best free 3d design app for ipad

Best 12 tools to create amazing screenshots for your mobile apps (2018)

Save time and increase your apps conversion rate

Screenshots take up the biggest visual part of your app's landing page on the App Store and Google Play. In the search results they are even more prominent and together with your app icon the main driving factors for conversion.

Screenshot prominent display both on search (left) and the product page (right).

As data shows, only 2% of users actually click on the "read more" button and probably most of your users will ignore the description text all together. Great screenshots communicate which problem of your users the app solves as well as if it's worth their time and money. Convincing screenshots convert interested prospects into actual users. There are a lot of articles out there how your screenshots look like, but few tell you which smart tools there are to do this in no time or speed up the process. In this article we're reviewing all the tools we found currently on the market and give you a short overview over the pros and cons.

1. App Screenshot Builder by Applaunchpad

The App Screenshot Builder by Applaunchpad provides a wealth of different layout options. If you're on the free plan you have 3 standard templates to start with, whereas the pro plan gives you access to 14 different templates. Users can also switch between different device frames and colors (5 on free — 12 on pro) to further customize their screenshots. Once the basics are chosen, you can add your app's screenshots.

The process of screenshot generation is very straightforward, only the interface can get a little crowded once you have all 5 screenshots ready. You can add a caption text and further customize the background, style of the text caption (font family, size, weight and color). The biggest "issue" with the free version is that you can only export your screenshots. If you want to save them directly in the tool for later use, you'll have to subscribe to the pro version.

Unfortunately we found no easy way to localize the screenshots for different countries and languages. Currently you can also only create up to 5 screenshots, whereas both App Store Connect and Google Play Dev Console allow more screenshots.

Additional features you'll get with the paid version are:

Use custom or provided background images
Create screenshots for iPad
Create device specific screenshots for smaller devices
Get additional templates and device frames

Applaunchpad features many customization options

Link:

https://theapplaunchpad.com/

Pricing:

Free plan
Paid plan for $29 per month or $120 per year

✅ Pros

Lots of different devices (iOS)
Lots of different styles
Many customization options: font, color, device frames

❌ Cons

Overcrowded interface
No easy way to localize screenshots

2. App Screenshot Maker by AppInstitute

App Screenshot Maker is another tool to create screenshots for your app. It doesn't offer a lot of layouts and customization options, but it's completely free and you can quickly clone a set of screenshots for other apps or localizations. The tool offers 8 basic layout options to start with and 4 different device frame colors/styles.

You can customize the most important elements like font and background color, but you don't have that fine-grained options and styles other tools have. The interface is very clean and the process is very simple. Currently there are no options to create screenshots for tablets and the iPhone X. Besides the "cloning" feature of a set of screenshots, there is no easy way to translate and localize them. You also automatically get the lower resolution version when generating your screenshots. It also looks like that the latest device frames are not yet added to their library.

App Screenshot Maker offers a simple and very straight-forward interface

3. ShotBot

ShotBot is a free tool that allows app developers and publishers to design and generate great looking screenshots. Even though there is no real customization possible and the amount of layouts/templates is limited, the provided ones look amazing!

You'll get a matching "story" of 5 hand-picked templates to showcase your app. Besides the text input, you cannot customize anything. (colors, fonts, sizes etc.) There's also no option to create screenshots for iPad or any Android screenshots at all. We also found no way to quickly translate your app store screenshots.

ShotBot offers the best looking templates organized as one story

Link:

https://shotbot.io

Pricing:

Free tool

✅ Pros

Beautiful designs
Super fast process

❌ Cons

No real customization
No iPad
No Android
No easy way to localize screenshots

4. Davinci Apps

DaVinci Apps offers both a free plan as well as a premium plan with more devices and customization options for your screenshots. They offer the same functionality for both iOS and Android apps. Unfortunately already the biggest device size for iOS, the de-facto standard for screenshots (iPhone 5.5-inch), requires you to be on the pro/paid plan.

Besides that DaVinci Apps offers a huge amount of different templates and layout variations to start with. Their interactive editor lets you quickly design and edit great looking screenshots in no time. Speaking of customizations: Currently you can only change the background color. It's not possible to change the font family or size. There's also no easy way to quickly localize your screenshots.

