Screenshot rejections split cleanly in two: technical ones, which App Store Connect catches at upload and which are trivial to fix once you know the rule, and policy ones, which a human catches at review and which cost you a round trip of a day or more. Here is each of them.
Technical rejections — caught at upload
| Message you get | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong dimensions | The file is not exactly the pixel size for that display class | Export at 1320 × 2868 (iPhone 6.9″) or 2064 × 2752 (iPad 13″) — see the sizes guide |
| Image contains an alpha channel | The PNG carries transparency data, even if fully opaque | Flatten onto a solid background, or export JPEG |
| Unsupported file format | Not JPEG or PNG — often a WebP or HEIC from a phone | Convert to PNG or JPEG in RGB |
| Wrong colour space | CMYK, or an exotic profile from a design tool | Export sRGB |
| Aspect ratio not accepted (Play) | Play wants 16:9 or 9:16 and at least 320px on every side | Export 1080 × 1920 portrait or 1920 × 1080 landscape |
Almost every technical rejection comes from exporting by hand out of a general design tool. A tool that knows the store sizes eliminates this entire category — that is most of what an app screenshot generator is for.
Policy rejections — caught at review
These are judgement calls made by a person, and the reasoning is nearly always the same: a shopper should be able to trust that the screenshots show what they will get.
- Screens that do not exist in the build. Guideline 2.3.3 is explicit that screenshots must show the app in use. Mockups of a planned feature, or a screen you cut before shipping, are rejected — and this includes screens behind a paywall or a login the reviewer cannot reach, which is why the demo account matters.
- Placeholder content. Lorem ipsum, obviously fake names, empty states dressed up as populated ones. Use realistic data.
- Prices and offers in the artwork. Prices change per territory and over time. Baking “$4.99” or “50% off” into an image is refused.
- The word “free”, and award claims. Treated as promotional copy, which belongs in the description, not the artwork.
- Other platforms. Do not show Google Play badges in an App Store listing, or the reverse. Do not show Android system UI in an iOS set.
- Other companies’ trademarks. Logos of services you integrate with need permission you probably do not have.
- Text that is unreadable at thumbnail size. Not a written rule, but the practical one that matters most: your screenshots are first seen at a couple of hundred pixels wide in search results.
Localised sets have their own trap
If you upload a per-territory screenshot set, every locale must be a complete set at the right size — you cannot supply four images for one language and two for another. Translated captions also overflow: German and Finnish routinely run 30% longer than English, and Arabic and Hebrew need the layout mirrored. Check every locale at full size before uploading, or see the localisation guide for a workflow that avoids redesigning per language.
Export a set at the exact sizes both stores accept
Design once with device frames and export every required App Store & Google Play size in one ZIP — watermark-free on the free plan.
Start free — no cardA pass to run before uploading
- Exact pixel dimensions for each display class, RGB, no alpha channel.
- Every screen shown exists in the build you are submitting.
- No prices, no “free”, no awards, no competitor or other-platform branding.
- Realistic content — no placeholder text, no empty states pretending to be full.
- Captions legible when the image is 200px wide.
- A demo account in the review notes for anything behind a login.
If a rejection does arrive, read the guideline number in the message before changing anything. Apple cites the specific clause, and the clause almost always tells you exactly which of the above it is. The full text lives in the App Review Guidelines.