App Store Preview Video Requirements: Complete 2026 Guide

An App Store preview is the short video that plays at the top of an app's product page. Apple's rules for it are spread across three help pages and the App Review Guidelines, and they now name devices that older guides do not: the iPhone 18 generation, iPhone Air, iPhone 17e and iPhone Duo.

This guide reads those pages as they stood on 6 October 2026 and puts them together. It also covers what the nine guides we found ranking for this topic leave out: how one file is scaled to other devices, the 24 hour processing time, which language plays in which storefront, and, in six of the nine, the ProRes option. Then it adds the new creative assets that sit beside previews from iOS 27. Two labels mark where each rule comes from: Documented means Apple's own page says it; Reported means developers say App Review did it, and Apple's pages do not.

We are a small studio that makes App Store previews. The last section says how we work; everything before it stands on its own.

The short answer

What a preview is, and where it plays

"App previews demonstrate the features, functionality, and user interface of your app using footage captured on device."

Documented Apple, Show more with app previews

Previews are optional. They "display and autoplay on your product page and within search results, and they can be used in Apple Ads", in Apple's words, and on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV, "App previews always appear before screenshots", whatever order you set in your app record. By default they play with the sound muted. Someone who has turned autoplay off sees the poster frame instead.

One placement detail matters for design: "If you upload an app preview in an aspect ratio that differs from your screenshots, it appears in the 'A Closer Look' section on your product page." A landscape preview beside portrait screenshots does not lead the page; it moves further down. Previews are also not available for apps on the App Store for iMessage.

Length, number and file size

Documented A preview runs from 15 to 30 seconds and the file can be up to 500 MB. Apple's specification says you can upload "up to three app previews per supported device size and language for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and visionOS apps". That is three for each combination: three for iPhone in English, three for iPad in English, three for iPhone in German, and so on.

iOS previews can be portrait or landscape; a landscape preview "rotates to original orientation on play". Mac, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro previews are landscape only.

Three is a maximum, not a target. Apple's advice is that each preview should show "something new", with the first one giving the overview, so a second preview earns its place only if it shows a different part of the app.

Video and audio format

Documented Apple accepts two codecs. Most guides mention only H.264; ProRes 422 HQ is the second option, for anyone exporting from a professional editor.

Two audio details are easy to miss. "All tracks should be enabled", and stereo can be one track with two channels (left then right) or two mono tracks (the first left, the second right). Reported A developer listing App Store Connect traps in September 2026 wrote that a preview with no audio track at all is rejected at processing, even when the film is meant to be silent. Apple's page does not say this in so many words, but its specification describes the audio track, so adding a silent one costs nothing. The recipe below does it.

Accepted resolutions, device by device

Documented Apple separates a device's own screen resolution from the resolution App Store Connect accepts for a preview, "because most app previews are recorded via screen recording rather than rendered at native resolution". Export at the accepted resolution, not the device's: an iPhone 18 Pro Max has a far larger screen resolution, but its preview is 886 x 1920.

iPhone

Apple now groups iPhones by display class rather than by screen size in inches. Every class with Face ID or Dynamic Island, and iPhone Duo, accepts the same 886 x 1920 portrait or 1920 x 886 landscape file.

iPad

Landscape is the same pair turned on its side: 1920 x 886, 1600 x 1200, 1200 x 900, 1920 x 1080 and 1334 x 750. Mac and Apple TV take 1920 x 1080 and Apple Vision Pro takes 3840 x 2160, each in landscape only.

One file for many devices

Documented You do not need a file for every class. Apple's rule: "If your app's user interface is the same across multiple device sizes and localizations, provide only the highest resolution required. They automatically scale down to smaller device sizes."

Each row of the tables above carries a note in the form "If app previews with the accepted resolutions aren't provided, scaled app previews for" another class "are used". Followed through, those notes mean one 886 x 1920 file covers every iPhone class Apple lists with Face ID or Dynamic Island, and one 1200 x 1600 file covers the iPads, the older classes reached through their own fallbacks. Apple's notes for the two large iPhone classes point at each other, so a preview supplied for either one serves both.

Scaling can be switched off: "If you prefer not to use scaled versions, you can add specific screenshots and app previews for other device sizes and localizations." Do that when the layout really differs between sizes, for example an app that shows more on the 13" iPad than on the 11". One side effect from the upload page: "After you remove a screenshot or app preview, it's also removed for all other display sizes using scaled versions."

Languages and storefronts

Documented Previews are set per language, and Apple fills the gaps: "If a localized app preview is missing for your localized metadata, the app preview in the next best available language is used on App Store product pages and displayed to users when they install your app."

