Create AppStore Images with one liner

As an iOS developer, the absolute worst part of releasing an app is creating App Store screenshots.

There are expensive micro-SaaS tools out there. But honestly? They just take your money, and you still end up doing a lot of manual work. I am already paying too much money to Digital Ocean and Google Cloud. I don't need this.

Here is my personal solution. It kills two birds with one stone:

First, we automate our App Store screenshots,
Second, we write UI tests and increase our code coverage.

Here is how you can do it, step-by-step:

Step 1: Take Screenshots with XCTest

Write a simple UI test and use XCTest to take a screenshot. Make sure to keep the attachment so Xcode saves it.

let screenshot = XCUIScreen.main.screenshot()
let attachment = XCTAttachment(screenshot: screenshot)
attachment.lifetime = .keepAlways
attachment.name = "AppStore_Home"
add(attachment)

Step 2: Run Your Tests

Just run your UI tests in Xcode (Cmd + U). Xcode will automatically save all these screenshots inside a hidden .xcresult file.

Step 3: Export to Desktop using a Custom CLI Command

Instead of writing a long, messy bash file every time, let's turn this into a simple custom CLI command!

You just need a tool called xcparse (you can install it via Homebrew).

To make it a simple command, open your terminal and add this small function to your ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bash_profile) file:

# Add this to your .zshrc
extract_screens() {
    LATEST_RESULT=$(find ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData -name "*.xcresult" -type d -exec stat -f "%m %N" {} + | sort -rn | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f2-)

    mkdir -p ~/Desktop/Screenshots
    xcparse screenshots "$LATEST_RESULT" ~/Desktop/Screenshots

    echo "🚀 Success! Screenshots extracted to your Desktop."
}

Now, restart your terminal. After your tests finish, just type this single command:

$ extract_screens and hit the enter.

Boom! All your App Store screenshots are sitting perfectly on your Desktop. You saved money, saved time, and tested your app. We have a raw screenshot and tot impressed? Totally understandable. The second part will be SVG-based image generation and localization. Click to follow the button. Stay tuned.

How do you currently handle your App Store screenshots? Paying others? Let me know below! 👇

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