Google Play Screenshots: Sizes, Specs and Free Ways to Make Them

Screenshots are the largest part of a Google Play listing that you fully control. Most people look at them before they read the description, and on some surfaces they see them before they even open your listing. This guide covers the exact Google Play screenshot size and format rules, the other graphics Play asks for, how to order and caption a set, and the free ways to produce one without design software.

Google Play Screenshot Size and Requirements

Unlike the App Store, Google Play has no single required pixel size. Every screenshot has to fit inside a range, and Play Console states the rule when an upload fails: screenshots must be PNG or JPEG, up to 8 MB each, 16:9 or 9:16 aspect ratio, with each side between 320 px and 3,840 px.

Recommended export size for phones

Export portrait phone screenshots at 1080 x 1920 px or 1440 x 2560 px. Both are exactly 9:16, both clear the 1080 px recommendation, and both stay well under 8 MB as JPEG or PNG. Games and other landscape-first apps can use the same sizes rotated (1920 x 1080 or 2560 x 1440). If you also ship on iOS, the full list of App Store and Google Play screenshot sizes shows how these compare with Apple's fixed dimensions.

Why raw captures from new phones get rejected

Most current Android phones have tall screens around 19.5:9 or 20:9. A raw capture from a 1080 x 2400 px display is 2.22 times taller than it is wide, which breaks the 2x rule, so Play Console refuses it. Place the capture on a 9:16 canvas with padding and a caption, or inside a device frame on a 9:16 canvas. Cropping also works but usually cuts off the status bar or navigation.

Tablet, Chromebook and Wear OS screenshots

7-inch tablets, 10-inch tablets, Chromebooks and Wear OS each have their own screenshot set in Play Console. They are not resized copies of your phone set, and they should show the layout your app actually uses on that form factor. For a Play Store tablet screenshot size, 16:9 exports such as 1920 x 1080 for 7-inch and 2560 x 1440 for 10-inch tablets are a safe choice, but check the limits Play Console shows next to each tablet slot, as they have been updated over time. Wear OS screenshots are square and should show only the app's interface, without a watch frame.

Feature graphic and app icon

Two more graphics are required on every listing:

• Feature graphic: exactly 1024 x 500 px, JPEG or 24-bit PNG (no alpha), up to 15 MB. You can build one from a template with the Google Play feature graphic generator.
• App icon: 512 x 512 px, 32-bit PNG, up to 1024 KB.

The feature graphic and screenshots work together. If you add a YouTube promo video, Play uses the feature graphic as its cover with a play button, and the video sits in front of your screenshots. Keep key text and the logo in the middle of the graphic, away from the edges, and make the video and screenshots tell the same story rather than repeat each other.

What Play Users Actually See

On the listing page, screenshots appear in a horizontal row below the install button. On a phone, only the first two or three are visible without swiping, so those carry most of the weight. Many visitors never swipe further.

Screenshots also show up before anyone taps into your listing. On some surfaces, such as search results for a query that closely matches your app or certain browse and explore placements, Play can display your screenshots or video directly in the result card. That makes your first three screenshots part of your search result, not just your listing page.

Portrait suits most apps and fits more images in the row. Landscape makes sense for games and video apps that run in landscape.

Put Your Screenshots in Story Order

A screenshot set works best as a short sequence, not a random collection of screens. Plan the order before you design anything.

Screenshot 1: the main reason to install

Show the screen that best explains what the app does, with a caption that states the outcome. For a budgeting app, that is the overview of where the money went, not the login screen or settings. If someone only sees this one image in a search result, they should know what the app is for.

Screenshots 2 to 4: the core workflow

Walk through the main task in the order a user would do it. A fitness app might show building a workout plan, then logging a session, then the progress chart. Put the feature that sets you apart from competitors here, not on screenshot seven.

Screenshots 5 to 8: secondary features

Use the remaining slots for details that matter to some users: widgets, dark mode, sync, offline use, integrations.

Captions, Device Frames and Layout

Write captions about outcomes

A caption like "Task List" describes a screen. "Plan your whole week in one list" tells the user what they get. Keep captions to one short line of large text, one idea per screenshot, and make sure the caption matches what the screen actually shows. Google's store listing guidelines also discourage text in graphics that claims rankings or store performance ("#1", "Best app"), promotes prices, or tells people to "Download now", so leave those out.

Use device frames on purpose

A frame shows the image is a real app screen and leaves room for a caption on a 9:16 canvas, which also solves the tall-capture problem. Use a recent Android device frame such as a Pixel or Galaxy; an iPhone frame on a Play listing looks careless. Frameless layouts also work, as long as the set is consistent.