In practice your English preview plays in every storefront you have not localized, words on screen and all. Because previews start muted, those words carry the message, so a market that matters enough to localize your text is usually worth a localized preview too.

What a preview may show

Documented These rules come from Apple's preview page and from section 2.3 of the App Review Guidelines, last updated 8 June 2026.

• Only the app. Guideline 2.3.4: "previews may only use video screen captures of the app itself." Apple's preview page adds: "Don't film people interacting with a device, such as an over-the-shoulder angle or fingers tapping the screen."
• Overlays and narration are allowed. "You can add narration and video or textual overlays to help explain anything that isn't clear from the video alone." To show a gesture, "you may add graphic elements, such as touch hotspots".
• Honest transitions. "Ensure that any transitions between scenes don't imply functionality that your app doesn't include." Apple suggests plain dissolves and fades.
• Native resolution. "We recommend capturing the native UI resolution rather than zooming in on the view."
• No dates or seasons. "Avoid any seasonal or timely references that will age your video", such as "new for spring".
• No prices. "Don't include specific prices, as pricing and currencies vary across regions." Guideline 2.3.7 says previews "should not include prices, terms, or descriptions that are not specific to the metadata type."
• Say when something costs extra. "If you display features that are only available through in-app purchase, or if your app uses a subscription model or requires login, you must disclose this", in the footage or in the end frame.
• Suitable for everyone. Previews must "adhere to a 4+ age rating even if your app is rated higher" (guideline 2.3.8).
• Only what you have the rights to. "Show only material you have the legal right to display", music and brands included.
• No other platforms. Guideline 2.3.10: "don't include names, icons, or imagery of other mobile platforms or alternative app marketplaces in your app or metadata".
• Games. Show more gameplay than cutscenes, so the preview does not give a false impression of the game.

Why previews are rejected

Apple's written rules above are short. The rejection messages developers have posted are more specific, and they are worth reading because they show how App Review applies guideline 2.3.4. Each of these is a report, not Apple's documentation.

• Reported Device frames. On Apple's own developer forums, a developer posted this rejection in August 2020: "Your app preview includes content that does not sufficiently reflect the app in use. Specifically, your preview: Includes device images and/or device frames." Other developers replied in July and December 2024 that they had received the same rejection, and noted that the guideline does not mention device frames by name.
• Reported Real hands, framing and other footage. In a 2025 thread on the same forums, a preview was rejected because it "Includes device images and/or device frames" and "Displays real hands". After those were removed, the next version was rejected because it "Includes framing around the video screen capture of the app" and "Shows footage other than the app in use". App Review's reply in the thread pointed the developer to the App Review Board appeal process.
• Reported Reading as an advert. A developer on Reddit in February 2025 reported a preview rejected for device frames and for reading as a self-promotional ad. The documented root is the same guideline: a preview demonstrates the app, so brand messaging, claims and calls to action that crowd out the app's own screens invite a rejection.

The reports do not draw an exact line between a caption and a frame. Since "framing around the video screen capture" has been given as a reason, the safest form is the app's screen filling the frame, with words laid over it.

If a rejection seems wrong, you can reply to App Review in App Store Connect or appeal to the App Review Board. Fixing the preview and resubmitting is often the quicker route.

The poster frame

Documented The poster frame is the still that shows "If someone has turned off video autoplay in their App Store settings", and during installation. Apple sets it at 5 seconds by default; you can choose another frame in App Store Connect. Choose before approval: "Poster frames can't be edited after assets have been approved", and changing one on an approved preview means submitting a new version of the preview.

Plan the frame at 5 seconds as if it were the default, because often it will be: a moment with the app's main screen and a clear line of text, not a transition.

Uploading and processing

Documented Previews and screenshots now live in App Store Connect's Asset Library, where they can be uploaded and submitted for review on their own, and are placed on a version's product page from there. You upload them and submit them for review when the app's status is Prepare for Submission, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Metadata Rejected or Developer Rejected. Media Manager shows every device size and localization, including which ones use scaled versions.

Processing takes "Up to 24 hours after upload." Upload the day before a submission, not the hour before.

To create previews, Apple lists a Mac running macOS 10.10 or later with Safari 8 or later, a video editor such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro, and the device itself.

Creative assets are not previews

Documented App Store Connect now has a second kind of video. Creative assets are images or videos for the product page header, search results and in-app event cards, and Apple describes them as "distinct from the in-use functionality requirement in app previews and screenshots": they can show your brand, a season or new content, which a preview may not. They are available for apps "running iOS 27 or iPadOS 27 or later".

