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Comet App Store screenshots

Every App Store screenshot set is a compressed argument for why a user should surrender home-screen space to something new. Comet, the mobile browser from Perplexity, enters the arena with eight frames that refuse to behave like standard utility marketing. There is no feature tick-list floating in a pastel void, no disembodied hand tapping a neon button, no onboarding diagram. Instead, the set opts for a cinematic, editorial aesthetic that treats the iPhone as an actor performing on a stage rather than a specimen dissected on a tray. The backdrop is a persistent deep-space starfield—black as #06070A, flecked with cyan and warm-amber particle streaks—that threads through every frame like a continuous reel. Typography is a high-contrast, sharp serif paired with an italic script for emphasis, evoking magazine headlines more than system preferences. It is an opinionated, risky approach for a product that lives in the most entrenched category on iOS: the browser, where Safari is the quietly immortal default. Looking at these frames as a designer, what strikes you first is not merely what is shown, but what is assumed: that a shopper will swipe past a poster-style opener containing zero interface, that they will tolerate reading dense fact-check copy inside a CNN article, and that they will recognize the Hans Zimmer Wikipedia tab as a narrative sequel three swipes later. This is a case study in atmospheric product storytelling, and its lessons—both elegant and cautionary—are encoded in the pixels.

Set published by Perplexity AI, Inc. · 8 frames analysed

4.8 · 5.1K ratingsFreev26.15.1Updated 4mo ago

App Store

01At a glance

The set in one screen

Framing: Centered iPhone 15 Pro, straight-on, uniform scale across all seven device frames
Captions: Large white serif with italic script emphasis; no subtitle body copy
Backdrop: Full-bleed starfield, near-black #06070A with cyan particle blooms and warm lens flares
Type: High-contrast serif headline (~Playfair/Fraunces weight) with flowing italic script on the emphasized clause
UI / copy split: Messaging-first; real website content dominates the screen, while AI chrome (bottom bar, overlay cards) occupies roughly 15–25% of the device canvas per frame
Frame 1 job: Brand poster: zero UI, logo, wordmark, and tagline only

Sampled palette

#06070A#06070A

#FFFFFF#FFFFFF

#0F766E#0F766E

#CC0000#CC0000

#3366CC#3366CC

#E32400#E32400

02The challenge

What this screenshot set had to solve

The design problem is deceptively simple: how do you photograph a browser so that it does not look like Safari with a chat bubble bolted to it? Comet is not merely a new skin; it is an AI agent that lives inside the web. The screenshots must therefore communicate two simultaneous value propositions—full web rendering plus contextual intelligence—without collapsing into abstraction. The App Store shopper is not reading; they are swiping in sub-second intervals. The set must teach, through architecture alone, that this is a tool for research, verification, voice command, shopping, reading, and recall. At the same time, the product’s metadata places it in the Social category, which means it may surface alongside messaging and community apps rather than Utilities or Productivity. The frames therefore need to signal utility to a user who might not be in a utilitarian browsing mindset. The challenge, then, is to stage a browser that feels like a thinking partner rather than a window, and to do so in a sequence where each frame earns its place without looking like a generic Perplexity wrapper.

The starfield is not a background; it is a continuous environment. The iPhone floats in it, and the captions hang above it like chapter titles in an art-book spread.

03The approach

How the set argues its case

The team locked the camera angle: every device is a straight-on iPhone 15 Pro, centered, displaying 9:41 in the status bar, identical signal and battery glyphs. This mechanical repetition creates a flip-book rhythm. Rather than inventing sanitized fake UIs, they chose real, recognizable websites—Wikipedia, CNN, Herman Miller, Best Buy—to prove the browser visits the actual web. The AI features are communicated through overlay cards and bottom-sheet chrome that sit above these real pages, making the value prop instantly legible: the web stays the same; Comet adds a layer. The typography reinforces the editorial stance: each caption is a two-line statement where the active clause is set in an upright, sharp serif and the qualifying phrase drops to an elegant italic script. There is no sub-header, no paragraph of explanation, no annotation arrow. The palette is ruthlessly restrained: the only brand color is a dark teal (#0F766E) reserved for the circular voice/action button inside the browser chrome. Everything else is black, white, and whatever color the host site brings. The starfield itself functions as a unity mask; by keeping the environment unchanged, the viewer’s attention stays fixed on the device screen, while the cosmic backdrop literalizes the product name.

