← Back to blog

    App Preview Video: Specs, Strategy and How to Make One

    Developer reviewing an app on a smartphone

    An app preview video is a short clip of your app in use that plays on your App Store product page. It runs 15 to 30 seconds, it must be captured from the app itself, and it usually autoplays without sound. Below you will find the current technical specs, a production process that avoids the usual rejections, and a way to decide whether the video is earning its place on your page.

    Appxl
    appxl.ai
    Keep Your App Listing in Step
    Appxl helps developers optimize app visibility with tailored keywords, metadata updates, and localization across more than 35 languages.
    Explore Appxl

    TL;DR

    • An app preview is optional. Apple allows up to three per device size and language, each 15 to 30 seconds, up to 500 MB and 30 fps.
    • Use real footage of your app. Open with the value, not a logo, and design for muted autoplay with readable on-screen text.
    • Pick the poster frame on purpose, because it is what people see before (or instead of) the video playing.
    • Localize previews by market and test them as product page assets. Treat the video as an experiment, not a one-time deliverable.
    • Google Play works differently: one YouTube link, shown before your screenshots.

    Table of Contents

    What an app preview video does on the App Store

    Apple describes app previews as short videos that show your app’s features, functionality and UI right on the product page. According to Apple’s app preview guidance, they can appear on the product page, in search results and in Apple Ads.

    That placement is the reason to care. A preview sits at the front of the media gallery. In Apple’s own words, previews and screenshots are often among the first things people see on a product page. If your first seconds are dull, you waste the best-positioned asset you have.

    A preview does not replace screenshots. Screenshots carry the static pitch and the headline benefits; the video shows motion, flow and speed, things a still image cannot. If you are weighing how the two fit together, our guide to App Store screenshots and creative covers the screenshot side.

    One caveat: the preview is a conversion asset, not a ranking lever you can count on. Treat it as part of your wider product page optimization, where the goal is turning impressions into installs.

    Current app preview specs

    These are the App Store Connect requirements as of October 2026, from Apple’s app preview specifications:

    Requirement Detail
    Length 15 to 30 seconds
    File size 500 MB maximum
    Frame rate Up to 30 fps
    Orientation Portrait or landscape for iOS; landscape only for macOS and tvOS
    Formats H.264 or ProRes 422 (HQ only)
    H.264 file types .mov, .m4v, .mp4
    ProRes 422 HQ file type .mov
    H.264 bitrate Target 10 to 12 Mbps
    Audio Stereo AAC, 256 kbps, 44.1 or 48 kHz
    Quantity Up to three per supported device size and language

    Two practical notes. First, Apple accepts defined standard resolutions for each display size, so a raw screen recording from your phone can fail validation after export. Build your master around the accepted resolution for the target display, not simply the physical device’s recording size. Second, if you upload a preview in an aspect ratio that differs from your screenshots, Apple notes it appears in the “A Closer Look” section rather than in the main gallery. Check that before you choose portrait or landscape.

    What Apple’s guidelines mean in practice

    The spec sheet is the easy part. The review rules decide whether your video ships.

    Show the app, not an ad. Apple expects footage captured from the app in use. Plan a separate social or brand cut if you want lifestyle shots, actors or broader marketing claims. The App Store version is a product explanation.

    Own what you show. Apple’s guidance says to use only content you have the rights to, including music, film clips, trademarks, characters and brands, in every territory where the preview will run. A licensed track that is cleared in one country can cause trouble in another.

    Keep prices and dates out. Apple advises against specific prices and dated seasonal references in the video, since pricing and relevance vary by storefront and time. A “Black Friday” card in a video that stays live into spring is a classic mistake.

    Make text readable. Apple recommends explanatory copy but says it has to be legible and stay on screen long enough to read. Tiny or fleeting text is a common reason previews feel unfinished.

    What Apple's guidelines mean in practice — overview diagram

    How to make an app preview video, step by step

    Apple’s process is simple: pick a story, capture, edit, choose a poster frame, upload. Here is how to run it with fewer reshoots.

