How to Make App Store Screenshots in Canva: A Practical Guide

Quick answer: In Canva, create a design with Custom size set to the exact store pixels, such as 1320 × 2868 for the 6.9-inch iPhone or 1206 × 2622 for the required 6.3-inch size. Use one page per screenshot, place each app screen in a phone frame, add a short headline, and download all pages as JPG. Check the dimensions, then repeat for every other size and language.

Canva's preset formats don't match App Store sizes, so always start from Custom size.

1. On Canva's home screen, choose Create a design, then Custom size.
2. Switch the unit to px. Inches or millimeters will give you the wrong pixel dimensions.
3. Enter the width and height for your first store size and create the design.
4. Name the design after the size, for example "App Store 6.3 EN", so you can tell sets apart later.

Start with the size you need most. For iPhone apps that's the 6.3-inch size, which App Store Connect requires. You also need a large-phone set: either 6.9-inch, or 6.5-inch if you skip 6.9-inch, which App Store Connect then scales for the largest iPhones.

Every accepted variant is listed in our App Store screenshot sizes guide and Google Play size guide.

In Canva, each page of a design becomes one screenshot when you download. Click Add page until you have one per screen, usually five to eight. Then build the first page carefully and duplicate it, so every page shares the same structure.

A reliable page layout from top to bottom:

• Headline area, about the top quarter: three to six words that state one benefit.
• Device area: your app screen, large enough that the UI is recognizable in a thumbnail.
• Background: a solid color or gentle gradient that contrasts with the headline.

Tips that save time in Canva:

• Turn on rulers and guides from the File menu and drag guides for consistent margins on every page.
• Use the Position tool to align the device and headline the same way on each page.
• If your plan includes a Brand Kit, save your colors and fonts there so they're one click away.
• Set the headline in a bold, simple font and check it at a small zoom. If it's hard to read at 10–15% zoom, it will be hard to read in search results.

The first three screenshots matter most because they show in search results, so put your strongest benefit first. Our best practices guide covers the order and messaging.

You have three options in Canva:

1. Frames from Elements. Search Elements for phone frames, drag one onto the page, then drag your screenshot into it. The image is cropped to the frame's screen shape.
2. A mockup app. Canva's Mockups app places an image onto device photos. It's quick, but check that the device looks current and that the screen area isn't skewed in a way that blurs your UI.
3. A transparent PNG mockup. Create your device mockup elsewhere, export it with a transparent background, and upload it to Canva as an image. ScreenShipper's free device mockup generator exports iPhone, Pixel, Galaxy, iPad and Mac frames as transparent PNGs that drop straight into a Canva page.

Whichever you choose, use clean source screenshots with a 9:41 status bar and realistic demo data. Stretched or blurry UI makes an app look unfinished.

Stores want flat images. Google Play rejects PNGs with an alpha channel, and alpha is a common cause of App Store upload problems too.

1. Click Share, then Download.
2. Choose JPG as the file type. JPG can't carry transparency, so it's the safest choice.
3. If you choose PNG, leave Transparent background unchecked and make sure every page has a filled background.
4. If your plan shows a size multiplier, keep it at 1× so the pixels match your custom size exactly.
5. Select all pages and download. Canva packages multiple pages as a zip file.

Before uploading, confirm each file's pixel dimensions and alpha status. On a Mac, sips -g pixelWidth -g pixelHeight -g hasAlpha screenshot.png prints all three. Our free screenshot size checker does the same in the browser and tells you which store slot the image fits. If App Store Connect still complains, see how to fix screenshot dimension errors.

This is where Canva takes the most manual work.

Other sizes. Canva's paid plans include a resize feature that copies a design to new dimensions, but layouts rarely survive a change in aspect ratio. The 6.9-inch and 6.3-inch iPhone sizes are close enough to adjust quickly. iPad is nearly 4:3 and needs a new layout, and Google Play's 2:1 limit means a tall iPhone design can't be reused as-is.

Other languages. The straightforward method is to duplicate the finished design once per language and replace the text on every page. Some plans include a translate feature, but you still need to check every page for:

• Headlines that wrap onto extra lines or run into the device
• Words that need a different font for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic or Hebrew
• Right-to-left layouts, where the headline alignment and reading order should flip

Two iPhone sizes, one iPad size and a Play set in eight languages is 32 separate designs to keep in sync. Our localization guide helps you pick which languages to start with.

Canva is a capable general design tool. These limits come from it not being built specifically for app stores:

Stay in Canva if you ship one language on iPhone only, your marketing team already lives in Canva, or the screenshots are part of a broader campaign designed there.

Switch to a dedicated tool when the matrix of sizes and languages grows. ScreenShipper's templates recolor to your brand color, your content carries over when you switch templates, one design exports every App Store and Google Play size, and translations are checked for overflow across 50 languages. If you're comparing options, our guide to free App Store screenshot templates explains what a good template includes.