The App Store Asset Library is live: which header to ship, and how to test it

On October 5, 2026, Apple opened the App Store Asset Library and switched on two new placements. One puts a brand image or video at the top of your product page. The other can replace the screenshots and previews your app shows in search results (Apple Developer News, Showcase your apps with new assets on the App Store, 2026; Apple, WWDC26 session 205).

Search is likely the bigger of the two. In 2026, Apple Ads counts over 850 million weekly App Store visitors, and its 2022 data shows almost 65% of downloads happen directly after a search (Apple Ads, Ads on the App Store, 2026).

Before launch, our iOS 27 creative assets playbook measured the canvases and art-safe areas in Apple's templates. This is the launch-week follow-up: what actually shipped, which header format to build, and the traps that Apple's six help pages never put side by side.

What went live on October 5, and what's still coming?

On October 5, 2026, Apple enabled creative assets for the product page header and search results, the Asset Library and a product page preview tool. Apple says the assets are available for apps and games "running iOS 27 or iPadOS 27 or later," so visitors on older versions won't see them (Apple, Manage your App Store assets, 2026).

Who sees the new header today? In 2026, TelemetryDeck measured iOS 27 on 16.27% of devices at the end of September, with iOS 26 at 74.58% (TelemetryDeck, iOS Versions Market Share, October 1, 2026). Its sample leans toward US and European apps from smaller developers, so read it as directional. If your audience resembles that sample, most visitors can't see your header yet. Ship it anyway, but test it differently. For the June announcement itself, see what changed at WWDC 2026.

Step 1: How do you set up the App Store Asset Library?

Since October 5, 2026, the App Store Connect Asset Library has sat in your app's sidebar. Apple describes it as the place to "submit and manage your app's images and videos across platforms, sizes, and placements." It covers screenshots, previews, headers and in-app event cards (Apple, Manage your App Store assets, 2026). Apple's WWDC session says your existing screenshots, previews and event media are included.

Outcome: the right people can upload and submit, and every asset name says where it goes.

Start with roles, because Apple lists different roles for uploading and submitting:

Sources: Apple, Manage your App Store assets; Apple, Submit assets from Asset Library, 2026.

If your marketer or agency holds a Marketing seat, they can upload assets but can't submit them from the Asset Library. An Account Holder, Admin or App Manager has to (Apple, Submit assets from Asset Library, 2026). Marketing can still submit a custom product page, PPO test or in-app event, and any assets assigned to it go to review with it. Sort out standalone submissions before your first seasonal deadline.

New apps have one more rule. If your app has no approved version, Apple says to "include the asset in the same submission as your first app version." Standalone submissions open up after that.

Then learn two statuses. You can delete an asset only while it's in Prepare for Submission. After that, you archive it instead. Archived assets "can't be used in new placements," but you can unarchive them (Apple, 2026). Names are internal, so make them sort well. A convention like placement_ratio_theme_locale_version (for example, search_3x2_budget-ui_en-US_v2) stays readable at a hundred files.

Check: an App Manager can see the Submit button, and each asset name tells you its placement.

Step 2: Which product page header format should you ship: image, video or universal?

Apple doesn't use the phrase "header types," but in 2026 the header accepts three uploads. It takes a 21:9 image at 3840×1646 px, a 21:9 video of 5 to 30 seconds, or a 16:9 PNG at 5244×2950 px. That 16:9 PNG is the only size both the header and search results accept (Apple, Creative assets specifications, 2026).

Outcome: one format chosen per placement, with the reason written down.

Search results take a 3:2 image or video, from 1920×1280 up to 3840×2560 px, or the same 16:9 PNG. Videos run at 30 or 60 fps and loop. Images "can't include alpha channels or transparencies." There's no 16:9 video row at all, so a universal asset can only be a still.

Header and search uploads also fill the same slots on custom product pages and PPO treatments. *Our reading: event cards top out at 3840×2160, below the universal canvas, so check the asset's "Works With" field. Source: ASO Agency cross-read of Apple's creative asset, in-app event, PPO and Apple Ads specifications, October 2026.

The trap is the universal asset. One file fills both slots, which saves a production pass. But it can't be a video, and it has the smallest art-safe area of Apple's three templates: our template measurement puts it at 8.7%. It also won't carry into Apple Ads, which takes 3:2 files only (Apple Ads Help, Design your own ads with creative assets, 2026). If paid search is in your plan, build the dedicated 3:2 search asset.

Why build the search asset first? In 2026, AppTweak put the average US App Store install rate at 3.8% for 2025. That rate counts downloads straight from search or browse results, without a product page visit (AppTweak, Average app conversion rate per category, May 2026). The searchers among them never see your header, only your search asset.

