# App launch graphics: announce your app everywhere at once

[Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/mobile-app-launch-graphics)

Launch day is the one day your app is shown everywhere at once, to people deciding in a second whether to tap. Here is the full kit of graphics, the sizes, and the order to make them in.

## The short version

- App launch graphics work best as one kit made from a single design: launch posts, an Open Graph image, profile headers and gallery images.
- The Open Graph image that appears when your link is shared is 1200×630 pixels, and the X header is 1500×500.
- Launch posts should name the app, say what it does in one sentence and point to where to get it.
- Update your link preview, headers and website hero before you post anything, so every link people share on launch day already looks right.
- A consistent background across every launch graphic helps people recognise the same app as it appears in different feeds.

Good **app launch graphics** are one design in many shapes: an announcement post for each network, a 1200×630 link preview that appears every time someone shares your URL, fresh profile headers, and a short set of gallery images for launch sites such as Product Hunt. Make them together, from one look and one sentence, and launch day reads as a single event instead of a scramble of mismatched screenshots.

## Start with one sentence and one look

Before any graphic, write the sentence that says what the app does for whom, in under ten words. "Split rent with housemates without the awkward chat" works. "The future of shared finance" does not, because nobody can picture it. That sentence goes on every graphic, unchanged, so the message repeats while the shape changes. [Writing copy for visuals](https://gradiently.design/guide/writing-copy-for-visuals) has more on cutting a line down.

Then fix the look: the app's icon colours become a background, the app's typeface becomes the headline. A distinctive background matters more than you might expect, because the same screenshots of white interfaces appear on every launch day. [Launch day graphics](https://gradiently.design/guide/launch-day-graphics) covers this for any kind of product.

- Night to signal: `linear-gradient(145deg, #0b1026 0%, #2b2f8f 50%, #6ee7f9 100%)`
- Ember: `radial-gradient(circle at 70% 30%, #ffd9a8 0%, #ff7a59 40%, #4a1532 100%)`
- Mint deep: `linear-gradient(200deg, #e8fff4 0%, #7be0b3 45%, #0f5b4a 100%)`

Three launch backgrounds built from typical app icon colours. Pick the one closest to your icon and keep it for the whole kit.

## The app launch graphics kit, with sizes

| Graphic | Size | What goes on it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Open Graph link preview | 1200×630 px | App name, the sentence, icon |
| X header | 1500×500 px | The sentence and "Out now" |
| X or Bluesky launch post | 1600×900 px | Hero screen or the sentence |
| LinkedIn post | 1200×1200 px | The sentence, maker's note |
| Instagram post | 1080×1350 px | Icon, name, the sentence |
| Story | 1080×1920 px | "Out now" and where to get it |
| Website hero | 1920×1080 px | The sentence and store buttons |
| Email header | 1200×600 px | The name and "Now live" |

The core kit. App Store and Google Play screenshots have their own required sizes, listed in Apple's and Google's developer help. Product Hunt shows its current thumbnail and gallery requirements in the submission form; design those in landscape from the same master.

- Link preview: 1200 × 630
- X header: 1500 × 500
- X post 16:9: 1600 × 900
- Instagram 4:5: 1080 × 1350
- Story 9:16: 1080 × 1920

From a long thin header to a tall story, to scale. The words have to be arranged differently for each, which is why stretching one image never works.

## Why the link preview image matters most

On launch day your URL is pasted into chats, posts, forums and newsletters you will never see. Every one of them shows your **Open Graph image**, so it is quietly the most viewed launch graphic. Make it 1200×630, put the app name and sentence in the middle, keep text clear of the edges because some apps crop to a square, and check it with a sharing debugger before launch. [Open Graph image size](https://gradiently.design/guide/open-graph-image-size) has the crops; [Open Graph tags](https://gradiently.design/guide/open-graph-tags) has the markup.

```html
<meta property="og:title" content="Rentwise: split rent without the awkward chat" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Now on iPhone and Android." />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://rentwise.app/og/launch.png" />
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" />
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630" />
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
```

The tags that control a link preview. Use an absolute https URL for the image, and change the file name when you update it so platforms fetch the new one.

## How to design an app launch post

A launch post competes with everything else in the feed, so it should be readable in a glance. Lead with the sentence, not the logo. Show one screen, not five. Say where to get the app. On X and Bluesky a thread works well: the graphic first, then a short video, then the maker's story.

A landscape launch post for a rent splitting app with the one line description in large type

The X and Bluesky post at 1600×900: the sentence carries the post.

A vertical story reading Out now for the Rentwise app on the matching gradient

The story: two words and where to go, on the same background.

### Avoid

- A grid of six phone screenshots
- "Revolutionising" anything
- A new colour scheme just for launch
- Text in the outer edges of the preview image

### Do

- One screen that shows the main moment
- The plain sentence of what it does
- The icon's own colours, everywhere
- Words centred, with generous margins

Short screen recordings suit apps well, because they show the main moment in motion: the tap, the result. Keep them under twenty seconds, put the sentence on the first frame, and add captions, since plenty of people scroll with the sound off. [Product demo video](https://gradiently.design/guide/product-demo-video) covers pacing and framing.

## The order to make app launch graphics in

1. **A week before: the master design** Sentence, icon, background, typeface on one landscape frame. Everything else comes from it.
2. **A week before: a coming soon post** Tease the date and a waitlist link. [Coming soon post](https://gradiently.design/guide/coming-soon-post) has layouts.
3. **Two days before: previews and headers** Ship the Open Graph image, X header and website hero early so links shared on the day look right.
4. **The day before: every launch post** Export all sizes and write captions for each network in advance.
5. **Launch day: post, reply, repeat** Spend the day answering people, not making graphics.
6. **A week after: a thank you** A milestone or thank you post in the same look closes the launch.

Gradiently fits this workflow well. Design the master once on a Mark, then, with Pro, resize it to every format in the kit in one step; the Mark keeps the sentence readable on each shape by moving its calmest area behind the words. If you are already working on the launch in ChatGPT or Claude, Gradiently can be connected to both, so the assistant can draft the kit as designs that open in the Studio. [Indie hacker launch graphics](https://gradiently.design/guide/indie-hacker-launch-graphics) covers the same kit for web products.

## FAQ

### What graphics do I need to launch an app?

A 1200×630 link preview, an updated X header at 1500×500, launch posts for each network you use, a story, a website hero and gallery images for any launch site. Make them all from one master design.

### What size is a Product Hunt gallery image?

Product Hunt lists its current thumbnail and gallery requirements in the submission form. Design them in landscape from the same master as your other launch graphics so the look stays consistent.

### What should an app launch post say?

The app's name, one sentence about what it does for whom, and where to get it. Keep everything else for the caption or a thread.

### When should I update my link preview image?

A day or two before launch, with a new file name, then test it in a sharing debugger. Platforms cache previews, so a late change may not show on launch day.