Create App Store Screenshots with Figma & Canva (Guide)

Two of the most popular tools for creating store creatives are Figma and Canva, and both can produce professional, converting screenshots. Whether you want the design control of figma app store screenshots or the speed of Canva's templates, this step-by-step guide shows you how to set up, design, and export a correctly-sized, on-brand set in 2026.

For the design principles that make screenshots convert, see our guide to designing App Store screenshots; for dedicated tools, App Store screenshot generators.

Figma versus Canva: which to choose

Both tools work, but they suit different teams. Figma offers deep design control, reusable components, and easy collaboration, which makes it ideal for teams that iterate frequently, localize into many languages, or want a fully custom look. Canva is template-driven and approachable, making it the faster choice for teams without design experience who want a polished set quickly. Neither is objectively better — the right pick depends on whether you value control and reusability or speed and simplicity. Many teams even use both: Canva for a quick first set, Figma once they need finer control and systematic localization.

Creating screenshots in Figma

To make app store screenshots figma, start by creating frames at the correct dimensions for each device class you need. Import your actual app screens, then place them inside device mockups — Figma has community mockup kits that make this easy. Add your caption text as styled text layers, keeping them benefit-led and legible at thumbnail size. The real power of Figma emerges when you build reusable components: turn your caption style, background, and device frame into components so that changing one updates the whole set, and use Figma's features to manage localized text variants. When your set is ready, export each frame at full resolution for its device size. This component-driven approach makes Figma exceptional for teams that update and localize screenshots often, since a template change propagates everywhere instantly.

Creating screenshots in Canva

Making canva app store screenshots is faster to start. Canva offers ready-made App Store screenshot templates at the correct sizes, so you begin from a polished layout rather than a blank canvas. Choose a template, apply your brand color and fonts, drop in your app screens and device frames, and edit the captions to your benefit-led messages. Canva's drag-and-drop interface makes this accessible to non-designers, and its element library speeds up adding backgrounds and accents. When finished, export each design at full resolution. Canva's strength is getting a clean, professional set done quickly without design expertise; its trade-off is less systematic control over reusable components than Figma offers, which matters more as you scale and localize.

A step-by-step workflow that works in either tool

Regardless of tool, the winning workflow is the same, and it starts with strategy rather than software:

1. Write your captions first. The benefit story drives everything; nail the message before opening the design tool.
2. Set up correct dimensions. Create frames or choose templates at the required size for each device class.
3. Add device frames and app screens. Use mockups to make captures look professional.
4. Apply captions and brand style. Keep captions outcome-led, consistent, and legible at thumbnail size.
5. Assemble and order the set. Front-load your strongest frame.
6. Localize. Adapt captions and visuals per market.
7. Export at full resolution for each device size.

Whether you use Figma or Canva to create app store images, this sequence keeps design in service of the message rather than the other way around.

A worked example

A two-person startup needs a screenshot set fast and has no designer. They choose Canva for speed. First they write captions: "Plan your week in minutes," "Never miss a task again," "Sync across all your devices." They pick a clean App Store template, apply their brand color, and drop each caption onto a device frame showing the relevant screen. In an afternoon they have a polished, correctly-sized set that converts because the captions sell outcomes and the strongest frame leads. A quarter later, as they expand into new languages and want tighter control, they rebuild the set in Figma with reusable components, so future localization and updates take minutes. Each tool served the stage they were at — Canva for a fast start, Figma for systematic scaling.

Common mistakes

The usual pitfalls apply regardless of tool: designing before writing captions, so visuals lack a clear message; using wrong dimensions and facing rejection; making a generic set that looks like every other app using the same template; exporting at low resolution; and skipping localization. The tool does not cause these mistakes — process does — so lead with your message, work from correct sizes, customize to your brand, export at full resolution, and localize. An app store images generator or a design tool is only as good as the strategy you bring to it.

Building a reusable system for localization

The real payoff of using a proper design tool emerges when you localize, and this is where Figma in particular shines. If you sell in multiple markets — and most apps should, given how much less contested non-English keyword pools are — you will need your captions, and sometimes your visuals, adapted for each language. Doing this by editing each frame individually across ten markets is painfully slow and error-prone. A component-based Figma setup solves it: build your caption styles, device frames, and backgrounds as reusable components, so that the structure is fixed and only the text changes per locale. When you need a German or Portuguese set, you duplicate the master, swap in the locally-researched captions, and export — a task of minutes rather than hours. Canva is less systematic here but still faster than manual work, since its templates give you a consistent starting point per language. However you build it, the principle is the same: invest once in a reusable system rather than treating each market as a fresh design job. This upfront structure pays for itself the first time you localize, and it keeps paying every time you update your set, add a market, or run a test. Teams that skip this step find localization so tedious that they avoid it, leaving conversion — and installs — on the table in every non-English market, which is precisely the opportunity a reusable system lets you capture.

Let AppsLift design, test, and rank

Figma and Canva help you produce screenshots, but designing a converting, tested, localized set — and ranking the keywords that bring the traffic to see it — is a larger, continuous effort. AppsLift handles the whole job. Since 2012 we have pushed 400+ iOS and Android apps to the top of store search, pairing keyword rankings with the conversion optimization that turns impressions into installs.

Start with a free AppsLift audit: paste your app link, pick your markets, and see your real keyword positions plus the install value of the Top 3. When you want your creatives and rankings handled for you, talk to our team. Next, read our guide to creating perfect app screenshots.