App Preview Video Specs 2026 — Every Requirement and Why Videos Get Rejected

Preview videos are the most rejection-prone asset in a store listing, because they are the only one held to a hard content standard: the footage has to come from the app itself. Plenty of well-produced marketing videos have been rejected for being too well produced.

This is the full technical and content reference for 2026: resolutions, durations, formats, the rules that cause rejections, and how to structure the seconds you get. Requirements do change, so verify against the current App Store Connect and Play Console documentation before a submission that matters.

The Specs at a Glance

The two most important differences: Apple hosts and strictly polices the footage, while Play just embeds a YouTube video with far looser content rules. And Apple's autoplays muted, which changes how you have to build it.

App Store Resolutions by Device

Preview resolutions mirror the screenshot dimensions for each device family. Upload at the exact resolution for the device family the slot belongs to.

A preview uploaded for one device family is used for that family only. If you support iPhone and iPad, that is two renders of the same edit at different resolutions and, ideally, different compositions, since an iPad interface framed for a portrait phone looks cramped. Every current screenshot dimension is listed in our size checker.

App Store Format and Duration Rules

• 15 to 30 seconds. Not 14, not 31. Encoders sometimes produce a file a fraction over, so check the exact duration of the final render.
• M4V, MP4 or MOV, H.264 or ProRes, with stereo audio if you include audio at all.
• 30 fps is the safe choice. Higher frame rates can be accepted but offer no benefit for a UI capture.
• Up to three previews per localisation, per device family. The first is the one that autoplays, so put your strongest there.
• It autoplays muted. Assume no sound. Any information delivered by voiceover alone is information most viewers never receive.
• Keep file sizes moderate. A 30 second UI capture at 30 fps compresses well; if your export is enormous, your encoder settings are wrong rather than your content being complex.

Google Play Promo Videos Work Differently

Play does not host your video. You supply a YouTube link, which has consequences worth planning for.

• Content rules are far looser. Live action, marketing footage and animation are all acceptable, since it is a promotional video rather than a strict app preview.
• Use an unlisted or public video with ads disabled. An ad playing before your app promo is a bad first impression, and monetisation on that video is not worth it.
• Do not use a video with an age restriction, since restricted videos may not play for all users.
• Avoid an end screen full of suggested videos that send viewers away from your listing.
• Landscape is the safer orientation for the YouTube player embed, though portrait works.
• The video does not replace the feature graphic. Play still requires a 1024 by 500 feature graphic, which acts as the thumbnail frame.

The Content Rules That Cause Rejections

This is the part that catches people, and it applies to the App Store specifically. An app preview must be built from footage captured in the app.

• Allowed: screen recordings, text overlays and captions, transitions between captures, background music, narration, framing the capture inside a device, and rendered UI for a game.
• Not allowed: live-action footage of people, camera-shot video of a phone in someone's hand, animated logo intros, footage of a different product, and anything that is fundamentally an advert rather than a demonstration.
• Not allowed: features that do not exist in the submitted build, price and promotional claims, ranking or award claims, other-platform references, and third-party trademarks you do not have rights to.

The judgement line is simple to state: a preview shows the app working. If a viewer could not learn what using your app is like from your video, it is probably an advert, and adverts belong on Play or your landing page rather than in an App Store preview slot.

Why Preview Videos Get Rejected

1. It opens with a logo animation. Extremely common, and it is not app footage. It also wastes the seconds where you had attention.
2. It is a marketing edit with app footage sprinkled in. The ratio matters, not merely the presence of a capture.
3. It shows an unreleased feature. Videos are often produced against a newer build than the one submitted.
4. It contains a price or promotional claim. Same rule as screenshots, and just as easy to forget.
5. Duration is outside 15 to 30 seconds. Usually a rounding problem in the export.
6. Wrong resolution for the device family slot. Usually rejected at upload rather than by a reviewer.
7. Hands, devices, or real-world footage. Filming a phone screen with a camera is a rejection even though the content is your app.

Our wider list of listing rejections is in the 12 most common screenshot and metadata rejections.

How to Capture Clean Footage

• Record on a real device where you can. Simulator recordings can miss animation smoothness and real rendering behaviour.
• Prepare demo data first. The same rule as screenshots: no placeholder names, no empty states, nothing that reads as a test account.
• Clean the status bar. Full battery, full signal, a sensible time. Notifications appearing mid-capture mean starting over.
• Slow your interactions down slightly. Natural tapping speed reads as frantic on video. Pause briefly on each screen so a viewer can register it.
• Record more than you need and cut, rather than trying to perform the perfect 20 second take.
• Turn off anything that could interrupt. Do Not Disturb, no incoming calls, no low-battery warnings.
• Capture at native resolution. Upscaling a lower resolution recording is visible immediately.

Structuring 15 to 30 Seconds

The video autoplays muted in a scrolling feed, so the first two or three seconds decide whether anyone watches the rest.

• Seconds 0 to 3: the hook. Show the single most compelling thing the app does. No logo, no splash screen, no menu navigation.
• Seconds 3 to 12: one core flow. A complete, simple task from start to finish. One flow shown clearly beats four shown partially.
• Seconds 12 to 25: one or two supporting features, each with a short caption stating the benefit.
• Final 3 to 5 seconds: the payoff. The result state, and a clear closing caption.

Caption rules that follow from muted autoplay: keep each overlay to three to six words, hold it on screen for at least two seconds, use high contrast, and never place text where the device bezel or a rounded corner will crop it. Everything essential must be legible with the sound off.

Our preview video guide covers the storytelling side in more depth.

The Poster Frame Nobody Thinks About

The poster frame is the still shown before playback begins, and in contexts where autoplay does not fire it is the only thing a user sees. App Store Connect lets you pick which frame it uses, and the default is often a transition or a half-loaded screen.

Choose deliberately: a frame showing a populated, recognisable screen, ideally with a caption visible. Treat it as a sixth screenshot rather than an afterthought, because in practice that is what it is.

Is a Preview Video Worth Making?

Optional on both stores, so the honest answer is that it depends on your category.

Usually worth it: games, creative and editing tools, anything with motion, anything with a multi-step flow that is hard to convey in stills, and any category where competitors already have previews and you do not.

Often not worth it: simple single-purpose utilities where the whole value is visible in one screenshot, very early apps where the interface will change substantially in the next few months, and any situation where a rushed video would be worse than no video. A weak preview can reduce conversion, since it replaces an autoplaying strong screenshot with mediocre motion.

If you are unsure, get the screenshot set genuinely strong first. It is required, it appears in search results, and it carries more of the decision than the video does.

Frequently Asked Questions