What the top apps do on their screenshots, counted.

Most common

1. Screen fills the picture99%The app’s screen takes most of the picture.
2. Phone drawn94%A device body is drawn round the screen: bezel, corners, shadow.
3. Has a headline92%Marketing words are drawn on the picture, outside the app’s own screen.
4. Plain tone90%Says the thing without flourish.
5. Whole phone shown88%The device is shown in full, top to bottom.
6. Words at the top88%The headline sits above the screen.

Least common

1. Press quoteunder 1%A quoted line attributed to a publication.
2. Continues into the next screenshotunder 1%The picture runs across two or more screenshots.
3. Asks a question1%The headline ends in a question mark.
4. Names another app2%Another product is named in the words.
5. Leads with a problem2%The headline names what is wrong before the app.
6. Uses a percentage3%A percent sign in the words.

Between categories

The widest gap in each kind of tactic. A dot is a category, placed by the share of its apps that do it.

• A photograph
  100% of Food & Drink, 24% of Games
• Blue
  78% of Weather, 11% of Food & Drink
• Says “you” or “your”
  92% of Finance, 31% of Weather
• States a benefit
  97% of Food & Drink, 44% of Weather
• Star rating shown
  40% of Shopping, 6% of Games

The top ten against the rest

The 230 apps at one to ten on their chart, against the other 2,065. No tactic is more than 11 points apart.

• A person in the picture+11 points
  Top ten67%
  The rest56%
• A photograph+8 points
  Top ten87%
  The rest79%
• Solid background+8 points
  Top ten55%
  The rest47%
• Headline in Title Case−9 points
  Top ten27%
  The rest36%
• No words at all−8 points
  Top ten13%
  The rest21%
• Zoomed detail of the UI−8 points
  Top ten15%
  The rest23%