Seasonal App Store Screenshots: How to Update for Holidays and Events

Quick answer: Seasonal App Store screenshots are temporary sets built for a holiday or event. On the App Store, screenshots for your default product page normally go live with an app version, so plan two to three weeks ahead or use custom product pages and in-app events. On Google Play you can swap graphics in Play Console, and Google asks you to take time-bound content down promptly.

A seasonal set works when the season changes why people want your app, or when your app genuinely has seasonal content. If neither is true, a snowflake on your usual screenshots adds nothing and can confuse searchers.

Regional events matter as much as global ones. Lunar New Year, Diwali, Eid, Thanksgiving and Singles' Day each move different markets, so decide per country, not just per calendar.

Keep the set recognizable. Returning visitors and people comparing apps should still see the same product.

Change:

• The headline and eyebrow copy, tied to the seasonal job the app does
• Background colors and accents, used sparingly so the UI stays the hero
• The screenshot of any genuinely seasonal feature, such as themed templates, holiday recipes or an event in your game
• The order of screens, if a feature matters more this season

Keep:

• Your real interface. App Review Guideline 2.3 requires screenshots to show the app in use, so a festive mockup of UI that doesn't exist is a rejection risk.
• Your core story order after the first one or two screens
• Brand color and typography, so the set still looks like you

Avoid:

• Prices and discount text. Google's store listing guidance names words like "Sale" and "Discount" among the promotional claims to keep out of graphics, and Apple's preview guidance warns that prices and currencies vary by region.
• Calls to action like "Download now", which Google also asks you to avoid.
• Trademarked event names. Major sporting events often have protected names, so generic phrasing such as "game day" is safer.

On the App Store, timing is the hard part. You upload screenshots for your default product page on the app version page, and they're submitted for review when the version is in an editable status such as Prepare for Submission. In practice your seasonal set rides along with an app update, and you'll need another update to switch back.

App Store Connect now also has an Asset Library, where you can upload assets and get them approved ahead of time, independent of a version. What you can place on the default page without a new version can change, so check App Store Connect before you plan around it.

You have three other options that are better suited to short campaigns:

1. Custom product pages. Apple lets you submit a custom product page with or without an app version, and you can currently have up to 70 per app. Build a seasonal page and point your holiday ads, emails and social links to it. Your default page stays untouched. See the custom product pages guide.
2. Product Page Optimization. Run a seasonal treatment against your original with up to three treatments, and keep the winner only if it wins. Our PPO guide explains setup.
3. In-app events. Event cards appear on your product page and in search, and they're built for time-limited content. If your season includes something people can do in the app, an in-app event announces it without touching your screenshots.

One more caution: Apple's guidance for app preview videos explicitly says to avoid seasonal or timely references that will date your video. Keep seasonal touches in screenshots, custom pages and events, and let your preview stay evergreen.

Google Play is more flexible. Screenshots and the feature graphic sit in your store listing under Grow users, Store presence, Main store listing, and you can update them without shipping a new build. Changes are still reviewed, so don't upload the night before the holiday. Managed publishing lets you control exactly when approved changes go live.

Google's own guidance is direct about seasonal content: time-bound updates, like holiday-specific graphics, should be swapped in and out in a timely manner. A Christmas listing in February looks abandoned.

More Play options for seasonal campaigns:

• Custom store listings target specific countries, which is ideal for regional holidays. See Google Play custom store listings.
• Store listing experiments test a seasonal set against your default.
• The feature graphic can carry the seasonal theme while screenshots stay mostly unchanged. Check the feature graphic size and safe areas before you redesign it.

Google also suggests keeping taglines to no more than about 20% of a screenshot, which is a useful limit for festive headlines too.

Work backward from the date the season starts:

If App Review flags something, you need time to fix and resubmit, which is why the iOS steps start earliest. Prepare the revert at the same time as the seasonal set so switching back is a five-minute job.

App Store screenshots are set per localization (language), not per storefront. That makes country-specific holidays tricky: a Diwali set uploaded to an English localization would also appear in every other storefront that shows that localization, including countries that don't celebrate Diwali. Use custom product pages or Play custom store listings to target a country, and keep the default localization neutral.

When you do localize, the usual rules apply: German headlines run longer, Arabic and Hebrew need a right-to-left layout, and CJK text needs fonts that support it. The screenshot localization guide covers the details. ScreenShipper supports 50 App Store languages per project and warns you when a translated headline overflows.

Before-and-after comparisons around holidays are unreliable, because traffic itself is seasonal. Store traffic and intent shift around holidays whatever your screenshots look like. Use these instead:

• A PPO test or Play store listing experiment, which splits traffic at the same time
• Conversion rate per source type, so a burst of ad traffic doesn't skew the picture
• Year-over-year comparisons for the same event, if you have the history

Our App Store Connect analytics guide explains which metrics to watch.