Graphics and screenshots (Google Play)
Expert: with sources and numbers. Plain: the same, without them, for beginners.
Exact specs per asset and device type, and the device-fragmentation problem that has no iOS equivalent.
Play’s asset requirements are shaped by device fragmentation. Where iOS has a scaling fallback from two required sizes, Play asks for assets per device type.
The specs
A Verified against Google documentation on 2026-09-18. (Add preview assets)
| Asset | Spec |
|---|---|
| App icon | 512 × 512 px, 32-bit PNG with alpha, max 1,024 KB |
| Feature graphic | 1024 × 500 px, JPEG or 24-bit PNG, no alpha |
| Screenshots | JPEG or 24-bit PNG, no alpha. Min dimension 320 px, max 3,840 px |
| Preview video | One, supplied as a YouTube URL |
Note the icon takes alpha and everything else does not.
A Screenshot counts by device type:
- Phones and tablets: up to 8 per device type
- A minimum of two screenshots across different device types is required to publish a store listing
- Large screens: a minimum of 4 to demonstrate the in-app experience
- Wear OS: at least one, 1:1 aspect ratio, minimum 384 × 384 px
- Android TV: at least one
- Android XR: between 4 and 8, at 8:5 aspect ratio, with up to two additional videos
Same source. Supported device types include phones, 7-inch and 10-inch tablets, Chromebooks, Android TV, Wear OS, Android Automotive OS and Android XR.
The feature graphic
Play’s one asset with no App Store equivalent: a 1024 × 500 banner used across Play and other Google promotional channels.
It is not optional in practice. It is what appears when your app is featured, placed in a collection, or shown in certain browse contexts, the surfaces you most want and least control.
It gets cropped. It appears at different aspect ratios in different placements, and text near the edges is at risk. Keep the essential content central.
If you have a preview video, the feature graphic frames it. It is the still users see before playing.
The fragmentation problem
iOS asks for two required sizes and scales the rest. Play asks for assets across device types, several of which are entirely different products: a watch face, a television, a car dashboard, an XR headset.
Be deliberate about which you support. Screenshots for a device type you do not genuinely support are a misrepresentation, and the minimum of two across different device types is a publishing requirement rather than a recommendation.
Large screens have a stated minimum of four. If tablets and Chromebooks matter to you, this is a floor, not a target.
Policy
A Screenshots have to show the app. Google: “Screenshots must demonstrate the actual in-app or in-game experience, focusing on the core features and content.” And on stylised sets: “Stylized screenshots that break UI across multiple uploaded images are allowed, but prioritize UI in the first three screenshots as much as possible.” (Add preview assets, verified 2026-09-20)
That second sentence is a design instruction hiding in a help page. The panorama treatment, one image split across three or four screenshots, is explicitly permitted, and Google asks that the interface still be visible in the first three. So the common pattern of three pure marketing frames followed by real screens is the wrong way round on Play.
A The Metadata policy applies to graphics as it does to text: no emojis, emoticons or repeated special characters, no store performance or ranking claims, no price or promotional information, no Google Play program badges, and no misleading symbols in icons. (Metadata policy, verified 2026-09-18)
Promotional text baked into a screenshot image is the version of this people miss. “50% off” in a screenshot is the same violation as “50% off” in the title.
What goes wrong
Alpha in the wrong asset. Icon takes 32-bit with alpha; feature graphic and screenshots are 24-bit without. A routine upload rejection.
Treating the feature graphic as optional. It is what represents you in featuring and collections.
Edge-anchored text in the feature graphic. Cropped in some placements.
Uploading phone screenshots as tablet screenshots. Visibly stretched, and a poor signal on exactly the surfaces where large-screen quality is assessed.
Baking promotional claims into images. The Metadata policy covers graphics.
Ignoring the four-screenshot large-screen minimum. Stated by Google where large screens are supported.
In short
Every fact on this page in one line, with its evidence tier, source and verification date, 6 A. Generated from the claim register, so it cannot drift from the page above.
This side's own creative requirements are shaped by just how many different kinds of devices actually run here. Where the other centre stretches down from a couple of required sizes, this one asks for genuinely separate photos per kind of device.
The specs
Photos come in an ordinary image format, with no transparency. Unlike your icon, which does allow it. Worth remembering, because it's the reverse of what you'd expect.
How many photos you need varies by device family, with a small required minimum spread across at least two different kinds of device before your shop can even be published at all. Larger screens have their own stated minimum to properly show the actual in-shop experience. A wearable device needs at least one square photo. A television needs at least one. A more immersive device family needs its own small set at its own particular shape.
Supported device families include phones, a couple of tablet sizes, laptop-style devices, televisions, wearables, cars, and more immersive headset-style devices.
The wide banner
This side's one piece of creative with no real equivalent on the other centre: a single wide banner used across this side and other promotional spaces this centre controls.
It isn't really optional in practice. It's what shows up when your shop gets featured, placed in a themed basket, or shown in certain browsing contexts, exactly the surfaces you most want and least control directly.
It gets cropped. It shows up at different shapes in different placements, so text sitting near the edges is genuinely at risk. Keep whatever actually matters centred.
If you have a video, this banner is its cover image, the still a visitor sees before they choose to press play.
The variety-of-devices problem
The other centre asks for a couple of required sizes and stretches the rest. This side asks for photos across an entire range of device families, several of which are genuinely different products entirely: a watch face, a television, a car dashboard, a headset.
Be deliberate about which of these you actually support. Photos for a device family you don't genuinely support are a misrepresentation, and the small minimum spread across different device families is a requirement for publishing at all, not a suggestion.
Larger screens have their own stated minimum. If tablets and laptop-style devices matter to your shop, treat that minimum as a floor, not a target to just barely clear.
The rules on content
Photos have to show the actual shop. The centre's own guidance is that they must demonstrate the real, in-shop experience, focused on its core features and content. A stylised set that breaks one big image across several separate uploaded photos is explicitly allowed. But the centre specifically asks that the real interface still be visible in the first few photos as much as possible.
That one line is a design instruction hiding inside a help page. The common pattern of three pure marketing frames followed only later by real screens is the wrong way round on this side. Lead with the interface, not away from it.
The same house rules that cover your writing also cover your photos: no decorative symbols, no ranking or performance claims, no price or promotion, nothing suggesting the centre's own blessing, and no misleading symbols baked into the icon.
A promotional claim baked directly into a photo is the version of this people miss most. A discount announced inside a screenshot is exactly the same violation as a discount announced in your sign.
What tends to go wrong
Transparency in the wrong asset. Your icon allows it; your banner and photos don't. A routine, avoidable upload rejection.
Treating the wide banner as optional. It's what represents you whenever the centre features or collects you.
Text anchored right at the edge of the banner. Gets cropped in some placements.
Uploading phone photos as if they were tablet photos. Visibly stretched, and a poor signal on exactly the surface where larger-screen quality actually gets judged.
Baking a promotional claim into an image. The same house rules that cover writing cover photos too.
Ignoring the larger-screen minimum. Stated plainly wherever larger screens are actually supported.