Update App Store Screenshots Without a New Build: A/B Tests, Approval and Google Play

Which route do you need?

Why App Store Connect won't let you edit screenshots after release

Screenshots belong to an app version. App Store Connect accepts new ones only while a version is in Prepare for Submission, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Metadata Rejected or Developer Rejected. A live version is Ready for Distribution, so its screenshots are read-only, and a version that is Waiting for Review is locked too.

A new version also means a new build. Once a version is live, App Store Connect's build picker only lists builds uploaded since that release, so you can't resubmit the current build just to change its screenshots.

If the version you want to fix is Waiting for Review, In Review or Pending Developer Release, you can remove it from review. It moves to Developer Rejected, the screenshots unlock, and review starts over when you resubmit. Anything else in that submission, such as a product page test, is pulled with it. If you'd rather not restart review, let the version ship and then replace its screenshots with a product page test. A test can be submitted while a version is in review, because Apple allows two submissions under review per platform, one with an app version and one with other items. Keep in mind that the version in review has its own screenshots, and they become your product page when it's released.

What can you change without a new version or build?

How to replace live screenshots with a product page test

1. Create the test. In App Store Connect, open your app, choose Product Page Optimization and create a test. The app must be Ready for Distribution and live on the App Store. You can have up to three treatments, and the traffic proportion is split between them: with three treatments at 30%, each gets 10% of visitors. All localizations are selected by default. People whose localization you leave out aren't included in the test.
2. Add the screenshots to a treatment. Upload them for each device size and localization you are changing, at the same sizes as a version. A device size you don't edit uses the screenshots from your original product page. Keep only the localizations you are changing in the test. Click Browse Assets to reuse screenshots already approved in the Asset Library. Upload everything before the next step, because Apple says "you cannot change a test once it's started".
3. Click Start Test, then submit it for review. When the treatment has new screenshots, App Store Connect asks you to add the test for review: click Add for Review, choose a new submission or a draft with your next version, then click Submit for Review. No build is involved. The test starts running once App Review accepts it; the next section covers what App Review checks.
4. Let the test run, or move straight to applying. A test runs for 90 days or until you stop it, and a stopped test can't be restarted. Results appear after five first-time downloads, and a treatment that reaches 90% confidence can be labeled Performing Better or Performing Worse.
5. Click Apply Treatment to Current Product Page. Select the app versions to apply it to, then click Apply Treatment. Apple allows this "at any time", one treatment per test. It can't be undone, it stops a running test, and only the screenshots and previews are applied. If you've already started the next version in Prepare for Submission, select it too, so that release picks up the new set.

If all you want is to replace the screenshots, apply the treatment as soon as it's approved. If you want to know whether the new set converts better, let the test run. The product page optimization guide covers what to test first, and the low-traffic guide covers what to do when 90% confidence is months away.

When you have the traffic, the test is worth the wait. A new set isn't automatically better than the one it replaces, and the product page decides how many of your current visitors install. In an example Apple published, Simply Piano's original screenshots-only page performed 3% better over 12 days than a treatment with an app preview video, so applying that treatment untested would have shipped the weaker page. Tests find winners too: in another of Apple's examples, Peak Brain Training's winning icon delivered an 8% conversion increase over 44 days, and our published product page results list more.

A: current page

B: treatment

Either way, the slow part is the new set. A device size or localization you leave out of the treatment keeps your current screenshots, so a full refresh of six screenshots for iPhone and 13-inch iPad in 10 localizations is 120 images in one treatment. AppScreens keeps that set in one editable project: change a capture or a caption once, preview every size and language, and export them all from the same layout. The free plan gives you one project of up to five screenshots to export and upload by hand, enough for a simple one-language refresh. On a paid plan, AppScreens makes the new set as a product page test variant and uploads it into the treatment; your coding agent can do it in one prompt.

Tests don't run on custom product pages or on the Apple Watch and iMessage App Stores, and you can run one test at a time.

What App Review checks in a treatment

Treatment screenshots are reviewed like a version's. Apple's guideline 2.3.3 says screenshots should show the app in use, and it approves only submissions where more than half of them do. Treatments are reviewed against your latest version, so a screenshot of a feature that only exists in your next build risks a rejection. If you only reorder screenshots that are already on the App Store, the treatment is already approved and doesn't need to be resubmitted. An icon you test has to be in the binary of your current App Store version.

If a treatment is rejected, the rejection statuses guide explains what each status means and what to change before you resubmit.

When a custom product page or a creative asset is the better tool

Custom product pages don't change your default page. Each one (up to 70 per app) has its own screenshots, previews and promotional text, is reviewed independently of an app update, and shows to people who follow its link. Since October 2025 you can also assign keywords, so a custom page can appear in search for those terms instead of your default page. Use one when the new screenshots are for one audience, such as an ad campaign or a search term; the custom product pages guide goes deeper.

