App Store Screenshots - "Screenshot uploads in progress" Error / appScreenshotSets Error

Question

This is going to be self-answered question. This issue is wasting days and whole weeks of developer time.

See the screenshots below to see what the problem is. Apple developer forum doesn't provide you any answers.

The issue is:

Apple App Store shows no screenshots because of App Store's web interface issue. When you try to upload new screenshots it does not let you do that. It throws a STATE_ERROR with a message of 'Screenshots already exists!'.

Answer 1

Me too I was having problem uploading with Safari for hours then I tried in brave browser and finally could upload.

Answer 2

Easiest solution is:

1. Just Change Version name or edit some text.
2. You can see Submit button is enabled before click submit button upload screenshots and click "submit" button. Add to review button also working fine then you can release your app successfully.

Answer 3

The way you resolve this is to use the App Store Connect API to delete the AppScreenshotSets for all your "Preparing for submission" review version.

Steps to follow:

1. Generate an API keys. Go to "App Store Connect" > "Users & Access" > "Keys" (tab).

2. Use the ISSUER_ID, KEY_ID, AUTH KEY FILE (.p8 file) to create time-sensitive token using the ruby script below:

   require "base64"
   require "jwt"
   ISSUER_ID = "XXXX-XX-XXXXXX-XX-XXXXXXXX"
   KEY_ID = "XXXXXXXX"
   private_key = OpenSSL::PKey.read(File.read("AuthKey_XXXXXX.p8"))
   token = JWT.encode(
      {
       iss: "XXXX-XX-XXXXXX-XX-XXXXXXXX",
       exp: Time.now.to_i + 20 * 60,
       aud: "appstoreconnect-v1"
      },
      private_key,
      "ES256",
      header_fields={
        kid: "XXXXXXXXX" }
    )
   puts token
   

3. Run the script with ruby

   ruby generateTokenFromCredentials.rb
   

4. Export the time sensitive token in terminal:

   export APPSTORETOKEN=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
   

5. [OPTIONAL STEP] Get additional information about your app store app

   export APPSTORETOKEN=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
   
   //List user
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/users'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   
   //List Apps
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/apps'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   
   
   //Get App Store Versions
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/apps/<APP_STORE_ID_NUMBER>/relationships/appStoreVersions'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   
   
   //List All App Store Version Localizations for an App Store Version
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/appStoreVersions/<APP_STORE_ID_NUMBER>/appStoreVersionLocalizations'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   
   
   //Review submissions
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/apps/<APP_STORE_ID_NUMBER>/reviewSubmissions'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   
   
   
   //Pre release versions 
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/apps/<APP_STORE_ID_NUMBER>/preReleaseVersions'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   
   
   //Get App Info
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/apps/<APP_STORE_ID_NUMBER>/appInfos'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   

6. Find out the appStoreVersionLocalizations from the Google Chrome or Safari Console by going to the request that threw the 500 Error.

   curl 'https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/iris/v1/appScreenshotSets?include=appScreenshots&filter\[appStoreVersionLocalization\]=XXXXX-XX-XX-XX-XXXXXXX' \
     -H 'sec-ch-ua: "Chromium";v="104", " Not A;Brand";v="99", "Google Chrome";v="104"' \
     -H 'x-csrf-itc: [asc-ui]' \
   

   Take appStoreVersionLocalization from the URL

7. List all the appScreenshotSets and get the ids:

   //List all relavant App Screenshots
   curl 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/appStoreVersionLocalizations/21XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX/appScreenshotSets'  --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   

8. DELETE EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM

   //Delete Screenshots Sets
   curl -X DELETE 'https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/appScreenshotSets/<XXXXX-XXX-XXX-XX-XXXX>' --Header "Authorization: Bearer $APPSTORETOKEN"
   

Now you can go back to the App Store Connect web interface and continue your uploads.

Answer 4

I exported some screenshots to png fileformat using 8bpc RGB pixel format with GIMP. Those screenshots were accepted by the AppStore as of end of 2023. What pixel format the images used before the story however doesn't tell as it was set to 'automatic pixel format'.