    1. Choose one story. Pick the single feature or outcome that best proves your app’s value. A preview that tries to cover every screen ends up showing none of them well.
    2. Write a storyboard before recording. Three beats are enough: context (what problem or situation), interaction (the key taps and swipes), and payoff (the result on screen). Apple’s guidance favors a beginning-middle-end structure over a feature montage.
    3. Prepare clean demo data. Use realistic content, a tidy account, no notifications popping in, and a full battery and signal bar. Reshooting because of a stray alert is the most avoidable time sink.
    4. Capture on the device. Record the real app in use. For simple edits, Apple points to tools such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro.
    5. Edit for muted viewing. Add short captions or callouts that carry the story without sound. Keep each one on screen long enough to read twice.
    6. Export to spec. Check length, resolution, codec and file size against the table above before you upload.
    7. Select a poster frame. Choose a frame that shows the app at its most compelling, not a loading screen or a blurry mid-transition.
    8. Upload and submit. In App Store Connect, open the platform section of your app page, choose the device size and localization, and add the preview in the App Previews and Screenshots area.

    If you ship three previews for one locale, Apple recommends that each show something new rather than repeating the same feature. A good split: one for the core job, one for a differentiating feature, one for a secondary use case.

    Creative rules that hold up

    Win the first three seconds

    People decide quickly. Apple’s asset guidance says to put compelling visuals in the first few seconds. Skip the logo animation and the splash screen. Open on the moment that shows what your app does: a finished edit, a completed workout, a booked table.

    Design for sound off

    Because previews normally autoplay muted, your first frame and your on-screen copy do the work. Music and voiceover are a bonus for people who tap through, not the foundation. A useful test: watch the cut with the volume off on a phone, at arm’s length. If you cannot tell what the app does, neither can a scrolling user.

    Tell a whole story

    A preview with a clear arc beats a fast montage of features. Show where the user starts, what they do, and what they get. Interaction cues such as a tap highlight or a zoom on the changing element help viewers follow without narration.

    Match the video to the product

    Google makes the principle explicit for its platform: at least 80% of the video should represent the actual user experience. It is good advice on the App Store too. A polished video that oversells the product may win a tap but lose the user later, in reviews and retention. This matters most for subscription apps, where a mismatch shows up as churn; see our notes on ASO for subscription apps.

    Keep the description consistent

    The video, screenshots and text should say the same thing. If your preview leads with a feature your description buries, readers notice. Our guide to App Store description structure helps line up the written pitch with the visual one.

    Examples: three patterns that work

    Rather than point to one famous app, it is more useful to know the structures that repeat across strong previews. Use them as starting storyboards.

    The single-job demo. Best for utilities, finance, health and productivity apps. Second 0 to 3: the problem state on screen. Seconds 3 to 20: the core flow in real time, with one caption per step. Final seconds: the result, held long enough to read.

    The feature trio. Best for apps with several strong features. Three short segments of roughly eight seconds, each with a bold caption naming the benefit. Keep a consistent transition so it reads as one video, not three clips.

    The gameplay hook. Best for games. Open on the most exciting moment of actual gameplay, then show progression and variety. Apple’s guidance favors real gameplay over cinematic trailers. If you work in games, our overview of ASO tools for mobile games covers the wider toolkit.

    For each pattern, write down the one sentence a viewer should be able to repeat after watching. If you cannot write it, the storyboard is not ready.

    Three structures for app preview videos

    Localizing previews

    Apple permits localized metadata, images and videos for different regions. If your storefront lacks a localized preview, Apple can show the next-best available language, which means a market may see a video in a language it does not read. A dedicated preview per locale gives you control over that.

    Localization is not just translated captions. Keep the value proposition and the reading speed in mind: German text often runs longer than English, and a caption that fits in two seconds in one language may need three in another. Feature names, currency symbols on screen, and cultural examples may also differ. Separate locale variants make sense when those differences are material; for similar markets, one well-built video may be enough.

    Because Apple warns against showing specific prices in a preview, localization has one less pitfall. For the broader process of adapting a listing across markets, see our multi-market localization guide.

    Testing and measuring your preview

    A preview is a hypothesis about what persuades your audience. Apple’s current guidance points developers toward testing different product page assets, so measure it instead of trusting your taste.

