App store screenshots

App Store screenshots do the whole marketing job in a strip that most people scroll past in under two seconds. The mockup below is a portfolio design for a fictional pocket recipe app called Small Kitchen. Five screenshots at 6.7-inch iPhone aspect (1290 by 2796, cropped to fit the grid). Every screenshot pairs one line of marketing copy with one screen of real interface.

The strip tells the whole story

Reader on the App Store gets five screenshots and a two-line description. Almost nobody taps through to read the long copy. The strip has to make the pitch complete on its own. Screen one names the value ("cook what you already have"). Screen two shows the mechanic (snap the pantry). Screen three shows the moment of use (fourteen minute recipe with a timer). Screen four handles the emotional hook (waste). Screen five delivers social proof.

Copy above, screen below

Every screenshot has the same anatomy: two lines of headline, one line of subhead, then the phone. The type block sits above the phone, not overlaid on it. Overlaid copy competes with the interface behind it. A clean typographic band up top reads at any scroll speed and does not fight the screen it is selling.

Colour as a narrative

Backgrounds alternate cream, cream, cream, black, cream. The single black screen is screen four because that is the emotional beat that wants weight. Alternating colour would be gimmicky. Holding cream for three screens and then breaking to black lands harder.

Real interface, not a diorama

The screens shown are the actual first frames a new user sees. No composited illustrations, no floating badges, no "in this app you can" mockups. Apple's guidelines allow marketing frames, but the more the screenshot looks like the product itself, the less disappointment a user feels on the first tap after install. Reviews mentioning "not what the screenshots showed" is a solved problem.

Design decisions

• Type block above the device. Never overlaid, never rotated. Readable at every thumbnail size.
• One accent per screen. Gold for the pantry match, gold for the timer, gold for the star rating. Same shade in every case.
• Warm cream on the marketing surface. Same palette as the app itself so the install transition feels seamless.
• Social proof last. The reader has already seen how the app works. Testimonials at the front feel defensive.

The stack

Platform

SwiftUI native on iOS, mirrored on Android with Compose.

Design tools

Figma at 1290 by 2796, exported at 3x for App Store upload.

Production

Fastlane snapshot for automated screenshot generation from real UI.

Localisation

Ten locales built from the same layout with token-based copy swap.