Keep it legible at thumbnail size

Screenshots are often seen at a fraction of their export size. Check them zoomed out: captions should stay readable and the background should not compete with the screen. Use the same colors and fonts across screenshots, feature graphic and icon. The App Store screenshot best practices guide goes deeper on layout and typography, and most of it applies to Play as well.

Localize Screenshots for Each Language

Play Console lets you add translations of your store listing, and each language can have its own screenshots and feature graphic. If you translate the description but leave English captions on the images, users in that market still see an English listing at first glance.

Translate captions for your main markets, show the app's UI in that language, and check that longer translations (German and French often run longer than English) still fit. Right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew need a mirrored layout. For country-specific screenshots rather than language-specific ones, use custom store listings.

Before you ship a new set, you can compare variants with Play Console's store listing experiments. Our post on A/B testing app store screenshots explains how to set up a fair test.

Free Ways to Make Google Play Screenshots

You can make a complete, compliant set for free in two steps: capture clean screens, then turn them into finished screenshots.

Capture clean raw screens

• Android Studio emulator: run your app on a Pixel emulator and use the camera button in the emulator toolbar. You can create emulators for phones, tablets, Chromebook-sized displays and Wear OS, which covers every set Play asks for.
• A physical device over adb: adb exec-out screencap -p > screen.png saves a full-resolution capture straight to your computer.
• Demo data: fill the app with realistic sample content first. Empty states and placeholder text make the app look unfinished. A clean status bar (full battery, a neutral time, no notification icons) helps too, and Android's System UI demo mode can set that for you.

Turn them into finished screenshots

• Figma: the free plan is enough. The Figma community has many Google Play screenshot templates with frames already sized at 1080 x 1920. Duplicate one, drop your captures into the device frames, edit captions, and export each frame as PNG.
• Canva: the free plan includes custom canvas sizes and phone mockup elements. Set the canvas to 1080 x 1920 px, then export as PNG or JPEG. Check that the export does not include transparency.
• A screenshot generator: a dedicated Play Store screenshot maker handles frames, captions and export sizes for you. Appure is free for one app: you upload captures, pick a layout and device frames, and it exports every required App Store and Google Play size, with captions localized into 26+ languages.

Where free tools fall short

Free options work, but with trade-offs. Some free mockup sites add watermarks or offer only a few older device frames, and generic templates make a listing look like others in the category. The bigger cost is time. In Figma or Canva, every language is a copy of the whole set, and every device type (phone, 7-inch, 10-inch) is a separate layout. Eight phone screenshots in 5 languages is 40 images to redo whenever the UI changes. Pick the tool based on how many languages and device sets you plan to maintain.

How to Upload Screenshots in Play Console

1. Open Google Play Console and select your app.
2. In the left menu, go to Grow users, then Store presence, then Main store listing. (Menu labels change occasionally. Look for the main store listing page under the store presence section.)
3. Scroll to the Graphics section. Upload the app icon and feature graphic first if they are missing.
4. Under Phone screenshots, add 2 to 8 images. Drag them to set the order, since the first one is shown first everywhere.
5. Add sets for 7-inch tablet and 10-inch tablet screenshots if your app supports tablets, plus Chromebook and Wear OS if relevant.
6. To add localized graphics, use the option to manage translations on the same page, choose a language, and upload that language's screenshots.
7. Save, then send the changes for review from the publishing overview if your app uses managed publishing or the console asks you to.

Once the listing is live, you can link to it from your website with an official Get it on Google Play badge.

Pre-Upload Checklist

• Every file is JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha channel, under 8 MB.
• Every side is between 320 px and 3,840 px, and the longer side is no more than twice the shorter (no raw 19.5:9 or 20:9 captures).
• You have at least 4 phone screenshots at 1080 px or more.
• The first three screenshots explain what the app does and why someone would want it.
• Each caption is one short line, readable at thumbnail size, and matches the screen it sits on.
• No "#1", "Best", price promotions or "Download now" text in the images.
• Device frames are Android devices, and the UI shows real-looking content, not empty states.
• Tablet sets show the tablet layout, not stretched phone screens.
• The feature graphic is exactly 1024 x 500 px with key content away from the edges.
• Localized listings have localized screenshots, not just translated descriptions.

To catch size and ratio problems before Play Console does, run your exported files through the App Store and Play Store screenshot checker.

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