How to Localize App Store Screenshots Without Rebuilding Them
You can localize App Store screenshots in two ways: rebuild each one from a design source per language, or translate the finished images and keep their dimensions. The second route is faster when you already have approved English screenshots and no tidy source file, and the first is better when you are designing the marketing screenshots from scratch.
Disclosure: we build EditTextImage, whose screenshot translation page does the second route. The rest of this article is about the workflow, which applies to whichever tool you pick.
Why localization is slow
The slow part is rarely the translation. It is rebuilding: open the design file, swap the caption, fix the overflow, export, repeat for each language and each device size, then upload each set to the right locale. With ten screenshots and ten languages that is a hundred exports, and every release that changes a caption restarts it.
Route 1: rebuild from a design source
Template and plugin tools (AppScreens, Figma plugins and similar) keep the caption as live text over your app UI, so you change the string and re-export. This is the right choice if you are making the marketing screenshots from scratch and will keep maintaining the design file. It needs that source, and every language needs layout work.
Route 2: translate the finished screenshot
If you already have the screenshots the store approved, you can edit the image instead of the source. An AI tool reads the headline and any UI labels, translates them, and redraws the text in the same font style, weight and position, rebuilding the background behind it. The device frame, the screen recording and the gradients are not touched.
The advantage is that there is no template to maintain. When a new language is added, or one caption changes, you only redo that text. The limit: it works on the pixels that exist, so it is a poor fit for screenshots whose layout has to change per language.
The dimension rule you cannot skip
Apple requires each localization's screenshots to match the primary language's exact dimensions. Translating the finished image keeps the size by construction, which avoids the common rejection where a re-exported set is a few pixels off. Check the output size against the original before you upload.
Plan for longer text
German commonly runs about 35 percent longer than English, French about 20 percent. A caption that fits in one line in English may need two in German. Where a caption bar is tight, choose a shorter translation that keeps the same meaning, rather than letting the type shrink until it is hard to read.
Set up the folders so upload is mechanical
Name one folder per App Store Connect locale code and number the files in display order: es-ES/01.png, de-DE/01.png, ja/01.png. That layout is what fastlane deliver reads, so the same folder can go straight into your screenshots directory. Our tool exports a ZIP in that shape, up to ten screenshots by ten languages at a time.
Get a native speaker to read it
Machine translation is good enough to start, not to ship unchecked. Store captions are marketing copy where tone and idiom matter. Have a native speaker go through each locale, and re-run only the lines that need different wording.
Which route should you take?
- You have finished screenshots and no source: translate the images.
- You are designing new marketing screenshots: use a template or Figma workflow and export per language.
- Your layout changes per language (right-to-left, tall scripts): rebuild those locales by hand, since a translated image keeps the original layout.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to localize screenshots for every language my app supports?
No. Apple does not require it, but localized screenshots are shown to people browsing the store in that language. ASO tools such as phrase.com and AppTweak report that apps which localize screenshots see roughly 20 to 30 percent higher conversion in non-English markets. Start with your highest-traffic locales and add the rest when you ship a release.
Do translated screenshots have to keep the same dimensions?
Yes. Apple requires each localization's screenshots to match the primary language's exact dimensions. If you translate the finished image rather than regenerating it, the output keeps the original pixel size and aspect ratio, so a 1290 by 2796 capture stays 1290 by 2796 and uploads to that locale without resizing.
What happens when the translated caption is longer than the English?
It has to fit the same space, so it gets smaller or tighter. German commonly runs about 35 percent longer than English and French about 20 percent. For tight caption bars, ask for a shorter variant that keeps the visual weight; for headlines with room, the longer line usually fits without trouble.
Can I use the same screenshots for Google Play?
Yes. The workflow is identical: take the finished Android screenshots, translate them, and upload each set to the matching listing language in Play Console, each at its own native aspect ratio.
Should a native speaker check machine-translated captions?
Yes. Store captions are marketing copy where tone and idiom matter, and machine translation can be subtly wrong. Have a native speaker review each locale before you submit, and edit single lines where the wording needs to change.
Localize screenshots of your own app, and keep the claims in them truthful. Editing screenshots you do not own is not allowed; see our acceptable use policy. For translating product photos rather than app screens, see translate product images.
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