# App Store screenshot sizes in pixels: what upload accepts

Source: https://flexdger.com/blog/app-store-screenshot-resolution
Updated: 2026-11-01
Published: 2026-08-27
Topic: App Store screenshots (https://flexdger.com/blog/app-store)

> App Store screenshots are measured in pixels, not DPI. The iPhone and iPad sizes Apple lists, the points-times-scale maths, and the checks that fail uploads.

Start from the upload checks that actually reject files, then work backwards to the pixel sizes Apple lists for each iPhone and iPad slot, and the arithmetic that produces them.

**Short answer:** Apple lists pixel sizes only and never mentions DPI. For iPhone, upload the 6.3-inch class Apple marks as required (“iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display)”) at 1206 × 2622 or 1179 × 2556 px, plus a set for the largest phones (the 6.9-inch class, 1320 × 2868 or 1290 × 2796 px), as PNG or JPEG with no alpha channel.

## Four checks that reject a file at upload

Before anyone at Apple looks at your screenshots, the upload box applies a few mechanical tests. Most failed uploads trace back to one of these, so run through them first:

1. **File type.** Apple lists .jpeg, .jpg and .png. HEIC, WebP and TIFF are out.
2. **Color space.** Apple's page does not name one. Our own advice is to export standard RGB and avoid CMYK.
3. **Transparency.** Apple's wording is that images “can’t include alpha channels or transparencies”. A PNG may hold an alpha channel even when every pixel is fully opaque, and as written the rule still counts that as a violation.
4. **Exact size.** The width and height must match one of the sizes Apple lists for the slot. A file one pixel off does not appear on any list.

**Why the Simulator is the usual culprit.** We captured screenshots with `xcrun simctl io <device> screenshot --type=png` on 18 Simulator devices in Xcode 27.0 (iOS 27.0). Each PNG had the device's exact pixel size and an alpha channel. On the single file we examined pixel by pixel (an iPhone 16 Plus, 1290 × 2796), every pixel was opaque, which changes nothing: the channel is there, so the file breaks Apple's rule. Convert before uploading.

## Pixels are the only unit that counts

People ask about “resolution” because the word comes from print, where it means dots per inch and only makes sense next to a physical size. A store listing has no physical size. A screenshot is a grid of pixels and nothing else.

Image files can still declare a density: a PNG can hold a `pHYs` chunk, a JPEG can hold JFIF density fields, and either may say 72, 144 or 300 DPI. Apple's specification page gives pixel dimensions and says nothing about DPI. We never uploaded files that differed only in their density tag, so we make no claim about how they are treated. Our practical rule: get the pixel grid right and do not touch the tag. An image that is `1179 × 2556` pixels stays exactly that whatever it declares.

## The slots you have to fill, and the ones that fill themselves

Apple's section “Required device sizes”, last re-read on 1 November 2026, asks for two things: an iPhone set in the 6.3-inch class, and a 13-inch iPad set if the app supports iPadOS. Everything else can be derived. Apple's own phrase is that you “only need to provide screenshots for the highest required resolution”, and App Store Connect shrinks that set into the smaller slots.

One wrinkle: the 6.9-inch and 6.5-inch slots fill only from each other, never from the 6.3-inch set. Add a 6.9-inch set if you want the biggest phones covered properly.

Scaling works, with two costs worth knowing about:

- **Softness.** A shrunk copy loses fine type and hairlines. Give any screen where detail matters its own native set.
- **Slightly different proportions.** `1290 × 2796` is 1:2.167, whereas `1242 × 2688` is 1:2.164. The store absorbs that, but a layout glued tight to the edge can move by a pixel or two.

The table below runs from the slots in play today to the historical ones. The [screenshot size calculator](https://flexdger.com/tools/screenshot-size-calculator) maps a device straight to its slot if you would rather not scan it.