    • Set a baseline. Record your current conversion rate from product page views to downloads before you change anything.
    • Change one thing. Test a new preview against the existing one, or against no video, rather than altering the video, screenshots and icon in the same round.
    • Give it time. Small tests produce noise. Our guide to App Store A/B testing explains sample size and setup.
    • Test the poster frame too. The still image is often what people see before playback, and it is cheap to vary.
    • Segment by traffic. A video that works for search visitors may not work for visitors from an ad. Custom product pages let you match the creative to the source.

    If you want the broader picture of how creative assets feed installs, our App Store CRO overview walks through it. Apple also keeps changing what creative assets can do, and we track it in our piece on creative assets in iOS 27.

    App Store versus Google Play

    If you publish on both stores, do not reuse the file blindly.

    App Store Google Play
    How you add it Upload a file in App Store Connect Enter a full YouTube URL in Play Console
    Number Up to three per device size and language One
    Placement Before screenshots in the gallery Shown before screenshots, may autoplay muted inline
    Orientation Portrait or landscape for iOS Landscape recommended
    Content Footage captured from the app At least 80% representative of the real experience

    Google’s preview asset guidance also recommends captions and disabling ads on the YouTube video. It calls the video optional in general but especially recommended for games, and notes that certain Google Play placements for games require one. For the rest of the Android side, see our Google Play ASO tips.

    Our perspective

    Most teams treat the preview video as a production project: a few weeks of work, one launch, then it sits untouched for a year. We think that is backwards.

    The video is one asset in a listing that has many moving parts: keywords, title, subtitle, screenshots, descriptions, custom product pages and reviews, in every market you serve. Each part affects the others. A great preview on a page that does not rank, or that is only in one language, wastes most of its potential.

    That is the idea behind appXL. Traditional ASO tools hand you data and leave the work to you. We built appXL to act as an automated agent: it analyzes competitors and market trends, rewrites metadata, localizes listings into over 35 languages, monitors rankings daily and ships updates directly to App Store Connect. The preview itself is still a creative decision that belongs to your team, because only you know what your app does best. What we take off your plate is the surrounding upkeep, so the video lands on a page that is visible, localized and current.

    Our advice: make one good preview, ship it, then test it like any other asset. Do not wait for a perfect cut.

    — Samuel

    Keeping the rest of your listing in step

    Once your preview is live, the next gain usually comes from everything around it. appXL handles keyword optimization, metadata rewriting, localization, review management and A/B testing that we run and read for you, and sends the changes straight to App Store Connect. If you want to see which plan fits your app, start on the appXL pricing page.

    Common mistakes to avoid

    • Opening with a logo. You spend your best seconds on something that explains nothing.
    • Relying on audio. Muted autoplay means sound-dependent stories fall flat.
    • Showing features that do not exist yet. It invites rejection and bad reviews.
    • Including prices or seasonal promotions. Both go stale, and Apple advises against them.
    • Skipping the export check. A resolution Apple does not accept will fail validation even if the video looks perfect.
    • Uploading once and forgetting. Update the preview when your UI changes significantly, or your video will show an app users no longer see.

    FAQ

    Is an app preview video required on the App Store?

    No. App previews are optional. Your app can be approved and listed with screenshots alone. If you add one, it appears before your screenshots in the gallery, so it deserves the same care as your first screenshot.

    How long can an app preview be?

    Each preview must be 15 to 30 seconds. You can upload up to three per supported device size and language. If you use more than one, make each show something different so viewers learn something new.

    Do app previews play with sound?

    They normally autoplay without sound, so plan the story to work muted. Use short, readable captions and visible interaction cues. Audio can still enhance the experience for people who unmute, but it should never carry the message.

    Can I use footage of people or animation in my app preview?

    Apple expects footage captured from the app in use. Lifestyle shots, actors and broader marketing claims belong in a separate social or brand video. If you do include any third-party music, characters or brands, you need the rights in every territory where the preview will appear.

    How do I upload an app preview in App Store Connect?

    Open your app’s platform section, choose the device size and localization, and add the file in the App Previews and Screenshots area. Check the resolution against Apple’s accepted sizes first, since a good recording can still fail validation after export.

    Sources

    Written with BabyLoveGrowth to earn links

    ← Back to blog