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    6 apps for App Store screenshots that look real

    Figma, Photoroom, Canva, Versely, Recraft, and Firefly dress App Store shots. Pick by real UI, cutout, mockup, lifestyle plate, mark, or brand-safe gen.

    Versely Team••9 min read

    You have an app. You need App Store screenshots that look like the thing on the phone, not a generated brochure of a cousin UI. Six apps will dress that file. Figma is the real screen in an Apple-sized frame. Photoroom is the device cutout. Canva is the marketing mockup you already have a template for. Versely is the lifestyle plate around a locked capture, not a new status bar. Recraft is the mark and the badge, not the chrome. Adobe Firefly is the commercially safer room behind the glass. This page is that list. It is not an ASO course. It is not a permission slip to invent the product.

    Apple's App Review Guidelines 2.3 (Accurate Metadata) and 2.3.3 (read 20 September 2026) say screenshots should show the app in use, not merely title art, a login page, or a splash. App Store Connect screenshot specifications for the 6.9-inch iPhone slot accept 1260 x 2736, 1290 x 2796, or 1320 x 2868 in portrait. PNG or JPEG. No transparency. One to ten shots per size. A generate that drew a prettier tab bar is a metadata miss, not a glow-up.

    What this list is for

    The job is a product-page still of this build. The UI you ship. The type you set in the app. A caption overlay is allowed. A fake home screen is not. If the file is a Play Store feature graphic, that is a different pixel bucket. If the file is a landing-page hero with a floating phone, that can be a mockup. The App Store slot is the capture.

    "Look real" here means two things, and they fight. Reviewers want the app. Marketing wants a lifestyle. The honest stack is: capture the UI, then dress the world around it. Do not ask a stills model to redraw the nav. Do not ask Recraft to invent iOS. Do not drop a ChatGPT Images phone on the listing and hope App Review squints.

    Proof every shot at 100 percent. If a button label is wrong, the store is lying. Overlay marketing type in Figma or Canva so you can change "Free for 7 days" next week. Bake only the pixels that are the app.

    The six apps

    1. Figma. Start here if the screens already live in the design file, or if you can paste a capture onto a device frame you control. Figma's pricing (read 20 September 2026) lists Professional Full at $16 a month with 3,000 AI credits, and Starter free at 150 a day up to 500 a month. Figma Design AI will Make image and Remove background. Ignore that for the chrome. Build a 1290 x 2796 frame. Place the real screenshot. Add a short overlay ("Track a habit in 10 seconds") in a font you own. Export PNG with no alpha. Figma is the listing layout. It is a bad first app if you needed a marble kitchen behind the phone and you do not have a photo.

    2. Photoroom. Open Photoroom when the unit in the shot is a physical device, or when a capture still has a messy desk behind it. Photoroom's pricing (read 20 September 2026) lists Pro at 8,000 AI credits and 1,000 exports, Max at 25,000 and 3,000, Ultra at 75,000 and 10,000. Monthly stickers from independent reads (PulseSignal, 14 September 2026) are $12.99, $34.99, and $99. Background Remover is a core tool. Brand Kit is on paid plans. Cut the phone. Flatten to a colour that matches the listing. Do not run AI Images to redraw the screen. The screen is evidence. Photoroom is the matte. Video Generator is Max and up, and it is the wrong meter for a still you will upload to App Store Connect.

    3. Canva. Open Canva when the team already has a device-mockup template and the overlay copy changes every sprint. Independent reads of Canva's 2026 AI table (The Rundown, 29 August 2026; Moda, 9 September 2026) put Pro at about $144 a year, with a shared monthly allowance: up to 2,000 Standard, 200 Premium, or 20 Ultra AI uses. "Create an image with Canva AI" is Premium AI. High-quality image is Ultra AI. Do not blow Ultra on a generated iPhone. Drop the real capture onto the mockup. Typeset the caption. Magic Resize is useful for a landing page. It is not a substitute for Apple's exact pixel list. Canva mockups often look like Canva mockups: thick bezels, generic wallpaper, a grin. If Review would not recognise the app, you used the wrong template.

