The State of App Store Screenshots 2026
We track the App Store listings of 3,983 top-grossing apps — 3,880 of them with revenue estimates attached. This is what that data says about how those apps present themselves: how many screenshots they ship, how many localize, and how both of those track with what they earn.
1. The median app uses 7 of its 10 slots
Apple allows ten screenshots per device size. Only 14% of top-grossing apps (548 of 3,983) use all ten. The most common set sizes are five to eight.
- 1 shot
- 8 · 0%
- 2 shots
- 21 · 1%
- 3 shots
- 118 · 3%
- 4 shots
- 324 · 8%
- 5 shots
- 640 · 16%
- 6 shots
- 689 · 17%
- 7 shots
- 615 · 15%
- 8 shots
- 618 · 16%
- 9 shots
- 402 · 10%
- 10 shots
- 548 · 14%
2. Bigger sets sit alongside bigger revenue
Median monthly revenue rises with every screenshot band. The gap between apps shipping five or fewer and apps shipping all ten is 18x.
| Screenshots shipped | Apps | Median revenue |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | 139 | $5k/mo |
| 4–5 | 932 | $5k/mo |
| 6–7 | 1,279 | $30k/mo |
| 8–9 | 992 | $60k/mo |
| 10 | 538 | $90k/mo |
The obvious reading — "ship more screenshots and earn more" — is the wrong way round. Filling ten slots well is work, and the apps that can afford that work are the ones already earning. What the table supports is narrower and still useful: shipping three screenshots puts you in company with apps that gross almost nothing.
3. Localization is the sharpest line in the data
44% of top-grossing apps (1,772) ship localized screenshot sets rather than one English set. Those that do have a median monthly revenue of $100k; those that don't, $5k. Among apps that localize at all, the median ships 7 languages.
| Localized into | Apps | Median revenue |
|---|---|---|
| English only | 2,211 | $5k/mo |
| 2–3 languages | 314 | $40k/mo |
| 4–6 languages | 423 | $95k/mo |
| 7+ languages | 1,035 | $200k/mo |
Same caution, harder: this is the strongest-looking relationship on the page and the one most likely to be read backwards. Localizing screenshots is cheap; localizing an app, its support, its pricing and its store copy is not, and this column is a proxy for having done all of it.
4. It varies enormously by category
Localization rates run from 76% in Photo & Video down to 17% in News. If you are benchmarking, benchmark inside your category — the store-wide average describes nobody.
| Category | Apps | Median screenshots | Localized | Median revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photo & Video | 153 | 8 | 76% | $400k/mo |
| Productivity | 165 | 8 | 70% | $300k/mo |
| Graphics & Design | 137 | 8 | 69% | $70k/mo |
| Music | 155 | 6 | 61% | $90k/mo |
| Social Networking | 167 | 6 | 59% | $200k/mo |
| Health & Fitness | 152 | 8 | 59% | $350k/mo |
| Utilities | 187 | 6 | 56% | $200k/mo |
| Reference | 138 | 7 | 55% | $60k/mo |
| Business | 204 | 6 | 54% | $60k/mo |
| Lifestyle | 183 | 7 | 52% | $100k/mo |
| Education | 169 | 7 | 50% | $200k/mo |
| Entertainment | 161 | 6 | 50% | $300k/mo |
| Weather | 170 | 7 | 47% | $10k/mo |
| Navigation | 167 | 7 | 46% | $30k/mo |
| Travel | 216 | 7 | 44% | $6k/mo |
| Book | 147 | 6 | 44% | $60k/mo |
| Shopping | 197 | 6 | 27% | $5k/mo |
| Developer Tools | 157 | 6 | 25% | $5k/mo |
| Medical | 193 | 7 | 24% | $5k/mo |
| Food & Drink | 195 | 7 | 22% | $5k/mo |
| Sports | 210 | 7 | 20% | $50k/mo |
| Finance | 192 | 7 | 20% | $5k/mo |
| News | 168 | 6 | 17% | $20k/mo |
Method, and what this cannot tell you
- Sample: 3,983 apps drawn from App Store chart positions, refreshed weekly. Screenshot counts and localized sets come from the public store listing; revenue and downloads are third-party worldwide monthly estimates.
- Selection bias, stated plainly: every app here already charts. Roughly two million apps do not, and none of them are in these numbers. Nothing on this page describes "the average app".
- Revenue is App Store gross, before Apple's 15–30% commission, and counts only App Store transactions. Apps billing by card on their own site appear far smaller than they are.
- Estimates, not filings. Treat every currency figure as an order of magnitude and a ranking, not as accounting.
- 99% of the catalog is free to download, so this is overwhelmingly a report about free apps monetizing after install.
Citing this is welcome — a link back to this page is all we ask. Figures update with the weekly refresh, so quote the date you read it.
What apps earn, by category · screenshot best practices · browse the catalog