Messaging-first, product-second. The captions read like magazine cover lines, and the UI is allowed to be small, confident that the “vibe” will carry the swipe. This only works because Perplexity enters with pre-built brand equity.

04Frame by frame

Every screenshot, and the job it does

The poster

On-frame caption: “The browser that / works for you”

A new mobile browser from Perplexity — Tone-setting poster with no device, full-bleed starfield, centered logomark, and bottom-anchored provenance line.Frame one is a pure declaration of atmosphere. There is no handset, no affordance, no URL bar—only the starfield bleeding edge-to-edge in near-black #06070A, salted with white and cyan particles and a vertical column of pale light behind the mark. The Comet logo, a white abstract tail or arc, sits dead-center above the wordmark “comet” in a geometric, lowercase sans. The headline above reads “The browser that” in an upright, sharp serif, with “works for you” in an italic script beneath it. Near the bottom, the provenance line “A new mobile browser from Perplexity” grounds the frame in white sans-serif. The spacing between logo and wordmark is tight, almost lockup-like, and the vertical rhythm is generous. As a piece of static design, it is confident and quiet. As an App Store screenshot, it is a gamble: it burns the first and most valuable impression on brand alone, asking the shopper to trust that the next swipe will reveal something functional. The background particles are densest directly behind the logo, creating a subtle spotlight effect without a gradient. For a designer building a set, this frame states that the first impression will be emotional, not utilitarian.

The research prompt

On-frame caption: “AI that does / research”

Device shows blurred webpage behind a white rounded card containing a Wikipedia tab preview for “Hans Zimmer - Wikipedia” and an “Ask anything...” input field; iOS keyboard visible; teal waveform button at ~#0F766E.Frame two introduces the hardware: a centered iPhone 15 Pro. The caption “AI that does” is upright; “research” drops to italic. On screen, the background page is heavily gaussian-blurred, pushing focus to a white, rounded overlay card. That card carries a tab preview: “en.wikipedia.org” and “Hans Zimmer - Wikipedia”. Inside the card, an input field reads “Ask anything...” with a blinking cursor, and below it sit four icons: a plus, a camera, a microphone, and a filled circular button in dark teal (#0F766E) with a white waveform glyph. The iOS system keyboard occupies the lower half of the screen, its off-white key caps (#F2F2F7) contrasting with the black bezel. The starfield crops tightly to the device edges. This frame establishes the browser’s omnibox-style command palette, but it pays a compositional price: the keyboard eats roughly 45% of the vertical canvas, leaving the actual app chrome as a thin ribbon above it. The teal button is the only chromatic accent on the device, and it successfully pulls the eye toward voice input.

The fact check

On-frame caption: “Verify / everything”

Device shows CNN Science article with “fact check” pill and white overlay card containing bulleted analysis; cyan bullet at ~#0891B2; “Ask a follow up...” field at bottom.The third frame stages the verification feature on a CNN Science article headlined “Earth-like exoplanet could be habitable, and astronomers may know soon”. A semi-transparent white overlay card covers the lower two-thirds. In its top-right, a subtle pill reads “fact check”. The card contains bulleted analysis that begins verbatim: “The claim that a potentially habitable exoplanet—specifically TRAPPIST-1 e—could have an Earth-like atmosphere is partially true but not yet confirmed. Here’s what the latest research and observations actually show:” followed by a bullet set in small body copy. At the very bottom, another prompt field reads “Ask a follow up...”. The CNN header band is its signature red (#CC0000), and the red “Subscribe” button provides a warm clash against the starfield’s cool tone. The density here is intentional but risky: the copy inside the card is far too small to read in thumbnail view, so the frame relies on the “fact check” pill and the structural cue of bullet points to communicate value.