## Every size Apple lists, portrait

| Slot | Pixels | Which devices, and anything Apple adds |
|---|---|---|
| 6.3-inch, iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display) | `1179 × 2556`, `1206 × 2622` | **Required** for iPhone. Covers 18 Pro, 17 Pro, 17, 16 Pro, 16, 15 Pro, 15, 14 Pro |
| 13-inch iPad display | `2064 × 2752`, `2048 × 2732` | **Required** when the app runs on iPad |
| 6.9-inch, iPhone with Dynamic Island (large display) | `1260 × 2736`, `1290 × 2796`, `1320 × 2868` | iPhone Air, 18 Pro Max, 17 Pro Max, 16 Pro Max, 16 Plus, 15 Plus, 14 Pro Max. Fills from the 6.5-inch class |
| iPhone Duo | `1398 × 2034`, `2007 × 2853` | Outer display is 1398 × 2034; inner display is 2007 × 2853. Apple says screenshots become mandatory from April 2027 for apps built with the iOS 27.1 SDK or later |
| 6.5-inch, iPhone with Face ID (large display) | `1284 × 2778`, `1242 × 2688` | 14 Plus, 13 Pro Max, 12 Pro Max, 11 Pro Max, 11, XS Max, XR. Apple makes it required when the app runs on iPhone and no 6.9-inch set is supplied |
| 6.1-inch, iPhone with Face ID (medium display) | `1170 × 2532`, `1125 × 2436`, `1080 × 2340` | 17e, 16e, 14, 13, 12, 11 Pro, XS, X, and the minis |
| 5.5-inch, iPhone with Home Button (large display) | `1242 × 2208` | 8 Plus, 7 Plus, 6S Plus, 6 Plus |
| 4.7-inch, iPhone with Home Button (medium display) | `750 × 1334` | SE (2nd and 3rd generation), 8, 7, 6S |
| 4-inch, iPhone with Home Button | `640 × 1096`, `640 × 1136` | SE (1st generation), 5S, 5C, 5. The 1096 version leaves out the status bar; the 1136 version includes it |
| 3.5-inch, iPhone with Home Button | `640 × 920`, `640 × 960` | 4S, 4. The 920 version leaves out the status bar; the 960 version includes it |
| 12.9-inch iPad display | `2048 × 2732` | Fills from the 13-inch class |
| 11-inch iPad display | `1488 × 2266`, `1668 × 2420`, `1668 × 2388`, `1640 × 2360` | Fills from the 13-inch class |
| 10.5-inch iPad display | `1668 × 2224` | Fills from the 12.9-inch class |
| 9.7-inch iPad display | `1536 × 2008`, `1536 × 2048`, `768 × 1004`, `768 × 1024` | Fills from the 10.5-inch class |

Sizes can be turned sideways for landscape: `2796 × 1290` is simply the portrait `1290 × 2796` rotated. Choosing landscape does not oblige you to also upload portrait.

## Deriving a pixel size from a device

Every number above is a screen measured in points, multiplied by the screen's scale factor. The arithmetic never changes, even when Apple changes which slots it insists on. Worked through for phones, all at 3×:

- 440 × 956 pt gives `1320 × 2868`, the 16 Pro Max, which Apple groups as 6.9-inch.
- 430 × 932 pt gives `1290 × 2796`: 15 and 16 Plus, 14 and 15 Pro Max, nominally 6.7-inch.
- 428 × 926 pt gives `1284 × 2778`: the 12 and 13 Pro Max, 6.5-inch.
- 414 × 896 pt gives `1242 × 2688`: the 11 Pro Max and XS Max, also 6.5-inch.
- 402 × 874 pt gives `1206 × 2622`: the 16 Pro, 6.3-inch.
- 393 × 852 pt gives `1179 × 2556`: the 14 Pro, 15 and 16, 6.1-inch.
- 390 × 844 pt gives `1170 × 2532`: the 12, 13 and 14, 6.1-inch.
- 414 × 736 pt gives `1242 × 2208`: the 8 Plus, 5.5-inch.