Additional features with the paid subscription include:

Use custom background images
Create screenshots for iPad Pro and Android tablets
Create screenshots for iPhone X and iPhone 5.5-inch series

DavinciApps screenshot editor gives you a huge choice of different layouts to start with

Link:

https://davinciapps.com/

Pricing:

Free
Indie: $8.25 per month
Business: $41.99 per month (unlimited projects)

✅ Pros

All devices (iPhone X, iPad Pro; Android tablets)
iOS & Android
Lots of templates
Lots of variations
Nice interface

❌ Cons

No real customization (e.g. fonts)
No easy way to localize screenshots

5. App Store Screenshot

App Store Screenshot is a great free tool that even requires no signup! It has a sleek and modern interface and lets you create great screenshots for all devices including tablets for both platforms. The only issue we found is that you cannot design individual screenshots. All screenshots use the same layout/template.

Besides that the tool over a huge amount of customization options: different device frames, background color and gradients, custom fonts and font colors, fine grained font sizing, manually adjust the size and positioning of your text, device, and screenshots.

It's one of the fastest and most straightforward tools to create screenshots and definitely a recommendation for people that quickly need to create appealing screenshots.

App Store Screenshot convinces with a sleek interface and fast workflow

Link:

https://www.appstorescreenshot.com/

Pricing:

Free tool

✅ Pros

No signup
Sleek interface
iPhone, iPad, Android Smartphones
Lots of customization (fonts, colors, devices)

❌ Cons

No Android tablets
Only minimalistic templates
No easy way to localize

6. Appure

Appure is one of the only tools that offers a dedicated workflow to localize your screenshots for different languages. It's available both as a free and paid version and lets you create screenshots for all devices including tablets. The tool offers a lot of customization options like background color, image or gradient as well as screenshot orientation, frame, rotation and much more. It's even possible to randomize the layout and get brand new designs with every click!

The only major issue is the complicated interface with banner advertising on the free version. It takes some time to get into all the configuration options and customize the screenshots exactly how you like them. There are also no layout templates, so you basically have to go through all the options each time.

Additional features with the paid subscription include:

Unlimited apps and downloads
Unlimited layouts
Unlimited custom fonts
Unlimited localizations per app

Appure's interface is rather overwhelming, but lets you add multiple localizations

Link:

https://appure.io/

Pricing:

Free
Plus: €7.50 per month
Enterprise: Custom

✅ Pros

iPad, tablet
Localization options
Lots of customization options (colors, fonts, frames,
Randomize layouts for inspiration

❌ Cons

Ads
Complex interface
No template gallery

7. StoreShots

StoreShots takes a different approach when it comes to billing for its service: You simply pay by downloaded screenshot. Based on a credit system — one credit equals one screenshot and prices go from €0.10 to €0.05 per credit depending on the package your purchase — the tool offers a lot of options to customize your screenshots. Sometimes the interface can be a little bit overwhelming with the amount of menus and options to further adjust your screenshots. It's definitely not the fastest tool as there is not template gallery that gets you going quickly. It offers an interesting workflow that automatically detects the language of your screenshots and lets you localize them.

StoreShots offers all devices including iPhone X and iPad Pros (10.5-inch and 12.9-inch) as well as Android smartphones and tablets.

StoreShots lets you create a complete set of screenshots for all devices at once

Link:

https://www.storeshots.net

Pricing:

Credit-based; €0.10 to €0.05 per credit depending on the package your purchase

✅ Pros

All devices
Localization options
Automatic device detection based on uploaded screenshot
Lot of customization options (fonts, color, padding, background)

❌ Cons

No template gallery
No customization per device category
No different layouts

8. PlaceIt

PlaceIt is probably one of the biggest product mockup site on the internet. No wonder they have an own category dedicated to app store screenshots. On the site you will find over 60 layouts for iPhone, 10 for Android and 9 for iPad. Even though there are a lot of different designs, it's not super easy to create a great looking set of matching screenshots for your app as you will have to create them one by one.

When it comes to customization, you have some options like changing the font family, size and color as well as work with a lot of custom background graphics. We didn't find any easy way to localize your screenshots or further customize the templates. You also won't get a free preview like other tools have.

Placeit is best known for its huge collection of mockups

Link:

https://placeit.net/c/mockups/?f_types=ios-stillshot

Pricing:

$2 per screenshot or a flat $29 per month

✅ Pros

Lots of different templates
Some customization options
Great visual options

❌ Cons

No customization per device category
No easy way to localize
Cannot modify template

9. Screenshot Builder by AppToolKit

AppToolKit is a replacement of the popular service LaunchKit that was acquired by Google and later shut down mid 2017. They open-sourced their whole suite of tools and the team behind AppToolKit took advantage of that! Basically it's a skinned version of the original Screenshot Builder offering the same features (and unfortunately also limitations).

The tool offers 8 different layout options for iPhone and 4 different color variants. Once the basics are set you can add your caption and further customize the screenshots: font family, custom fonts, font size, weight, color and background images. You can then automatically generate screenshots for all different phone sizes. Tablets are only included with the pro subscription.

