How to Make an App Store Preview Video
An App Store preview is a short video of your app in action, shown on your product page. It has stricter rules than a social promo. Here’s what a strong one looks like, a scene recipe, and how to prepare it in Spotlight.
Why most app previews undersell the app
Your App Store product page gives you a few seconds. Previews typically autoplay without sound as people scroll, so the opening seconds decide whether anyone keeps watching. Many previews waste them on a splash screen, a logo or an onboarding carousel.
Others are rejected or delayed because they treat the preview like an advert — lifestyle footage, hands holding phones, heavy device frames or claims the app can’t back up. Apple’s guidelines are clear that a preview should show the app itself. That constraint is actually helpful: it forces you to show the product.
What a great App Store preview looks like
These are widely known principles, but Apple updates its requirements — check Apple’s current App Store Connect guidelines for the exact rules before you upload. Our App Store preview specs article tracks the details.
- Length: 15–30 seconds. Apple sets a short maximum; aim for 20–30.
- Real, in-app footage. Capture the app running on a device or simulator. Avoid live-action footage of people.
- Orientation matches the app. Portrait for portrait apps, landscape for landscape apps and games.
- Exact resolution per device size. Apple specifies pixel dimensions per device class; they may not match a standard 1080 × 1920 export, so you may need to scale before upload.
- No hands, no device frames. Show the screen itself rather than a phone in someone’s hand or a mockup.
- Muted-friendly. Short, large text overlays explain each beat; audio is a bonus, not the message.
- Best feature first. The first few seconds also become the poster frame many people see.
- Up to three previews per localisation (check current limits) — use the first for your core value.
Scene-by-scene recipe (25 seconds)
- Core value (0–5s) — video clip. The app’s main result on screen immediately, with a short caption: “Plan a week of meals in 30 seconds.”
- Key flow (5–12s) — video clip. The main task, start to finish, trimmed to the essential taps.
- Feature 2 (12–17s) — video clip. A second feature that broadens the appeal.
- Feature 3 (17–22s) — video clip. Personalisation, sync, widgets — whatever sets you apart.
- Close (22–25s) — video clip. A satisfying final state of the app with a short line of text.
Notice there’s no logo reveal, device mockup or end card with a URL: the store page already provides those, and Apple’s guidelines discourage content that isn’t the app. Start from the App Store preview template.
How to make it in Spotlight
- Record clean footage on a device or simulator: full battery, no notifications, realistic content. Upload as MP4/MOV (up to 500 MB each).
- Paste your app’s website URL so the AI knows your audience and features (optional).
- Start from the App Store preview template, 9:16 portrait (or 16:9 for landscape apps), about 25 seconds, with the Clean style.
- Let the AI director pick the key moments from your clips and plan the beats.
- Strip it back. Turn off device frames for this version, keep text overlays short, and remove any scene that isn’t in-app footage.
- Export 1080p MP4, then check Apple’s current resolution for each device size and scale or re-encode if needed before uploading to App Store Connect.
Then make a looser app promo for social from the same project — with device mockups, music and voiceover — using the mobile app template. See pricing for HD exports.
Planning several previews and languages
If you use more than one preview slot, give each a distinct job rather than three variations of the same tour. A sensible split: the first shows your core value to everyone; the second shows the feature your most valuable audience cares about; the third shows depth — settings, sync, widgets — for people who are nearly convinced.
If you localise your store listing, localise the preview too. Translate the short text overlays, record footage with the app set to that language where it makes a difference, and export a version per language. Keep overlays brief so translations don’t overflow the frame.
On Google Play, the promo video has typically been added as a YouTube link and plays differently from Apple’s previews, so a looser 16:9 or 9:16 cut can work there. As with Apple, check Google Play’s current guidelines before publishing.
Mistakes to avoid
- Opening on a splash screen or onboarding. Start on value.
- Hands, people or device frames in the store version.
- Wrong resolution or orientation — the most common cause of upload errors.
- Showing features the app doesn’t have or content that differs from the shipped build.
- Tiny text overlays. On a phone, a product page preview is small; keep overlays large and brief.
- Relying on narration. Previews often play muted.
Scene-by-scene plan
9:16 · about 30s · Clean style
- Video clip — “Plan a week of meals in 30 seconds”Core value on screen immediately; short overlay text.
- Video clip — “Pick, tap, done”The key flow, trimmed to essential taps.
- Video clip — “Shopping list, sorted by aisle”Second feature that broadens appeal.
- Video clip — “Syncs with your household”Differentiator.
- Video clip — “Dinner, decided”Satisfying final in-app state. No device frame, no end card.