# FAQ https://previewsmith.app/faq/ Last updated: 2026-08-09 Answers about PreviewSmith: what it does on App Store Connect, what device sizes and locales it covers, the Preview Helper, requirements, privacy and pricing. ## What does PreviewSmith do? It is a Mac app that becomes a home for one app's store presence. Your App Store Connect releases appear in the sidebar, each with the screenshots already on them, the ones you've imported, and the ones you're still making. The App Store side stays in step as you add, upload and delete. Alongside that it renders the SwiftUI previews already in your Xcode project into a gallery you can search and export, and gives you an editor for framing any of them in a real device bezel with your own text and colours. ## Does it generate every device size and locale for me? No, and it is worth being clear about this. PreviewSmith renders each preview at the size your active Xcode run destination produces. To get a different size you switch run destination and render again. What it does instead is make the gaps impossible to miss: a coverage grid lays out every device size against every locale configured for your app and marks the ones you haven't filled. Uploads go to your app's primary locale, so the grid shows you where the other locales stand rather than filling them in for you. ## What can it do on App Store Connect? It reads your apps, their releases and the screenshots already attached to each one, and it can upload new screenshots, create screenshot sets and delete existing ones. It fetches the text content for the release so you can see that alongside your screenshots. ## What do I need to use PreviewSmith? macOS 26 or later, and an Xcode project that builds an app. To load previews you also need Xcode 26 or later running with that project open, and **Enable Model Context Protocol** checked under Xcode Settings → Intelligence. Xcode asks for permission the first time PreviewSmith connects. Rendering previews additionally needs the Preview Helper, a separate download covered in the next answer. The rest of the app — releases, coverage, the checklist, uploading and the marketing image editor — works whether or not Xcode is running. ## Why is there a separate Preview Helper download? Because of the App Sandbox. Rendering a preview means running Xcode's preview bridge and reading the images Xcode writes into its own temporary directory, and a sandboxed app can do neither. Every executable inside a Mac App Store app has to be sandboxed too, so the helper ships separately as a notarized app signed by the same developer, and the two check each other's signature before they talk. Installing it is three steps, prompted from Settings: unzip it, move it to Applications, and open it once. ## Does it modify my Xcode project? No. PreviewSmith only ever reads your project files, it parses them to find your previews, and never writes to them. Everything it produces lives in its own `.previewsmith` document, alongside your project or wherever you save it. One consequence worth knowing: Xcode compiles a preview in order to render it, so a project that doesn't build has no previews to show. ## What can the marketing image editor do? Take a preview — or any image you import — and drop it into a real device bezel: iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and Air, iPad Pro 11" and 13", MacBook Pro 14" and 16", and the 24" iMac, each in its actual finishes. Add a title and subtitle with your own font, weight, size and colour, and pick a background. The result is composed at the exact App Store canvas size. ## Where does my App Store Connect key live? In your Mac's keychain, stored so that it never syncs to another device, and optionally behind Touch ID. PreviewSmith is sandboxed, signs its own tokens locally, and talks to nothing but App Store Connect and the subscription service. Your images stay in your document. One thing to check before you start: uploading and deleting screenshots needs an API key with the **App Manager** or **Admin** role. A Developer-role key can read your releases but will be refused on write. ## What's free, and what needs a subscription? PreviewSmith is free to use with your most recent release on each platform. On the free tier the gallery, rendering, export, the marketing image editor, the coverage grid, the checklist and uploading are all unlimited — the only thing held back is reaching older releases in the sidebar. PreviewSmith+ opens up every release, across every platform, for $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year. See [pricing](/pricing/) for the full comparison. ## How do I get support? Email [support@previewsmith.app](mailto:support@previewsmith.app) and we will get back to you. There is more on the [support page](/support/), including what to include in a bug report. --- PreviewSmith — https://previewsmith.app/ Site index for language models: https://previewsmith.app/llms.txt