search preview](https://storeglow.app/app-store-search-preview/) does that with your own files, before they go live.
2. **The three-second test**: Show only the first three to someone who doesn't know the app, for three seconds. If they can't say what it does, change the headlines first.
3. **Light and dark**: Search sits on white or black depending on the phone. A white screenshot glows on black; a dark one can disappear.
4. **Test, don't guess**: Product Page Optimization shows up to 3 other versions of your page to a share of visitors for up to 90 days. Swap only the first three, so you know what made the difference. For different searches, [Custom Product Pages](https://storeglow.app/custom-product-pages/) give each keyword its own first three.

In Storeglow's editor, the checks name each of the first three screens whose headline is missing or too small to read in search, and the store preview shows the set as a search result. Any design tool works for the advice on this page, though; what matters is looking at the three at their real size.

## What nobody can tell you

Apple publishes no numbers on how many people swipe past the third screenshot, and the figures that circulate come from ASO vendors' own data. The study above counts screenshots; it can't see what's on them or how well they convert. Your own A/B test is the only number about your app.

Sources: [Apple, Creating your product page](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/product-page/); [Apple, App Review: 2.3.3 Screenshots](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-review/guideline-reference/2-3-3-screenshots); [App Review Guidelines](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/) (2.3.3, 2.3.7), all checked 30 October 2026. The widths in search are our own measurement on an iPhone, not Apple's figures. Sizes for every device: [App Store screenshot sizes](https://storeglow.app/app-store-screenshot-sizes/).

## Questions

### How many screenshots show in App Store search results?

Up to three. Portrait screenshots sit side by side, three in a row; a landscape first screenshot fills the row alone. Apple: “Depending on the orientation of your screenshots, the first one to three images will appear in search results when no app preview is available, so make sure these highlight the essence of your app.”

### What should the first App Store screenshot show?

The app in use, with a short headline that says what it does for people. It's the one screenshot everybody sees, in search and on the product page, so it carries the pitch on its own.

### Can my first screenshot be a marketing image without the app?

Apple allows it as long as more than half of the set shows the app in use: “App Review takes the set of screenshots submitted for each supported device into account, and will approve only those submissions where more than half of screenshots show the app in use.” Since the first three are all most people see, it's wiser to show the app in them.

### Does an app preview video replace the first screenshots in search?

Apple's sentence on search covers the screenshots “when no app preview is available”, which implies that a preview takes their place there; Apple doesn't spell out how. On the product page previews play without sound: “App previews autoplay with muted audio when users view your product page, so make sure the first few seconds of your video are visually compelling.” You can add up to 3 per device size and language.

### Can I put prices in a screenshot?

No. Guideline 2.3.7: “Metadata such as app names, subtitles, screenshots, and previews should not include prices, terms, or descriptions that are not specific to the metadata type.”