Both stores

Screenshot rejected for an alpha channel

Your PNG was saved with an alpha (transparency) channel, and both App Store Connect and Google Play reject screenshots that have one, even when every pixel looks opaque. Re-save it as an RGB PNG without alpha, or as a JPEG.

“Images can’t include alpha channels or transparencies.”

You’ll see this when…

  • App Store Connect refuses the upload and mentions alpha channels or transparency.
  • Google Play Console rejects a PNG that is not 24-bit.
  • The file came from a design tool’s default PNG export.

How to fix it

  1. Drop the file into the alpha remover tool: it flattens it onto a colour and saves an RGB PNG.
  2. On a Mac: open it in Preview, choose File → Export, and untick “Alpha”.
  3. Or export as JPEG, which has no alpha channel (quality 90+ keeps text crisp).
  4. In AppShotEditor, export with an App Store preset: preset PNGs are written without alpha.
Free alpha channel remover
1320×2868RGB, no alpha1320×2868RGBA
Same size, different format: RGB PNG (accepted) vs RGBA PNG (rejected)

Frequently asked questions

Why is my PNG rejected when it has no transparent pixels?

The file format still declares an alpha channel (colour type RGBA). App Store Connect checks the format, not just the pixels.

Is JPEG accepted instead?

Yes. Apple accepts .jpeg, .jpg and .png; Google Play accepts JPEG or 24-bit PNG.

How do I check a PNG for alpha?

Use the free size checker: it reads the PNG header (colour type and tRNS chunk) and scans the pixels.

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