Landscape vs Portrait App Store Screenshots: Which Should You Use?

Quick answer: Use portrait screenshots for most apps, because App Store search results can show up to three portrait images but only one landscape image. Choose landscape when your app is used sideways, such as games, video, drawing or dashboards. Every iPhone and iPad screenshot size is accepted in landscape with width and height swapped; Mac screenshots are landscape only and Apple Watch screenshots portrait only.

Orientation changes how much of your gallery people see before they decide to tap. Apple's product page guidance puts it simply: depending on the orientation of your screenshots, the first one to three images appear in search results when no app preview is available.

Portrait gives you three chances to make a point in search. Landscape gives you one, but that one is large and cinematic. Neither is better in general; the right answer depends on how your app is used and how strong a single image can be. Since search results are where most first impressions happen, it's worth reading our guide to your first App Store screenshot before you decide.

Pick landscape when the real experience happens sideways. Showing a landscape UI squeezed into a portrait frame makes it tiny and unconvincing.

• Games played in landscape. Racing, shooters, sports, strategy and many RPGs. See our guide to game App Store screenshots for genre-specific layouts.
• Video and streaming. Full-screen players, editors and TV remotes are naturally wide.
• Drawing, whiteboards and music production. Wide canvases, timelines and mixers need horizontal space.
• Maps and in-car use. Wide route views can read better sideways.
• Data-heavy iPad apps. Dashboards, spreadsheets and pro tools are mostly used in landscape on iPad, often with a keyboard.

A single landscape screenshot also makes sense when one image tells your story better than three. A breathtaking game scene can outperform three small portrait panels, especially if it's backed by an app preview video.

For most iPhone apps, portrait is the safer default:

• Your app is used in portrait. Social, messaging, fitness, finance, shopping, productivity and utility apps all live in portrait.
• Your value needs several points. Three screenshots can show the main benefit, a key feature and proof in one glance.
• Your competitors use portrait. One landscape image can stand out, but it also gives you less room to explain.
• You rely on headlines. The taller canvas leaves space for a large headline above the device, which is easier to read at thumbnail size.

If your app is landscape but you want three images in search, put a rotated landscape device inside a portrait screenshot. The device runs across the canvas at an angle or sideways, and the headline sits above or below it.

This approach works well when:

• The landscape UI still reads clearly at the smaller size inside the frame.
• You crop or zoom into the most important part of the screen.
• A panoramic background or character art ties the three screenshots together.

It's less effective when your UI is dense, such as a spreadsheet or a pro video timeline. In that case, a true landscape screenshot shows the interface at a useful size.

You can combine orientations in one set, but do it deliberately. A few rules keep a mixed gallery from looking messy:

1. The first screenshot sets the search layout. If it's landscape, expect one image in search results. If it's portrait, expect up to three.
2. Don't alternate. Switching orientation every other screen makes the product page jump and looks unplanned.
3. Group them. If you need both, keep the landscape screens together, for example a portrait opening trio followed by landscape detail shots.
4. Different devices can differ. It's normal for an iPhone set to be portrait while the iPad set is landscape, because each device has its own screenshot set.
5. Keep app previews consistent. Apple notes that a preview with a different aspect ratio from your screenshots appears in the "A Closer Look" section of the product page instead of leading the gallery.

When in doubt, test. Apple's Product Page Optimization lets you compare a portrait and a landscape set against each other.

Landscape App Store screenshots use the same pixel sizes as portrait, rotated. The required iPhone 6.3-inch size becomes 2622 × 1206 (or 2556 × 1179), and the iPad 13-inch size becomes 2752 × 2064 (or 2732 × 2048). Mac screenshots are always 16:10 landscape. The App Store screenshot size guide lists every accepted size, and the iPhone size guide covers the portrait and landscape options in detail.

Everything else in how to make App Store screenshots still applies, but landscape canvases need a different layout than portrait ones:

• Put text beside the device. A headline on the left third with the device on the right uses the wide space well.
• Keep the headline short. Landscape screenshots are short, so two lines of large type is the practical maximum.
• Leave margins at the ends. On the product page, neighboring screenshots sit close together; keep key text away from the left and right edges.
• Capture in landscape. Rotate the simulator or device and capture natively instead of rotating a portrait image.
• Check readability at full width. A landscape image in search is wide but short, so test it at the size it really appears.

Google Play accepts any ratio up to 2:1, but recommendation formats have stricter rules. To be eligible, apps need at least four screenshots of at least 1080 px, in 16:9 landscape (minimum 1920 × 1080) or 9:16 portrait (minimum 1080 × 1920). Games need at least three, all 16:9 landscape or all 9:16 portrait. Tablet and Chromebook screenshots follow the same 16:9 or 9:16 suggestion. The Google Play screenshot size guide has the full list.