Voice command result

On-frame caption: “Command the web / with your voice”

Device returns to Hans Zimmer Wikipedia page; dark translucent bottom drawer (~#1C2526) shows voice response text and waveform dots in cyan (~#2DD4BF); URL bar reads wikipedia.org.Frame four creates narrative continuity by returning to the Hans Zimmer Wikipedia article introduced in frame two. This time, a dark, translucent drawer occupies the bottom third of the screen, colored approximately #1C2526 with a soft frosted edge. Inside the drawer, a response reads: “Hans Zimmer has four children. Two are from his first marriage and two from his second, though public sources sometimes compress this into ‘three with Suzanne’ plus his older daughter.” Below the text, the URL “wikipedia.org” sits centered, flanked by an ellipsis on the left and a refresh icon on the right. At the drawer’s base, an “X” close button, a cyan voice-waveform visualization (#2DD4BF), and a microphone icon control the modality. The Wikipedia page behind is the standard mobile skin, its blue links (#3366CC) offering a familiar, credible backdrop. The frame communicates voice output without depicting the input moment; it trusts the user to infer the causality.

Pure browsing

On-frame caption: “Browse at the / speed of thought”

Device shows Herman Miller Aeron Chair page; “Buy Now” CTA in orange-red (~#E32400); browser bottom chrome visible with Perplexity icon and store.hermanmiller.com pill.Frame five is the only frame that foregrounds pure browsing without an AI overlay. The device displays the Herman Miller store page for the “Aeron Chair”. The in-site “Buy Now” button is a loud orange-red (#E32400), and the Herman Miller wordmark sits in its own red. The browser’s bottom chrome is fully visible: a URL pill reading “store.hermanmiller.com” is centered above a toolbar that includes back/forward arrows, a Perplexity logo, the teal voice button, a share icon, and a tabs icon. The caption “Browse at the” sits upright, with “speed of thought” rendered in italic script beneath it. The Herman Miller page is predominantly white with black type, turning the device screen into a bright, legible rectangle against the dark cosmos. By withholding any AI chrome beyond the bottom bar, the frame argues that Comet is still, fundamentally, a browser capable of clean, conventional rendering.

Ad-block claim

On-frame caption: “Native ad-block / by default”

Device shows same CNN Science article as Frame 3 without fact-check overlay; byline “Jacopo Prisco” and date “SEP 18, 2025” visible; exoplanet image mid-page.Frame six lands the “Native ad-block by default” promise, but it does so on the exact same CNN Science article used in frame three: “Earth-like exoplanet could be habitable, and astronomers may know soon”. This time there is no fact-check overlay. The byline reads “Jacopo Prisco” and the date “SEP 18, 2025”. An exoplanet illustration sits mid-page. The browser chrome at the bottom matches frame five exactly. The visual parity is immediate: same headline, same CNN header, same red Subscribe button, same layout. The intended message is that clutter and advertisements are absent, but because the host page already appeared relatively clean in frame three, the absence is not dramatic. The starfield behind the device is slightly shifted, yet the overall composition feels like a repeat rather than a new scene. For a user swiping quickly, this frame risks reading as an accidental loop.

Shopping assistant

On-frame caption: “AI that / helps you shop”

Device shows Best Buy product page for Fisher & Paykel refrigerator; blue header (~#0046BE); white overlay card with “Summarize reviews of this fridge”, “Reviewed 20 sources”, and sentiment bullets.Frame seven stages commerce assistance on a Best Buy product page for a “Fisher & Paykel - 16.9 Cu. Ft. French Door Refrigerator”. The Best Buy blue (#0046BE) and a yellow promotional banner dominate the top. A white overlay card covers the lower half, headlined “Summarize reviews of this fridge”. Below that, a dropdown reads “Reviewed 20 sources”, followed by a summary paragraph and an “Overall sentiment” section with black bullets: “Average rating is 4.0/5 from 22 reviews” and “Around 82% of reviewers say they would recommend it to a friend.” A “What people like” subhead trails off. At the bottom, an input reads “Ask a follow up...”. The density is the highest of the set: retail chrome, product thumbnail, star rating, and AI-generated copy all compete for attention. The frame proves the assistant works on commerce pages, but the visual result is cluttered. The Best Buy branding is visually loud, and the overlay card truncates its own text at the bottom edge.

