What the top apps put in their first App Store screenshot
Mostly a feature. Of the first screenshots of the top 2,295 free apps across 23 App Store categories, 38% lead with what the app has or does, 5% with an outcome, and almost none with a problem or with who the app is for. 88% carry a headline, 42% show the whole phone, and 16% show proof such as a rating or award, 3 times the share of the screenshots after them.
How was this counted?
From the App Screenshot Index, read on October 9, 2026: every screenshot of the top 100 free apps in 23 US App Store categories, 12,745 in all, each read and tagged for what it says, shows and proves. This page counts the first screenshot of each of the 2,295 apps, the one people see first in search and at the top of the page, and sets it against the screenshots after it. The counts across every category, tactic by tactic, are on the Index’s data page.
These numbers describe what top-ranked apps do, not what causes installs. Rank comes from many things, brand, budget, age and ads among them, so read them as the conventions your screenshots will sit beside, and decide where to match them and where to stand apart.
What does the first screenshot’s headline lead with?
A feature, far more than anything else: 38% of first screenshots lead with what the app has or does. The next most common lead, an outcome (how life is after), is 5%. Leading with a problem is the rarest of all: 16 of 2,295 apps. Leading with who the app is for is 28.
The first screenshot is also where top apps lead with a feature least. After it, 58% of screenshots lead with a feature. What takes the slot instead is a headline that leads with none of these kinds, such as a slogan or a welcome: 38% of first screenshots, against 22% later. 11% of first screenshots name the app itself, against 3% of the rest. 88% of first screenshots carry a headline at all, the median one is 4 words, 44% state a benefit and 28% say “you” or “your”.
| Leads with | First screenshots | Screenshots 2 to 6 | Real first-screenshot headlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| A feature | 38% (882 apps) | 58% | Most first screenshots; see any category page |
| An outcome | 5% (111 apps) | 4% | “Make work effortless” · “Never miss an update” · “Banking made easy” |
| Trust | 2% (55 apps) | 2% | “Protect any account with two-factor authentication” · “Your Local AI Fully Private” · “Shop with buyer protection.” |
| Price | 2% (39 apps) | 1% | “INSTANT SAVINGS” · “Video editing without the price tag.” · “Free, open, and ad-free” |
| What is new | 1% (27 apps) | 1% | “Welcome to a new era of anime.” · “ENJOY OUR NEW REWARDS PROGRAM” · “We've upgraded to a new app!” |
| Who it is for | 1% (28 apps) | 1% | “Designed For Seniors” · “Anyone from Children to Adults Can Draw Freely !” · “A Social App for Car Enthusiasts” |
| A problem | 1% (16 apps) | 0% | “All that paper? Gone.” · “Turn ‘What to do?’ into ‘Let’s do it!’” · “Mid-week grocery run. Without the run.” |
| States a benefit (alongside any lead) | 44% | “Punch in and out with ease” · “One click connection” · “Get Test Scores” |
The shares do not add to 100: a headline can do two of these at once, and many do none. Headlines are quoted as the apps wrote them, without saying whose they are, and any that names an app, a brand or a figure is left out.
What does the first screenshot show?
Most often the app’s screen in a whole phone (42%), then the bare screen with no phone (20%) and a phone cut off at the foot (15%). The first screenshot is the least conventional in the set: 10% show no app screen at all, a photo, a logo or a scene, against 2% of later screenshots, and 12% put a hand on the phone, against 5%.
| Shows | First screenshots | Screenshots 2 to 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Whole phone shown | 42% | 58% |
| Phone cut off at the foot | 15% | 17% |
| No phone, bare screen | 20% | 14% |
| No app screen at all | 10% | 2% |
| A hand holds the phone | 12% | 5% |
| A person in the picture | 31% | 25% |
| Illustration or mascot | 38% | 35% |
People are common: 31% of first screenshots show a person, and 38% use an illustration or mascot. Both drop a little after the first screenshot, as the set turns from setting a scene to showing the app.
What proof goes on the first screenshot?
Proof is far more common on the first screenshot than anywhere else. 16% of first screenshots show a rating, laurel, user count, press logo or user quote, against 5% of the screenshots after them. Laurels and awards make the biggest jump: 11% of first screenshots, 1% later.
| Proof | First screenshots | Screenshots 2 to 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Laurel or award | 11% | 1% |
| Star rating shown | 7% | 4% |
| User or download count | 6% | 2% |
| Press logo | 2% | 0% |
| User quote | 9 of 2,295 | 1% |
| Any of these | 16% | 5% |
| Badge | 10% | 8% |
| Ranking claim | 8% | 2% |
User quotes are almost absent from first screenshots (9 apps), and press logos are 2%. If you have an award or a strong rating, the first screenshot is where the top apps would put it. Who uses which kind, and where, is in social proof in App Store screenshots.
How does the first screenshot change by category?
A lot, more in what it shows than in what it says. The bare screen with no phone is 79% of first screenshots in Games and 5% in Finance. The whole phone runs from 62% in Developer Tools down to 12% in Games. A person appears on 78% of first screenshots in Photo & Video and 9% in Developer Tools and Weather.