    4. Versely. Versely sits here because the capture is locked and the room is the generate. The door is text to image. Photograph the phone, or export the UI from Figma. Then generate a surface, a hand, a kitchen, a commute, with the product as the thing you will composite. Flux 2 Max is 6 credits flat, photorealistic, detailed, 9:16 listed. That is the photographed table the device sits on. Nano Banana 2 is 4 credits discounted (7 full), edit-image plus up to 14 references. That is the cheap loop when the first kitchen is wrong and you still have the same phone PNG. Recraft 4.1 Text to Image is 3 credits, style control. Use it for a badge or a simple graphic, not for iOS chrome. Recraft's own job is marks and vectors. Recraft is for vectors, not photos is that boundary. Do not prompt any row to "design a fitness app home screen." That still is a lie on a product page. Versely will not replace Figma for the capture. It will not replace App Store Connect's pixel check. It is the app when the UI is real and the lifestyle around it is the brief.

    5. Recraft. Open Recraft when the extra graphic is a mark, an icon row, or a flat badge you will park beside the capture, not as the capture. Recraft V4.1 shipped 14 May 2026. Recraft's paid-plans docs (re-read 20 September 2026) list Basic at $12 a month ($10 billed yearly) for 1,000 credits, and Pro from $20 a month ($16 yearly) for 2,000. Recraft's V4.1 page calls Utility the calm, front-facing mockup look. Paid plans include commercial use while subscribed. Recraft Studio's mockup flow is the honest version: artwork onto product photography. The photograph is the substrate. If you needed a 1290 x 2796 shot of the live app, Recraft is the wrong first click. If you needed a small glyph that sits in the caption band, it is the right one.

    6. Adobe Firefly. Open Firefly when the lifestyle plate has to survive a brand-safety review. Adobe Firefly (read 20 September 2026) lists Standard at $9.99 a month with 2,000 credits and Pro at $19.99 with 4,000. Adobe's own models are trained on licensed Stock and expired public domain. Content Credentials travel with the file. Custom Models exist when the brand has a look it can train. Partner models in the same app are not that indemnity. Generate the room. Composite the real screenshot in Figma. Do not ask Firefly to letter "Sign in with Apple" on a fake phone. Firefly is a bad first app if you only needed a white field and a capture. It is the right app when the listing is allowed to show a place, and the place cannot be a random living room from an unlicensed model.

    How to pick without a fake phone

    Capture the UI first. Everything else is dressing.

    • Screens already in Figma, overlay copy that will change: Figma. Export the exact Apple size. No alpha.
    • Physical device on a messy desk: Photoroom the device, then Figma.
    • Team already lives in Canva mockups: stay, but paste the real capture. Do not generate the glass.
    • Lifestyle around a locked PNG: Versely. Flux 2 Max for the table. Banana 2 to iterate. Composite after.
    • A badge or a mark in the caption band: Recraft.
    • Brand-safety on the room: Firefly's own models.

    Two apps is a shop stack. Figma plus the real capture covers most listings. Add Photoroom when the device is a photo. Add Versely or Firefly when the brief is a place. Add Recraft when the extra graphic is a mark. Add Canva only if that is already the overlay seat.

    Credits are not dollars on Versely. Do not convert 3, 4, or 6 into a USD figure. Photoroom, Canva, Recraft, Figma, and Firefly publish USD seats. Quote those as vendor prices, dated.

    After the still is a store shot

    App Store Connect will reject a file that is off by a pixel. 1290 x 2796 is a number, not a vibe. JPEG or PNG. No transparency. If you cut the phone on a checkerboard, flatten it.

    Guideline 2.3.3 still wants the app in use. A beautiful kitchen with a black rectangle is not a screenshot. A login wall is not a screenshot. Show a task a customer would recognise after install.

    Keep overlay type in the layout file. Prices, trial length, "New": those change. Pixels in the status bar should match a real device class, or you should hide the status bar on purpose. Invented 8:00 AM and 100 percent battery on a generated phone is how a listing starts to look generated.

    When the UI is locked and the job is a photoreal table under it, sign up and run the plate. When the job is the capture, stay in Figma. The list is six apps. The store is one PNG per slot.

    FAQ

    Can I generate the UI itself?

    You can generate a picture of an app. App Review asked for the app in use. A cousin tab bar, a feature you do not ship, or a prettier chart than the build has is a 2.3 miss. Capture. Then dress.

    Do I need every iPhone size?

    For a current iPhone app, ship a complete 6.9-inch set at one of Apple's accepted sizes (1260 x 2736, 1290 x 2796, or 1320 x 2868). Apple can scale that set down. Supply a separate size when the layout actually changes, or when Connect still demands a fallback class. Do not invent a 5.5-inch artboard by stretching type.

    Where does Versely fit if Figma already has the screens?

    On the room, not on the chrome. Flux 2 Max or Banana 2 for a surface you will composite. Figma keeps the capture and the overlay. Versely is not trying to be App Store Connect.