Mind the difference between a handset and an upload slot. A phone with a 6.7-inch diagonal is uploaded into the 6.9-inch class, because Apple merged them. The device did not grow; the bucket did.

iPads use a 2× scale instead:

- 1032 × 1376 pt (13-inch iPad Pro) gives `2064 × 2752`.
- 1024 × 1366 pt (12.9-inch iPad Pro) gives `2048 × 2732`.
- 834 × 1194 pt (11-inch iPad Pro and Air) gives `1668 × 2388`.
- 820 × 1180 pt (10.9-inch iPad) gives `1640 × 2360`.
- 768 × 1024 pt (9.7-inch iPad) gives `1536 × 2048`.

### Mandatory sets move, so verify

Which slots App Store Connect demands has changed more than once, most recently in October 2026, when the required iPhone class became 6.3-inch. Read Apple's current page before you upload. Treat this article, like any third-party list, as a snapshot of how the requirement has behaved, not a forecast.

## Count, order and localization

Each device class takes up to ten screenshots, shown in upload order. That order matters more than any pixel decision here. On a phone, most shoppers stop after two or three images, so frame one has to make the whole case alone.

A localization can have its own set at the same sizes; one without a set falls back on another. Settle early whether you will localize the images, because that is the gap between producing one set and producing twelve.

## Getting exact pixels out of a design

Two habits remove most of the trouble. Design on a canvas that divides evenly into the target size, so export is a single multiplication and not a resample of a resample. And measure the finished file instead of trusting the exporter.

A tool that renders on the device itself avoids resizing altogether. [Flexdger Wallet](https://flexdger.com/) runs in your own phone's browser and you screenshot it there, so the image arrives at that phone's native size: `1179 × 2556` from a 393 pt screen at 3×, with nothing left to scale. Still measure it, because not every phone's native size is on Apple's list. A wallet screen composed this way is a prop, never proof of a balance, so label it as an illustration wherever a listing could read as a claim.

The error to avoid is blowing an exported screenshot up to fill a bigger slot. Upscaling creates no detail and blurs precisely what makes a screen believable: small type, hairlines, icon edges. For a larger set, export again from the source at the larger size, or build once at the biggest size and let the store shrink it.

## Measure the file before you upload

macOS already has the tool:

`sips -g pixelWidth -g pixelHeight -g hasAlpha screenshot.png`

The answer should be a width and height from the table and `hasAlpha: no`. When alpha shows up, re-save as JPEG, a format that cannot hold the channel:

`sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 95 in.png --out out.jpg`

On a 1290 × 2796 Simulator PNG we got a 1290 × 2796 RGB JPEG with `hasAlpha: no`.

## Condensed checklist

1. DPI is not part of the specification, so disregard it.
2. iPhone: produce `1206 × 2622` for the required 6.3-inch set. iPad, if you ship there: `2064 × 2752`.
3. For the largest phones, add a 6.9-inch set at `1320 × 2868`.
4. Save PNG or JPEG, RGB, no alpha, exact pixels.
5. Run `sips` before the upload, not after the rejection email.

For the per-class history of which sets were once mandatory, see [App Store screenshot sizes for iPhone](https://flexdger.com/guides/app-store-screenshot-sizes).

## Questions

### Can I mix portrait and landscape in one set?

Landscape uses the same numbers with width and height swapped, for example 2796 × 1290. An app that supports both orientations still uploads a single orientation per slot, so there is no need to prepare two versions.

### How many screenshots can one device class hold?

Up to ten. Shoppers see them in the order you uploaded them, so put the strongest frame first.

### Is my own iPhone screenshot already the right size?

Only if your phone's native resolution is one of the sizes in Apple's list. A 393 pt screen at 3× gives 1179 × 2556, which is listed; not every phone is. Check the file before relying on it.

### Do I really need a separate 6.9-inch set?

Apple's rule is that you only need the highest required resolution, and for iPhone that is the 6.3-inch class. The 6.9 and 6.5-inch slots fill only from each other, so a 6.9-inch set is what covers the largest phones properly.