We didn't find an easy way to localize screenshots. It also looks like that currently there is no option for iPhone X screenshots nor the iPad 10.5-inch.

Additional features with the paid subscription include:

Unlimited screenshot sets
Tablet layouts for iOS and Android
More screenshot templates and device frames/colors
Export all device sizes

AppToolKit features the same interface as popular, now defunct LaunchKit.io

Link:

https://apptoolkit.io/

Pricing:

Free
Pro: $19 per month

✅ Pros

Lots of customization options
iOS and Android

❌ Cons

No iPhone X screenshots, No iPad 10.5 screenshots
Only minimalistic templates
No easy way to localize

File templates

Working with file-based templates is another way to generate professional screenshots for your app. The templates we found and reviewed are usually for Photoshop and/or Sketch. The two big advantages are that they work offline and that they offer you the highest customization options possible. Only downside is the manual process.

10. Apply Pixels

The team from Apply Pixels has some of the best design templates on the market for both Android and iOS. Same goes for app screenshots: They offer templates for iPhone, iPad, Android phone and Android tablet screenshots. The templates include all sizes, orientations and colors and are available for both Photoshop and Sketch.

They come with custom actions that quickly allow you to export your screenshots to the exact required sizes for App Store Connect. The templates itself are clean, well-documented, and structured. Customization options are limitless.

Apply Pixels features a wide range of Sketch and Photoshop templates

Link:

https://applypixels.com/

Pricing:

$9 per month

✅ Pros

Offline
Photoshop and Sketch
Endless customization
All devices

❌ Cons

Not automated, manual process
Subscription for files

11. iOS Jetpack

iOS Jetpack is a collection of Sketch templates to showcase your app from the folks of Craftwork Design. The templates are currently only for iOS, but include all devices except the iPad 10.5-inch. They come with a one-time payment starting at $28 and a lot of design and layout inspirations.

The templates itself are very well organized and easy to customize and export to every size for the App Store. They include a lot of different device frames and colors as well. The only downside are the missing Android screenshots. But with a little bit of tinkering, it should be possible to duplicate the templates and replace the device frames with Android phones and tablets.

iOS Jetpack offers great looking Sketch templates for iOS

Link:

https://iosjetpack.com

Pricing:

$38 one-time payment

✅ Pros

Offline
Endless customization
All devices (iPhone X + iPads)

❌ Cons

No Android screenshots
Only for Sketch
Not automated, manual process

Mac Apps

Mac Apps are a little bit on the middle ground between the online services and the file templates. The offer the offline capabilities together with some smart automation to fasten the workflow.

12. Screenshot Designer

Screenshot Designer by Codelle is a simple Mac app that lets you design and create screenshots for your app offline on your Mac, no graphics program needed. The tool offers 7 different templates with multiple color variants for iPhone and 5 for iPad. Unfortunately there are no templates for Android at all, but layouts for your Mac apps.

The layouts are simple and easy to use. You can customize the font family, weight, size and coloring as well as the alignments and add shows. You're not able to change the position of the text manually and we did end up with too much space at the top of the screenshots. You cannot export one set of screenshots for all different sizes, which drastically slows down the process.

With Screenshot Designer you don't need Sketch or Photoshop

Link:

https://screenshotdesigner.com

Pricing:

13€ one-time payment with free trial

✅ Pros

Offline + Mac App
Layouts for Mac apps included
Lots of customizations possible (font, color, background, shadows)

❌ Cons

No iPhone X, no iPhone 8 plus
No easy way to localize
No Android screenshots

Honorable mentions and further reading

A couple of honorable mentions and tools to look out for in the future.

Sketch to AppStore outdated

Created by the makers of LaunchKit, this Sketch template was the basis of their success. It seems no longer to work with the latest versions of Sketch, but definitely one of the early tools for screenshot generation

Link: http://sketchtoappstore.com/

AppShots

A tool we've been following for the past couple of years. Still in early access. It looks like a great combination of different tools for screenshot generation, localization, and more. We hope the will finish their long quest and finally get this product into the hand of their customers.

Link: https://www.appshots.app

How to actually generate the raw screenshots

Great article from the team of MindNode about how the generate and automate the screenshot process. They use a combination of open-source tools and describe every step from raw screenshot creation, framing, localization to uploading.

Link: https://mindnode.com/news/2018-03-09-screenshotframer

Courtesy to the team of Great Simple Studio for providing us with mockup raw app screenshots from their iOS Design Kit interface series.

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