Creative assets. Since 5 October 2026, if your current version is live, you can update its product page header and search results assets with approved assets from the Asset Library "without submitting a new version". They show on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 and later, alongside your screenshots rather than instead of them; the creative assets guide explains where they appear.

The Asset Library takes screenshots too. You can upload and submit them "independent of an app version" to get them approved in advance, then pick them in a treatment, a custom product page or your next version with Browse Assets. Approval alone doesn't change a live version's set; you still place them through one of those routes.

Update Google Play screenshots without a new release

On Google Play, screenshots, the feature graphic and descriptions are part of the store listing, not the release:

1. In Play Console, open Grow users > Store presence > Main store listing.
2. Under Graphics, replace the phone screenshots, and the tablet sets if you have them. Each device type takes up to 8, and at least two are needed to publish. Google's help page allows up to 2:1, while the console's own hint asks for 16:9 or 9:16, so export at 9:16. Save.
3. Open Publishing overview and send the change for review.

Google says processing "can take a few hours or up to seven days (or longer in exceptional cases)". With managed publishing on, approved store listing changes wait until you publish them, which lets you time a new set with a campaign. If you're replacing the App Store set too, export the Google Play screenshots from the same AppScreens project, fitted to Google Play's sizes and 2:1 limit, so both stores change together.

To test before you switch, store listing experiments compare up to two variants with your current listing and stop automatically after six months. Google's own advice is to run one for at least a week, to cover weekday and weekend traffic. You can run one default graphics experiment or up to five localized ones at a time. Custom store listings, up to 50, target countries, search keywords, Google Ads traffic, pre-registration or groups such as churned users. The store listing experiments guide covers setup.

Update store screenshots from Claude Code, Codex or Cursor

With the AppScreens MCP server connected to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, you can make the new set, create the test and upload into it without leaving the chat:

Make a variant of my screenshots with the new search screen, show it next to the current set, then create a product page test with one treatment in App Store Connect and upload the variant to it. Show me the upload preview first.

On a paid plan, the agent duplicates the project as a named variant, swaps the capture and caption, and renders both sets side by side. It then creates the test in App Store Connect as a draft, and uploads the variant into its treatment after showing an upload preview with the listing, languages, sizes and image count. If a test is already being prepared, Apple won't accept a second one, so the agent offers that test's treatments instead. A custom product page works the same way, and the agent can also upload to your Google Play main listing. You still submit the treatment for review and apply it in App Store Connect. Google Play's publishing API has no endpoint for store listing experiments, so for an experiment the agent exports the variant and you add it in Play Console. The connect page has the setup for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, and the Claude Code guide covers Claude Code in more detail.

We tried the upload half on one of our own apps on 12 November 2026. Apple only allows one test in preparation at a time, and that app already had one, so the agent offered its treatments. It exported five 1320 × 2868 screenshots in 22 seconds, then showed the upload preview: the bundle ID, the test and treatment names, en-US, the iPhone size, five images, and Replace. Nothing went up until we said yes. The upload took 34 seconds, and all five images arrived in the treatment's large iPhone slot. The test stayed a draft, waiting for us to start it and submit it for review. The same day, on the same app, the agent also created a custom product page, which App Store Connect lists as Ready to Submit.

How to update screenshots in App Store Connect with a new version

A release is the normal time to refresh screenshots, and Apple's guideline 2.3 asks you to keep them up to date with new versions. With the new version in Prepare for Submission:

1. In Apps, select the app, then the new version under its platform. Pick a language from the menu at the top right to work on another localization.
2. Under Product Page Information, open the App Previews and Screenshots tab and select the device tab.
3. Click Upload or drag the screenshots in. For other device sizes, choose View All Sizes in Media Manager.
4. Save, select the new build and submit the version for review.

Change only what the release changed:

• Recapture the screens that changed, in every language that shows them, and swap those captures in. In an AppScreens project the layout, captions and other pages stay, and every size exports again from the same set. The Expo, Flutter and Capacitor guides have the capture commands, and the localized screenshots guide covers other languages.
• Adjust only the captions that describe the change. A new feature usually needs one new page, not a new set.
• Add new device sizes while you're there. iPhone Duo screenshots are due from April 2027 for apps built with the iOS 27.1 SDK or later, and AppScreens adds both iPhone Duo outputs to your existing project instead of a new design.
• Check every device section of the new version in App Store Connect before you submit. The release checklist covers the rest of the submission.

If an agent built the set, ask it to change only what shipped:

We shipped the new search screen in this release. Update only the screenshots that show search, list what changed on each page, and show me the upload preview before uploading.

Common mistakes