The words vary less. A feature lead runs from 59% in Graphics & Design to 26% in Games and News; “you” or “your” from 47% in Medical to 3% in Games; a stated benefit from 62% in Food & Drink to 20% in Games. Proof is most common in Education (32%) and least in Games (6%). An outcome lead reaches 12% at most (Business and Education), so it is a minority choice everywhere. Each category has about 100 apps, so a gap of a few points is a handful of apps and can be noise.
| Category | Apps | Headline | Feature lead | Outcome lead | Benefit | You / your | Whole phone | Bare screen | Person | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business | 100 | 84% | 29% | 12% | 59% | 37% | 31% | 20% | 35% | 10% |
| Developer Tools | 100 | 73% | 45% | 0% | 29% | 24% | 62% | 16% | 9% | 7% |
| Education | 100 | 85% | 32% | 12% | 47% | 25% | 32% | 23% | 31% | 32% |
| Entertainment | 100 | 90% | 40% | 2% | 42% | 32% | 47% | 25% | 54% | 13% |
| Finance | 100 | 94% | 47% | 4% | 56% | 43% | 38% | 5% | 17% | 22% |
| Food & Drink | 100 | 96% | 33% | 1% | 62% | 33% | 27% | 17% | 17% | 9% |
| Games | 100 | 75% | 26% | 4% | 20% | 3% | 12% | 79% | 27% | 6% |
| Graphics & Design | 99 | 95% | 59% | 1% | 22% | 19% | 42% | 20% | 37% | 27% |
| Health & Fitness | 100 | 98% | 48% | 8% | 49% | 39% | 40% | 13% | 36% | 29% |
| Lifestyle | 100 | 94% | 30% | 9% | 50% | 38% | 41% | 18% | 36% | 14% |
| Medical | 100 | 80% | 39% | 4% | 43% | 47% | 43% | 14% | 36% | 9% |
| Music | 100 | 90% | 45% | 6% | 36% | 20% | 41% | 14% | 23% | 20% |
| Navigation | 99 | 90% | 41% | 8% | 36% | 22% | 58% | 9% | 17% | 11% |
| News | 98 | 80% | 26% | 1% | 33% | 14% | 49% | 21% | 30% | 15% |
| Photo & Video | 100 | 94% | 52% | 3% | 42% | 19% | 55% | 26% | 78% | 12% |
| Productivity | 99 | 98% | 43% | 8% | 54% | 41% | 48% | 6% | 26% | 21% |
| Reference | 100 | 90% | 48% | 11% | 53% | 21% | 44% | 14% | 24% | 23% |
| Shopping | 100 | 89% | 33% | 2% | 60% | 25% | 35% | 23% | 41% | 11% |
| Social Networking | 100 | 98% | 32% | 3% | 47% | 31% | 44% | 14% | 54% | 17% |
| Sports | 100 | 90% | 33% | 2% | 49% | 29% | 41% | 20% | 31% | 9% |
| Travel | 100 | 89% | 33% | 6% | 51% | 35% | 42% | 16% | 32% | 16% |
| Utilities | 100 | 94% | 39% | 1% | 42% | 27% | 43% | 13% | 15% | 16% |
| Weather | 100 | 65% | 31% | 3% | 22% | 15% | 45% | 32% | 9% | 11% |
Each category name opens its screenshots in the Index, where you can filter by any of these tactics. For a side by side of the colour, phone and background choices, see App Store screenshot design by category.
What should your first screenshot do?
Answer the reason the person came, in words they can read before they scroll. The first screenshot is the one people see in search results and at the top of your page, so it carries more of the decision than any screenshot after it. The top apps treat it that way: proof is 16% of first screenshots against 5% of later ones, and only after the first do the screenshots settle into a feature on a phone. Here is how to use what they do:
- Lead with the one thing your visitor came for.On your default page that is usually your main feature. On a custom product page it is the search the page is for: someone who typed “budget planner” should see the budget, not your dashboard.
- Say what changes for them, not only what the app has.44% of the top apps’ first screenshots state a benefit. A feature name with what it gets you (“Split bills in seconds”) does both jobs.
- Consider the leads almost nobody uses.A problem (“Lost receipts? Not any more.”) or who the app is for (“Made for new runners”) is rare among top apps, so it reads differently in a row of feature headlines. Rare is not the same as better: measure it.
- Show the screen that proves the headline.Whole phone, cut-off phone or bare screen is a style choice that follows your category. What matters is that the screen under the headline is the one the headline talks about.
- Put proof first if you have it.A rating, an award or a user count is something the top apps put on the first screenshot far more than later. Only claim what is true and current.
One default page cannot lead with every reason people arrive. Custom product pages let you give each search, ad or link its own screenshots, and since July 2025 a page can have its own keywords for search, so the first screenshot can speak to that one search.1 How to word it is in writing screenshot headlines for custom product pages, and what headlines across the Index look like is in what the top apps write in their screenshot headlines. The full background is the complete guide to custom product pages.
Sources
Questions people ask
What do most top apps lead their first screenshot with?
Do top apps put ratings and awards on the first screenshot?
Should the first screenshot show a whole phone?
Do these numbers show what gets installs?
See your first page.
Look up your app. In about a minute you see three pages planned for it and one designed on your own screenshots, before you sign up.