Home / Recap

On-frame caption: “Pick up where / you left off”

Device shows home view with PRO badge, “51 ads & trackers blocked” shield, Top sites (Notion, Google, Dropbox, GitHub), Recently closed thumbnails, and Comet Assistant prompt chips.The final frame reveals the idle state. The screen is a light grey (#F5F5F7) home surface. Top-left: a circular avatar with a small “PRO” badge. Beside it, a shield icon and the text “51 ads & trackers blocked” inside a soft mint-green pill. Top-right: a clock icon. Below, “Top sites” displays four squircle icons—Notion (black “N”), Google (multicolor), Dropbox (blue), and GitHub (purple). Under that, “Recently closed” shows three truncated thumbnails: a bicycle labeled “Blackheart Bicy...”, a profile labeled “Falconer 2Vi...”, and a sale page labeled “S Sale | ...”. Further down, “Try Comet Assistant” offers prompt chips such as “Add a Solaris box set to my cart on Gruv” and “Search for trending news”. The bottom input bar is light grey with the placeholder “Ask assistant or navigate...” and the familiar teal voice button. This is the information-dense payoff: it exposes privacy tally, shortcut architecture, session restoration, and suggested intents all at once.

05The craft

Captions, colour and the mechanics of the sell

Caption pattern

Consistent two-line structure: subject line in upright serif, emotional payload in flowing italic. Examples: “AI that does / research”; “Verify / everything”; “Command the web / with your voice.” The rhythm is hypnotic but demands that each phrase land with absolute precision.

Visual system

Locked backdrop, locked device, locked time. The only variables are the website shown on screen and the AI overlay state. This system turns the sequence into a state-machine demonstration rather than a collage of disconnected moments.

The thumbnail test

At small thumbnail size, the starfield becomes dark mush and the white captions remain legible, though the script italic begins to dissolve into hairlines. The absence of UI in frame one means search-result viewers see only text and logo.

Conversion mechanics

The set assumes the viewer recognizes Perplexity and trusts the brand enough to wait through a UI-free first frame. It trades immediate comprehension for aspiration—an approach that works for headline apps but may leak installs from cold traffic.

06Where it slips

What we would change

Frame redundancy burns a swipe

Frames 3 and 6 use the identical CNN Science article layout within three swipes of each other. This is a concrete flaw in a medium where every swipe is precious. Because the ad-block frame (6) removes only the fact-check overlay from frame 3, the visual delta is too subtle to register at speed. A shopper will likely think the carousel stuttered. The fix is surgical: stage frame 6 on a different host site—ideally one notorious for ad density, such as a recipe blog or regional news outlet—so the cleaned-up result is unmistakably distinct and proves the feature works across the web, not just on one science article.

The poster frame spends currency without UI

Frame 1 is beautiful and on-brand, but in the App Store search results grid it sacrifices the most valuable real estate entirely to atmosphere. A user who has never heard of Comet sees only type and logo; they receive zero evidence that this is a browser until swipe two. That is acceptable for brand-driven queries, but for cold discovery it is a measurable conversion risk. The fix does not require abandoning the starfield; even a faint, ghosted device silhouette or a sliver of browser chrome at the bottom of the frame would signal category intent while preserving the mood.

Missing device elevation

The iPhone 15 Pro bezel is pure black (#000000), and the background is near-black (#06070A). On OLED displays, the handset edges dissolve into the void, causing the screen content to feel like a disembodied rectangle. There is no drop shadow, no radial vignette, and no ground plane. The poetic effect is a phone floating in space, but the practical effect is diminished depth. Adding a subtle 8–12% opacity shadow behind the device, or a faint elliptical gradient on the starfield immediately surrounding the phone, would restore physical presence without breaking the cosmic metaphor.

Caption legibility under compression

The script italic used for emphasized words—“works for you,” “speed of thought,” “by default”—is elegant at full resolution but becomes a hairline at 40% thumbnail scale, especially on non-retina storefront assets. The thin strokes risk anti-aliasing into noise. A slightly heavier weight or a fractional increase in font size for the italic clause would preserve the editorial voice without sacrificing legibility on older devices.

