App Preview Video

An app preview video is a short, silent-by-default video clip that appears in the first slot of the screenshot carousel on the App Store and Google Play. On iOS, app preview videos must be 15–30 seconds long, captured from the device in real-time (Apple disallows pre-rendered marketing footage with voiceover and unrelated b-roll), and uploaded per device size and per locale. Google Play is more permissive, accepting YouTube-hosted promotional videos. A well-produced preview video can lift conversion rates substantially because it shows the app actually working — animations, transitions, the feel of the product — in a way static screenshots cannot. The trade-off is production cost: capturing high-quality preview footage at every device size and re-recording it for every major UI change is expensive. Many teams compromise by producing one or two flagship preview videos for their primary markets and relying on screenshot variants for the long tail. Automated screenshot tools generally do not produce app preview videos directly, but they do ensure the static frames around the video remain consistent in style, which keeps the listing cohesive.