Screenshot Text Counter
Check screenshot headlines and captions against readability-based length guidelines.
Keep headlines short enough to stay legible at thumbnail size.
Optional smaller copy under the headline.
One thing to be clear about up front: neither Apple nor Google enforces a character limit on the text you paint into your screenshots. The 40-character headline and 70-character supporting-line limits in this counter are readability guidelines, not store rules — they exist because screenshot text has to survive being shrunk to a thumbnail in search results, where a long headline set at a legible size simply doesn’t fit.
Type your caption copy above to check each line against those guidelines. If a headline runs long, the fix is almost always cutting words rather than shrinking the font: text below roughly 60–80 px tall on a modern iPhone screenshot becomes unreadable in the search-result thumbnail where most impressions happen.
How to check your screenshot copy
- 1
Write one headline per screenshot — one benefit, one line — and paste it into the headline field.
- 2
Keep headlines within the 40-character guideline so they stay large and legible at thumbnail size.
- 3
Add an optional supporting line under 70 characters for detail that only product-page visitors need to read.
- 4
Repeat for each screenshot in your set, and read the headlines in sequence — together they should tell one coherent story.
Why these limits are guidelines, not store rules
Screenshot text is just pixels in an image — App Store Connect and Play Console never parse or count it, so there is no field to overflow. What enforces brevity is physics: a 6.9″ screenshot displayed as a search-result thumbnail is a few hundred pixels tall on the viewer’s screen. At that scale, a headline needs to occupy a large fraction of the image width to be readable, and a large font plus 40 characters is roughly what fits on one to two lines without crowding the UI you are trying to show.
The 70-character supporting line follows the same logic one level down: it is small enough that it only becomes readable once someone opens your product page, so it should carry secondary detail, not the core message. If your value proposition only makes sense with the supporting line, the headline is not doing its job.
Writing screenshot copy that converts
Lead with benefits, not features: “Fall asleep faster” outperforms “Sleep sound library” because it names the outcome the user wants. Each screenshot should make exactly one claim — sets that cram three bullet points per image test worse than sets with one bold line each, because at browsing speed users read at most one line per image before swiping or scrolling on.
Remember that captions are also your cheapest localization lever. The same screenshot art with translated headlines routinely lifts conversion in non-English storefronts by double digits, because a headline in the viewer’s language signals the app itself is localized. Keep source copy short and idiom-free so translations don’t balloon past the guideline — German and Finnish translations often run 30–40% longer than the English original.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official character limit for screenshot text?
No. Screenshot text is part of the image, and neither Apple nor Google counts it. The 40- and 70-character limits in this tool are readability guidelines based on what stays legible when screenshots shrink to search-result thumbnails.
Why 40 characters for a headline?
At a font size large enough to read in thumbnails, roughly 40 characters is what fits in one to two lines across a portrait screenshot without covering the app UI. Longer headlines force either a smaller font or three-line wrapping, and both kill thumbnail legibility.
Does screenshot text affect App Store search rankings?
No — the stores do not read text inside images, so keywords painted into screenshots have zero direct ranking effect. Screenshot copy works entirely through conversion: better captions lift tap-through and install rates, which indirectly feed ranking.
Should every screenshot have a caption?
Usually yes for the first three to five, because captions carry the story for users who never open your product page. Later screenshots aimed at engaged page visitors can go caption-light or show raw UI, especially for visually self-explanatory apps like games.
How do I handle caption length in other languages?
Write short, plain source copy and budget for expansion — German, French, and Finnish translations commonly run 30–40% longer than English. If a translated headline blows past the guideline, cut the message down rather than shrinking the font per locale.
Write it once, localize it everywhere
Appalize’s Screenshot Studio applies your captions to sized templates and device frames, translates them across storefront languages, and uploads finished sets straight to App Store Connect.
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