Keyboard dominance in frame 2

Frame 2 dedicates roughly the lower 45% of the device canvas to the iOS system keyboard. While honest, this is compositionally expensive; the keyboard is not the app’s interface, and it obscures the bottom chrome. A better staging would show the command palette in a focused state without the keyboard fully raised, or use a floating palette detached from the system input sheet, giving more room to the “Ask anything...” field and the action icons.

07The recipe

How to apply this to your own app

Lock your camera angle
Comet’s strongest structural choice is mechanical repetition. By keeping the handset identically centered and scaled across all seven device frames, the viewer’s eye is freed to notice only what changed: the website and the overlay state. When building your own set, treat the device as a fixed tripod and vary only the product state.
Use real sites as stage dressing
The decision to browse Wikipedia, CNN, Herman Miller, and Best Buy instead of sanitized fictitious UIs lends credibility. Real-world color palettes—from CNN red to Best Buy blue—make the screenshots feel documentary rather than speculative. Just ensure you do not repeat a host site within three swipes.
Reserve one brand accent
The teal (#0F766E) voice button is the only UI color that belongs to Comet. Everything else is black, white, or borrowed from the web. This restraint prevents visual chaos and trains the shopper to associate that single hue with action. Choose one accent and police it ruthlessly.
Treat captions as chapter titles
The two-line serif/script rhythm gives the set a literary cadence. Copy should be pared to a subject and a verb phrase; if you cannot say it in six words, the feature is not ready for a screenshot. The italic script adds emotional emphasis without requiring exclamation points or emoji.
Vary the background state, not just the screen
Comet’s starfield is cohesive to a fault. After eight frames, the high-frequency particle noise becomes fatiguing. Consider introducing a subtle comfort zone—perhaps one frame with a darker, quieter gradient behind the device—to let the eye reset between denser information slides.

08Takeaways

Five things worth stealing

Mechanical consistency (locked device, locked angle, locked time) turns a screenshot set into a sequential state machine.
Real websites ground AI features in credibility; fake UIs look like vaporware.
A single poster frame is acceptable only if your brand is already a conversion driver; otherwise, hybridize atmosphere with UI.
Never repeat a host-site layout within three swipes unless the visual delta is unmistakable.
Atmospheric backgrounds must include subtle elevation cues (shadows or vignettes) to keep the device from bleeding into the void on OLED screens.

09The verdict

What the set actually achieves

An atmospheric, magazine-style sequence that treats the device as a fixed camera and the web as a stage. The set scores high on brand coherence but spends two frames on the same CNN article and withholds the UI entirely in frame one.

Teams with strong brand equity who want to signal taste and editorial confidence over feature density. Less suited for apps that rely on cold-discovery conversion in crowded utility categories where shoppers expect immediate UI proof.

10Questions

Frequently asked

Why is there no device in the first frame?

It is a pure brand poster meant to set mood before function. It assumes the shopper is already curious enough to swipe once.

Does the set show dark mode?

No. All demonstrated web pages are light-mode, and the browser chrome shown is also light. The only darkness is the external starfield background.

Why does frame 6 look so similar to frame 3?

Both stage the same CNN article. Frame 3 adds a fact-check overlay; frame 6 removes it to claim ad-blocking. The similarity is a real weakness because the delta is too subtle at swipe speed.

What typeface is used in the captions?

The exact font is not identifiable from the raster image, but it behaves like a high-contrast transitional serif (think Playfair Display or Fraunces) paired with an italic script or italic display cut for emphasis.

11Keep reading

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The full set

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About the app

“Comet is an AI-powered browser that acts as a personal assistant and thinking partner. Boost your focus, streamline your workflow, and turn curiosity into momentum. · Unified AI…” — Perplexity AI, Inc., via the App Store listing.

Screenshots and store metadata belong to Perplexity AI, Inc.. They are shown here for design commentary and criticism. The analysis on this page is original work by floow.design. View the original listing.