For canvas sizes and each template's art-safe area, see our creative assets playbook.

Check: every placement has a format, and you picked the universal asset on purpose.

Step 3: How do you design header and search video that works on mute?

Design every 5–30 second video to work in silence. In 2026, Apple's specs say search result videos are muted "and can't currently be unmuted." Product page videos start muted, but "people can unmute them," and videos in both placements loop continuously (Apple, Creative assets specifications, 2026). Sound is a bonus for anyone who unmutes.

Outcome: a 5–30 second loop whose idea reads without sound and without its first second.

Start with the poster frame. Apple says the poster frame you set "applies to everywhere the asset is used," and that poster frames "can't be edited after assets have been approved" (Apple, Manage your App Store assets, 2026). Pick it like a still ad before you submit.

Then build the loop. Assume people arrive mid-cycle, so give the loop no real beginning. The message can't depend on an opening title card. Keep any text short, inside the safe area and on screen long enough to read twice. One spec differs: in-app event videos must run 15 to 30 seconds, not 5.

Is video worth the effort? Most top apps haven't checked. In 2026, AppTweak found that 88% of top US apps never tested a video on the App Store in 2025 (AppTweak, ASO & Apple Ads Trends & Benchmarks Report 2026). Our view: ship video where motion is the product: games, fitness, camera and creative tools.

Check: watch it muted, three loops in a row, in the preview tool in Dark Mode on iPhone and iPad.

Step 4: How do you submit from the App Store Asset Library without a new version?

Since October 5, 2026, once your first version is approved, you can submit creative assets standalone from the Asset Library, without a new build. Apple reviews them "against your app's latest version," and you then swap them onto your live version. In 2026, Apple says App Review typically handles at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours. It publishes no separate figure for standalone assets (Apple, App Review, 2026).

Outcome: approved assets waiting in the library before their campaign date, each with a revert date.

Preview first. The new tool shows your creative assets, screenshots and metadata on the product page and in search results "before you submit them." It covers Dark Mode, devices and orientations (Apple Developer News, 2026). It also previews custom product pages, PPO treatments and iPhone Duo. Three rules then decide your timing:

1. One rejection holds the whole submission. Apple's status guide says all items in a submission "must be accepted before any can be published" (Apple, App Store asset statuses, 2026). Submit a date-critical seasonal asset on its own, not alongside an experiment.
2. Active submissions lock their assets. An asset "can't be submitted on its own" if the item it's assigned to is already part of an active submission (Apple, Submit assets from Asset Library, 2026). Don't assign your Halloween header to a version that's sitting in review.
3. Review checks your latest version. Creative can go beyond app UI, but Apple says it "must still relate to its general functionality" (Apple, Asset Best Practices, 2026). As a precaution, don't feature something your latest version doesn't have yet.

To go live, open the version that's live on the App Store and choose the Header and Search Results tab, then Header or Search Results. Click Browse Assets, choose the approved asset, click Next, then Publish. Apple says your "app's product page updates with the new asset on the App Store." For recommended submit-by dates, use the Q4 swap calendar in our creative assets playbook; Halloween comes first. The holiday ASO playbook covers the metadata side.

Can you update screenshots without a new version now?

Not on your default product page, based on Apple's documentation as of October 6, 2026. Apple documents the no-new-version swap for creative assets. Screenshots and previews live in the library too, but they reach the store through an app version, a custom product page or a PPO treatment. The last two don't need a new build, so they're still the workaround.

Check: each asset shows Approved, a campaign date and a revert date.

Step 5: How do you A/B test headers and search assets in PPO?

Product page optimization treatments now include a "Header and Search Results" tab, so you can test both placements against your current page. In 2026, PPO allows up to three treatments, one test at a time, for up to 90 days (Apple, Product Page Optimization, 2026). Treatments need approval but no new app version (Apple, Configure test treatments, 2026).

Outcome: a test plan that names one placement, a traffic assumption and a minimum run length.

So what should you do in October?

• Test one placement at a time, search first. Keep screenshots identical across arms, or you won't know what moved the number.
• Run longer than usual. Don't call a header winner on two weeks of data.
• Plan a cleaner header test for later. iOS 26 was on around 55% of devices by the end of 2025, about three and a half months after launch (TelemetryDeck, 2026). Retest once iOS 27 passes half; if it follows iOS 26's pace, that's around the turn of the year.

One caveat: Apple's PPO overview page still lists only icons, screenshots and previews, and doesn't mention headers. The newer treatment setup page documents the header tab, so trust that one. For sample sizes and the peeking trap, use our product page A/B testing playbook.

