On this page 7 sections
Show the app full of life: conversations mid-thread, friends’ posts, reactions, and the one thing your network does that others don’t. Use fictional people with natural, diverse photos, make the first frame about who is there or what happens there, and keep everything suitable for a 4+ audience.
What sells a social app
A social app has a cold-start problem, and it shows in screenshots too. An empty feed sells nothing, because the value of the app is the people. Every frame should look like a busy, friendly moment: messages mid-thread, a group reacting to a photo, a notification from someone worth hearing from.
The second thing to sell is the angle. The big networks already exist; yours exists because it does one thing differently: smaller groups, one post a day, no algorithm, voice instead of text. Make that difference the hook, and repeat it in the proof frame.
Privacy is the quiet third pillar, especially for apps for close friends or families. A frame showing who can see what, in plain words, often does more for installs than another feature.
A five-frame plan for a social app
A social set should feel crowded in the best way: people, reactions, motion.
Headlines for social apps
Social headlines should sound like your app’s best user describing it to a friend.
Colour and style for social apps
Social apps can be the boldest category: bright colour and playful type signal fun. Let people’s photos bring the variety and keep the background constant so the set still reads as one.
Store rules for social apps
Use made-up names and handles with photos you have the rights to (2.3.9). Never screenshot real users’ profiles.
Screenshots must suit a 4+ audience even if the app is rated higher (2.3.8). Watch party and swimwear photos.
Apple requires apps with user-generated content to offer filtering, reporting and blocking (1.2). A feed in your screenshots implies those tools exist.
Show another network’s logo only if your app really connects to it. Other mobile platforms’ names and icons are off-limits entirely (2.3.10).
Do and avoid
- Fill every frame with people and activity
- Lead with your one difference
- Use diverse, natural, fictional people
- Show sharing and privacy controls
- Keep messages readable at thumbnail size
- Show an empty feed or zero followers
- Use real users’ profiles
- Fill frames with generic stock smiles
- Imply partnerships with big networks
- Show anything unsuitable for a 4-year-old
Questions
What should social app screenshots show?
Life: conversations, reactions and people your audience would want to know, plus the one thing that makes your network different. An empty feed is the weakest frame there is.
Can I use real people in social app screenshots?
Only people whose images you have the rights to use, with made-up names and data. Apple asks for fictional account information rather than a real person’s (guideline 2.3.9).
Do social apps need anything special to be approved?
Apps with user-generated content must let people filter, report and block (guideline 1.2). Screenshots of a feed imply those tools exist.
Should social screenshots be bright or minimal?
Bright and playful suits friend and community apps; calm and minimal suits private messaging. Either way, keep one background across the set.
