Aspect ratios and safe areas.

iPhone aspect ratios

The actual aspect ratios per modern iPhone class:

• 6.9" (16 Pro Max, 15 Pro Max): 1320 × 2868 = 2.173 (≈ 19.5:9)
• 6.7" (16 Plus, 15 Plus): 1290 × 2796 = 2.167
• 6.1" (16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11): 1170 × 2532 = 2.164
• 5.5" (8 Plus, 7 Plus, 6s Plus): 1242 × 2208 = 1.778 (16:9)

The 5.5" class is the outlier — older devices used 16:9. If you're designing for both, anchor critical content to the center vertical strip so it stays visible in both ratios.

Safe areas

The App Store renders screenshots with rounded corners (matching the device frame) and may overlay app metadata in some carousel positions. Empirically:

• Top 80 px can get clipped by status-bar overlays or the corner radius.
• Edge 60 px on each side is the realistic safe gutter.
• Bottom 100 px sometimes gets covered by the "scroll for more" affordance on smaller phones.

Captions and CTAs should sit between 80 and 600 px from the top of the design — visible at thumbnail size, not clipped at full size.

Where the eye lands first

Eye-tracking studies of App Store carousels (consistent across multiple ASO firms' analyses, 2024-2026) put the strongest attention in the upper-left quadrant of each panel. Critical caption text reads best when it spans the top quarter of the panel and uses high-contrast color against the background. Device renderings work better when they're slightly tilted (8-15° around Y axis) rather than dead-on.

Practical safe-zone overlay

If you're designing in Figma or Photoshop, drop these guides onto your canvas (using 6.9" as base, scale proportionally for other classes):

• Top margin: 80 px
• Bottom margin: 100 px
• Side margins: 60 px each
• Caption zone: 80–600 px from top
• Device zone: 600–2400 px from top

Design with safe zones →