Check: the hypothesis, placement, iOS 27 share assumption and end date are written down before launch.

Step 6: How do creative assets carry into CPPs, in-app events and Apple Ads?

Approved assets are reusable through a "Browse Assets" button in four places. It appears on your version's product page, custom product pages, PPO treatments and in-app events (Apple, App Store asset statuses, 2026). Apple Ads is the exception for now. In 2026, its help page lists creative assets as "coming soon" for Today tab and search results ads (Apple Ads Help, 2026).

Outcome: each asset mapped to where it'll run, matching its "Works With" field.

Custom product pages can each carry their own assets. Each of your up to 70 pages can pull a header and search asset from the library (Apple, Custom Product Pages, 2026). Our creative assets playbook shows how to pair each keyword-linked page with its own search asset, and our custom product page framework covers which pages to build first.

In-app events have their own specs. Event media now sits in the same library. Cards are 16:9 (1920×1080 to 3840×2160), details pages 9:16, files up to 500 MB and video 15 to 30 seconds (Apple, 2026). By our reading, header files won't fit those slots, so budget event art separately. See how events feed App Store featuring.

Plan Apple Ads around 3:2. Images work in both Today tab and search results ads. But "videos can only be used in search results ads," and "audio will not play." Every ad also needs two approvals: App Store Connect first, then an Apple Ads review "before it runs" (Apple Ads Help, 2026). A 3:2 search image approved now matches Apple Ads' format for both placements, pending Apple Ads review. Our guide to Today tab and search tab ads covers the campaign side.

Check: each asset's "Works With" field matches every place you plan to use it.

What else changed on October 5?

On October 5, 2026, Apple paired the launch with new screenshot guidance. App Review "will approve only those submissions where more than half of screenshots show the app in use," counted per device. With three screenshots, two must show the app; with four, three must (Apple, Guideline 2.3.3, 2026). Each localization is assessed the same way.

iPhone Duo screenshot uploads opened the same day. Apple's screenshot specs now list two Duo sizes: 1398×2034 px for the outer display and 2007×2853 px for the inner display, plus their landscape versions (Apple, Screenshot specifications, 2026). The device reaches customers on October 23, 2026. From April 2027, "any apps or games submitted will need to include screenshots for iPhone Duo" (Apple Developer News, Prepare and submit your apps for iPhone Duo, 2026). The preview tool also shows your header and screenshots on Duo. For designing one story across both screens, see our iPhone Duo screenshot guide.

Apple's screenshot page also now names rows by device class, such as "iPhone with Dynamic Island (large display)." Its new required-sizes list asks for at least one "iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display)" screenshot, while an older row still accepts a large-display set, so check App Store Connect before relying on large-display screenshots alone. Our screenshot size guide maps the rest.

Check: count in-use screenshots per device and per localization before your next submission.

Which mistakes should you avoid in launch week?

Most launch-week traps in Apple's 2026 docs are operational. Its specs refuse images with alpha channels, and one rejected item holds back every other item in its submission (Apple, 2026). Nine to avoid:

1. Exporting PNGs with transparency. Flatten every image before upload.
2. Briefing the universal asset as a video. There's no 16:9 video. Brief header video at 21:9.
3. Picking universal, then planning Apple Ads on it. Ads take 3:2 only.
4. Leaving standalone submission to a Marketing seat. That role isn't listed for submitting from the Asset Library. Give it to an App Manager.
5. Bundling a seasonal asset with an experiment. One rejection holds both. Submit them apart.
6. Choosing the poster frame last. It locks on approval and shows everywhere.
7. Shipping English text to every storefront. Localize the phrase or go text-free, following the translate, localize, culturalize ladder.
8. Calling a header test early. At a 16% iOS 27 share, a header test may need ~38× the traffic.
9. Forgetting the revert date. A Halloween header in December looks neglected. Schedule the swap back when you schedule the swap.

The bottom line

The Asset Library rewards planning across placements:

• Search asset first: build a dedicated 3:2 file. It reaches searchers who never open your page, and it's the only format Apple Ads accepts.
• Header format on purpose: a 21:9 image by default, 21:9 video where motion sells, universal only when speed beats reuse.
• Operations: an App Manager or Admin submits standalone assets, date-critical assets go alone, and poster frames are chosen before review.
• Testing: one placement at a time, sized for iOS 27's share of devices.
• Screenshots: a majority in use, brand art in the header, and a Duo set (1398×2034 and 2007×2853 px) before April 2027.

Want help running it? Our conversion optimization service covers creative assets, custom product pages and testing. A free 30-minute call is enough to plan your first header and search asset. For the wider picture, start with our guide to increasing your app conversion rate.