How to download App Store screenshots of any app
Three ways to save any iOS app's screenshots for competitor research: a one-click ZIP per app, the App Store web page, and Apple's public lookup API.
- Publisher
- AppGapFinder
- Published
- Reading time
- 7 min read
You can download the App Store screenshots of any iOS app in three ways: get a ZIP of every screenshot for an app from AppGapFinder’s keyword results, save the images from the app’s page on apps.apple.com, or read the screenshot URLs from Apple’s public lookup API. All three use Apple’s public listing data, so you do not need a developer account or the app installed.
Screenshots are step three of the full App Store competitor analysis process; this guide covers how to get them.
Why you would want a competitor’s screenshots
- Screenshot teardowns.The first three screenshots do most of the selling in App Store search results. Seeing twenty competitors’ first three side by side shows which promises the category has settled on and which are missing.
- Caption copy. Captions reveal the benefit each app leads with: speed, privacy, simplicity, price. Reading them in bulk shows the words users in the category have been trained to expect.
- Pitch decks and reports. Agencies and freelancers need the images at full size, not a phone photo of a phone screen.
- Change tracking. Saving a set today lets you see what a competitor changed after its next big update.
Method 1: One ZIP per app from AppGapFinder
- Open the tool and add the keyword you are researching, choosing the storefront whose screenshots you want. Listings are localized, so the German storefront may show different images and captions than the US one.
- Each app card shows the listing’s screenshot strip. Click any image to open it full size in the lightbox.
- Press Download screenshots on the card. AppGapFinder fetches every iPhone screenshot in that listing and packs them into a ZIP file named after the app, in listing order.
The ZIP contains PNG files at 1290 by 2796 pixels, the size of a 6.7-inch iPhone screenshot, requested from Apple’s image CDN at that size. iPhone screenshots only; iPad sets are not included. If a card shows no screenshots, Apple’s search feed occasionally omits them: the tool refetches that app’s metadata in the background, and the Refresh button on the keyword forces a new fetch.
Method 2: Save them from the App Store web page
Every app has a public web page at apps.apple.com. Open it in a desktop browser, scroll to the screenshots, and right-click an image to save it. Two caveats:
- You get one image at a time, and the page shows a device-specific set, so you may need to switch between the iPhone and iPad tabs.
- The page serves a resized version of the image. For a quick look that is fine; for a pixel-accurate comparison use the lookup API below.
Method 3: Apple’s public lookup API
Apple’s iTunes Search API returns listing data as JSON, including screenshot URLs. Look up an app by its numeric ID, which is the number after “id” in its App Store URL:
https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=1234567890&country=usThe response contains screenshotUrls for iPhone and ipadScreenshotUrlsfor iPad. Each URL points to Apple’s image CDN and can be downloaded with any HTTP client, so this is the method to script if you want to track many apps over time. Change the country parameter to get the localized set for another storefront. Apple documents the API as limited to roughly 20 calls per minute, so cache responses rather than refetching them.
What to look at once you have them
| Element | What to note |
|---|---|
| Screenshots 1 to 3 | The only ones most people see in search results. Is the promise a feature or an outcome? Does the sequence tell a story? |
| Captions | Benefit-led (“Pay off debt faster”) or feature-led (“Track your loans”); length; whether they repeat the subtitle |
| Device framing | Framed phone, flat UI, or lifestyle photography; consistency across the set |
| Social proof | Awards, press logos, user counts; whether any of it is verifiable |
| Pricing | Does any screenshot mention free, trial or price? Many categories hide it entirely, which is itself a gap |
| Localization | Compare two storefronts: translated captions, local currency, culturally adjusted imagery |
Can you reuse competitor screenshots?
No. Screenshots are the developer’s copyrighted work and often include licensed artwork. Downloading them for analysis, internal comparison or a client report is ordinary research use; uploading them to your own listing, or copying them closely, is not. Apple’s review guidelines also require your screenshots to show your own app in use.
Frequently asked questions
Are App Store screenshots the same in every country?
Not always. Developers can localize screenshots per language, and many do for their biggest markets. Check the storefronts you plan to launch in; AppGapFinder lets you add the same keyword under different storefronts to compare.
Does the ZIP include iPad screenshots?
No, iPhone only. Use the lookup API’s ipadScreenshotUrls field if you need the iPad set.
Why are some screenshots missing?
Apple’s search feed intermittently omits screenshots for some apps. AppGapFinder refetches that app’s metadata in the background and keeps whatever it already had, so a later refresh never removes images an app already showed.
How many screenshots does a listing have?
Up to ten per device size, which is Apple’s limit for developers. The card shows the first ten and the ZIP includes everything the listing returned for the storefront you chose.