Their sizes differ from previews. A product page header video is 21:9 at 3840 x 1646; a search results video is 3:2, from 1920 x 1280 to 3840 x 2560; both run from 5 to 30 seconds at 30 or 60 frames per second, and loop. "Videos are muted by default in search results and can't currently be unmuted." In-app event videos are 16:9 for the card and 9:16 for the details page, from 15 to 30 seconds.

So the brand film goes in a creative asset, and the preview stays a demonstration of the app.

Recording and exporting

Documented Apple's method: "Capture app footage from the device using QuickTime Player on macOS simply by connecting your device to a Mac", then edit in iMovie, Final Cut Pro or another editor. The device's own screen recording works too.

Your recording will be larger than the accepted size and slightly different in shape. This ffmpeg command, which we ran on test recordings at every screen size Apple lists for iPhones with Face ID or Dynamic Island, scales a portrait recording to cover 886 x 1920, trims the few pixels left over, and writes H.264 High Profile at Level 4.0, 30 frames per second, about 11 Mbps, with 256 kbps stereo AAC at 48 kHz:

ffmpeg -i recording.mov \
  -vf "scale=886:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase:flags=lanczos,crop=886:1920,fps=30,format=yuv420p" \
  -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level:v 4.0 -b:v 11M -maxrate 12M -bufsize 24M \
  -c:a aac -b:a 256k -ar 48000 -ac 2 -movflags +faststart preview_886x1920.mp4

If the recording has no sound, give it a silent stereo track:

ffmpeg -i recording.mov -f lavfi -i anullsrc=channel_layout=stereo:sample_rate=48000 \
  -map 0:v -map 1:a -shortest \
  -vf "scale=886:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase:flags=lanczos,crop=886:1920,fps=30,format=yuv420p" \
  -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level:v 4.0 -b:v 11M -maxrate 12M -bufsize 24M \
  -c:a aac -b:a 256k -ar 48000 -ac 2 -movflags +faststart preview_886x1920.mp4

For iPad, change both 886:1920 pairs to 1200:1600; an 11" iPad's recording is a little taller than 3:4, so look at what the crop trims. A recording from an iPhone with a Home button has a different shape: export it at its own accepted size, 1080 x 1920 or 750 x 1334, rather than cropping it. Then trim to 15 to 30 seconds and check the file is under 500 MB.

The checklist

Before recording

• Decide the sizes: one 886 x 1920 file for iPhone, and 1200 x 1600 if the app runs on iPad.
• Plan up to three previews per size and language, each showing something the others do not.
• Write the words on screen: short, readable with the sound off, on screen long enough to read.
• No prices, no dates, no seasonal references.
• Note any feature that needs an in-app purchase, a subscription or a login, and disclose it.

Recording

• Record on the device, at the app's normal size, without zooming in.
• Only the app's own screens: no hands, no people, no device frames, no other footage.
• Only music, brands and content you have the rights to use.
• Content suitable for a 4+ age rating, and nothing from other mobile platforms.

Exporting

• The accepted resolution for the size, 30 frames per second at most.
• H.264 at 10 to 12 Mbps in .mov, .m4v or .mp4, or ProRes 422 HQ in .mov.
• A stereo audio track at 44.1 or 48 kHz, silent if the preview has no sound, with every track enabled.
• 15 to 30 seconds, and under 500 MB.

Uploading

• Upload and submit while the app's status is Prepare for Submission, Invalid Binary, Rejected, Metadata Rejected or Developer Rejected.
• Choose the poster frame before approval, or plan the frame at 5 seconds.
• Check in Media Manager which sizes and languages use scaled or fallback previews.
• Allow up to 24 hours for processing before you submit.

Sources

Every page below was read in full on 6 October 2026. Apple's preview page and help pages show no date of their own; the App Review Guidelines show their last update, 8 June 2026.

• Documented Apple, Show more with app previews
• Documented Apple, App Store Connect Help, App preview specifications
• Documented Apple, App Store Connect Help, Upload app previews and screenshots
• Documented Apple, App Store Connect Help, Creative assets specifications
• Documented Apple, App Review Guidelines, sections 2.3.2 to 2.3.10
• Reported Apple Developer Forums, Preview rejected due to device frames shown in the video (2020, with replies from 2024)
• Reported Apple Developer Forums, App Preview Guidelines are too strict (2025)
• Reported Reddit, r/iOSProgramming, a preview rejected for device frames and an advert-like read (February 2025)
• Reported Reddit, r/iOSProgramming, App Store Connect traps, including the missing audio track (September 2026)