27 september 2026 · 10 min read

App Store Creative Assets: Headers and Search Results

Kort antwoord: Apple is adding creative assets to the App Store: a product page header above your screenshots, a dedicated asset for search results, and an Asset Library in App Store Connect that accepts assets separately from an app version. They appear on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 and later, and Apple lists them as coming this fall. Two things matter now. If you skip the search result asset, your screenshots keep doing that job — up to three of them can show in search. And Apple's asset rules are explicit: no pricing, no discounts, no URLs, no copyright symbols, no other-platform logos, no Apple accolades, and a 4+ age rating on every asset regardless of your app's rating.

Apple is changing what sits at the top of an App Store product page. On August 5, 2026 it told developers to get ready for creative assets — images or videos that appear in places screenshots used to own — and when submissions opened for iOS 27 on September 9 it put “new product page headers and search result assets” on the list of things to prepare before you publish.

This is the first structural change to the App Store product page in years that is not about screenshot dimensions. It is worth understanding before you design your next set, because one of its details quietly raises the stakes on the screenshots you already have.

The Four Placements

Apple's asset best practices page is the primary reference. It states that creative assets “appear across the App Store in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 and later including your product page, in search results, and when your app is featured.” Each placement has a documented fallback, which is the clearest signal that none of this is mandatory yet.

The difference between a creative asset and a screenshot is what it is allowed to be. A screenshot has to show your app in use. A creative asset does not — Apple frames it as a place for brand, seasonal offerings and new content. For a game, that is a key art slot. For a utility, it is the first chance to say something other than “here is the interface.”

The Detail That Affects Screenshots You Already Shipped

Buried in the search results section of Apple's guidance: “If you choose to not use a search result creative asset, your In-App Events, app previews, and screenshots will appear.” And in the screenshots section: “Depending on orientation, up to three screenshots can appear in search results.”

So search results are not a new place your app might show up — they are a place your screenshots are already showing up, and Apple is now offering a purpose-built alternative. If you do nothing, nothing breaks. But it does mean your first three screenshots are doing two jobs with different audiences: a searcher comparing several results at thumbnail size, and a visitor who already chose to open your page. Those want different compositions. A dedicated search asset is how Apple is proposing to separate them.

The practical read: if your first three screenshots only make sense in sequence — a three-panel spanning background, or a story that needs all three to land — they are weak in search whether or not you ever add a creative asset. That is worth fixing now. See screenshot order for what belongs first.

The Content Rules Are Stricter Than Most Listings

The most immediately useful part of Apple's new page is not about headers at all. It is an explicit list of what cannot appear in any asset shown on the App Store — screenshots included. Several of these are rules developers routinely break:

• No specific pricing, discounts, website URLs or copyright symbols — Apple wants assets that stay relevant globally and do not go stale.
• No claims you cannot verify, such as awards or recognition the app has not actually received.
• No logos or references to other platforms or marketplaces.
• No Apple-designated recognitions — Editor's Choice, App of the Day, Game of the Day, Apple Design Award winner. Apple already shows those next to your app itself.
• Every asset must meet a 4+ age rating, even when the app's own rating is higher.
• Games may use action imagery but must avoid gore, graphic imagery, and weapons pointed directly at a person or at the viewer.

The pricing one catches people. A screenshot reading “Only $2.99” or “50% off this week” is squarely against this guidance, and so is a caption carrying a website URL or a © symbol. The 4+ rule catches games: a 17+ title still needs assets a child could see. Apple points at App Review Guideline 2.3, Accurate Metadata and the Apple Advertising Policies as the enforcement backing.

If you have a listing live right now, re-reading your screenshots against that list is a ten-minute job with a real chance of catching something. Our guide to why screenshots get rejected covers how these come back in practice.

The Asset Library Changes When You Upload

Today, artwork ships with a version. Apple's stated model for the Asset Library is different: you can submit assets for approval “either alongside a new app version, or in your Asset Library,” and every approved asset lives there with an indication of where it can be used. The App Store Connect API can upload them too.

Decoupling asset approval from app review is the genuinely useful change here. A seasonal header that needs to go live on a fixed date no longer has to ride a binary through review. Alongside it, a product page preview tool in App Store Connect will render your header, app name, description, screenshots and search result asset the way customers will see them — which is the first time Apple has offered a preview of the assembled page rather than a list of uploaded files.

Both are listed as coming this fall on Apple's App Store What's New page, and the September 9 announcement called the preview tool “coming soon.” Treat the upload path as not yet available.

Apple Has Not Published Dimensions — Use the Templates

There is no creative asset equivalent of the screenshot specifications page. What Apple ships instead is a set of templates: Figma and Sketch provide a universal asset, and Photoshop and Pixelmator provide separate header, search results and universal files. The universal asset is designed to serve both the header and search results from one composition.

You will find pixel dimensions quoted around the web for these placements. They come from reading the templates, not from a published Apple specification, so treat them accordingly — download the template from Apple's best practices page and design on the canvas it gives you. That also gets you the safe areas, which matter more than the outer dimensions: Apple warns that assets “appear differently across the App Store” and tells you to keep the focal point centred to prevent clipping.

For video, the existing rules carry over and one is easy to miss. Assets autoplay muted and repeat, so Apple asks for a video that loops without a visible jump and works silently first. Pick the poster frame deliberately — it is what people see before anything plays.

You Can Test Headers

Creative assets are usable on custom product pages, and Apple explicitly says product page optimization can test alternative header visuals. That is a more interesting experiment than most screenshot tests, because a header is a single image carrying a single idea — a cleaner variable than a five-panel screenshot set. If you already run PPO tests, the header is likely to be the highest-signal thing you can put in one.

What to Do Now

• Audit your live screenshots against the content list above — pricing, discounts, URLs, copyright symbols, other-platform logos, borrowed accolades, and the 4+ bar. This is the only item here with a downside if you ignore it.
• Check your first three screenshots in isolation. They are already your search results asset. If they only work as a set, fix that.
• Download the templates and decide whether you want one universal asset or separate header and search compositions. A single idea, clearly stated, is what Apple asks for in both.
• Do not wait to upload. The Asset Library and the preview tool are not live yet. Design now, upload when App Store Connect accepts it.

The Short Version

Creative assets are additive, not a migration. Nothing you have breaks, no dimension you rely on changed, and every new placement degrades gracefully to the assets you already supply. What is worth acting on this month is smaller than the announcement: Apple wrote down the content rules for store artwork more plainly than it ever has, and it confirmed that up to three of your screenshots are carrying your search results whether you designed them for that or not.

The screenshot work itself does not change. You still need every size at exact pixel dimensions, still need them localized, and now have one more composition to keep visually consistent with the rest — the sizes reference is unchanged apart from Apple's newest devices.