How many App Store screenshots actually show up in search

What Apple requires

Apple’s own documentation states you can feature up to 10 screenshots on your App Store and Mac App Store product pages. For the specific image-size specifications, it points to App Store Connect Help.

Apple’s exact image specifications (confirmed 2026-09-17)

App Store Connect Help’s “Screenshot specifications” page lists the detailed requirements. As of that date it states you can upload 1 to 10 screenshots per app, in .jpeg, .jpg, or .png format, and that images can’t include alpha channels or transparency. Apple can change these specifications at any time, so always check that page directly for the current values. What follows is scoped to iPhone and iPad only, matching what ASO Lens’s data model actually tracks (screenshotUrls and ipadScreenshotUrls) — the same page also lists separate specs for Mac, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, and Apple Watch, which are out of scope here.

iPhone has eight display-size tiers, each with its own required pixel dimensions (portrait/landscape):

• 6.9″ display (iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and others): 1260×2736px (portrait) / 2736×1260px (landscape), among other resolutions. Unlike every other tier, this one has no “Requirement” note of its own.
• 6.5″ display (iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 13 Pro Max, and others): 1284×2778px (portrait), among others. Stated as “Required if app runs on iPhone and screenshots for 6.9″ display aren’t provided” — if 6.9″ screenshots are missing, Apple auto-scales them down to fill this tier.
• 6.3″ display (iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro, and others): 1179×2556px (portrait), among others. Auto-scaled down from 6.5″ if not provided.
• 6.1″ display (iPhone 16e, iPhone 13, and others): 1170×2532px (portrait), among others. Auto-scaled down from 6.5″ if not provided.
• 5.5″ display (iPhone 8 Plus, and others): 1242×2208px (portrait). Auto-scaled down from 6.1″ if not provided.
• 4.7″ display (iPhone SE 3rd/2nd generation, and others): 750×1334px (portrait). Auto-scaled down from 5.5″ if not provided.
• 4″ display (iPhone SE 1st generation, and others): 640×1136px (portrait, with status bar), among others. Auto-scaled down from 4.7″ if not provided.
• 3.5″ display (iPhone 4S, and others): 640×960px (portrait, with status bar), among others. Auto-scaled down from 4″ if not provided.

iPad has five display-size tiers:

• 13″ display (iPad Pro (M5, M4), and others): 2064×2752px (portrait), among others. Stated as “Required if app runs on iPad.”
• 12.9″ display (iPad Pro 2nd generation): 2048×2732px (portrait). Auto-scaled down from 13″ if not provided.
• 11″ display (iPad Pro (M5, M4), and others): 1488×2266px (portrait), among others. Auto-scaled down from 13″ if not provided.
• 10.5″ display (iPad Pro, iPad Air 3rd generation, and others): 1668×2224px (portrait). Auto-scaled down from 12.9″ if not provided.
• 9.7″ display (iPad Pro, iPad, iPad mini 5th generation, and others): 1536×2008px (portrait, no status bar), among others. Auto-scaled down from 10.5″ if not provided.

In short: providing screenshots only for the largest tier (6.9″ for iPhone, 13″ for iPad) is enough — Apple auto-generates scaled-down versions for the smaller tiers. You don’t have to supply every tier individually, though a tier-specific screenshot you do upload takes precedence over an auto-scaled one.

How many appear in search results

Apple’s documentation states that, depending on screenshot orientation, “the first one to three images will appear in search results when no app preview is available.” So “you can register up to 10” and “how many actually show up in search results” are two different things — only a small subset is shown in that particular listing context. Apple’s documentation ties the exact count to orientation but, as of this writing, doesn’t specify further than that — and that’s as far as this article goes on the point.

What ASO Lens actually scores

ASO Lens’s scoring logic (src/core/scoring/rules/creative.ts) checks exactly three things about screenshots:

• iPhone screenshot count (12 points). Full marks at 5+, partial at 3–4, a lower partial at 1–2, zero at 0.
• Whether a preview video exists (5 points). Full marks if present, zero if not.
• Whether iPad screenshots exist (3 points). Full marks with 1 or more, zero otherwise.

That’s count and presence — nothing more. Which image comes first, portrait vs. landscape, whether text is overlaid on the image: none of that is checked by ASO Lens’s scoring, because there is no verified evidence behind those factors’ effects to check against.

What this article deliberately left out

Claims like “the first screenshot matters most,” “portrait outperforms landscape,” or “adding caption text lifts conversion” are common online, but neither Apple’s own documentation nor this codebase backs them with anything verifiable, so they aren’t covered here. Apple does state that the first one to three screenshots can appear in search results — but turning that fact into advice like “so put your best work in the first slot” goes beyond what this article can actually verify.

What Apple does officially recommend

The following are Apple’s own stated recommendations, which can be distinguished from unsourced third-party conventional wisdom.

• If your app supports Dark Mode, Apple recommends including at least one screenshot showing what the experience looks like in Dark Mode.
• If your app is available in multiple languages, Apple recommends localizing screenshots for each market.

Summary

Here’s what’s verifiable: Apple allows up to 10 screenshots, but only the first one to three appear in search results when there’s no app preview. ASO Lens scores only count and presence — screenshot count, whether a preview video exists, whether iPad screenshots exist — and does not evaluate image content or ordering. Unsourced “best practices” are intentionally left out of this article.