Shopify App Store Listing Video and Images: 2026 Requirements Guide

A Shopify App Store listing opens on its feature media: a video, or an image if there is no video. Shopify's advice for that video runs against what Apple and Google ask of theirs, and most of what is written about it is about a different video entirely.

This guide reads two pages on shopify.dev as they stood on 22 October 2026: the numbered App Store requirements, which an app must meet to be listed, and the best practices for a listing. Two labels mark which is which. Requirement means the rule is in Shopify's numbered requirements. Best practice means it is Shopify's advice.

We are a small studio that makes short product films. The last section says how we work; everything before it stands on its own.

The short answer

Two videos, not one

A Shopify app submission involves two videos with opposite jobs, and they are easy to mix up.

• The feature video sits at the top of your public listing. Merchants see it. Shopify wants it "promotional rather than instructional".
• The demo screencast goes to Shopify's reviewers with your submission. Merchants do not see it. Shopify wants it instructional: "clear step-by-step instructions showing how to set up your apps core features".

The usual mistake is to make one video for both: a screen recording of setup that is right for the reviewer and dull at the top of a listing, or a promotional film that leaves the reviewer unable to test the app.

The feature video

"A short video (2-3 minutes) is the best way to showcase your app's impact. Keep it promotional rather than instructional and limit screencasts to 25% of the video. If you don't have a video, use a static image that conveys your app's benefit or unique value."

Best practice Shopify, Shopify App Store best practices, Feature media

Three things follow from that paragraph.

• Length is advice. Two to three minutes is what Shopify calls the best way, on its best practices page. It is not one of the numbered requirements, and we found no rule against a shorter video.
• Most of the video is not a screen recording. In a 2 minute video, a quarter is 30 seconds. The other 90 seconds have to show the app's value some other way: the merchant's problem, what changes in their store, the result, drawn rather than recorded.
• It sells. "Promotional" is Shopify's word. The video's job is the merchant's decision to install, not their setup.

Requirement Whatever the video shows, the numbered requirements still apply to the listing around it: "Images should primarily show your app's actual user interface and features", and pricing, reviews, statistics and guarantees are kept out (see below). The requirements we read speak of images and listing text and do not name the video; we would hold the video to the same rules rather than test where the line is.

Three stores, three opposite rules

If your app is also on the App Store or Google Play, do not reuse one video for all three without checking this. Each store answers the same question, how much of the video must be the app itself, differently.

So the film that suits Shopify, mostly motion and story with a little screen, breaks Apple's rule for an App Store preview. The full Apple and Google rules are in our guides to App Store preview requirements and Google Play preview video requirements.

Feature images and screenshots

Best practice On screenshots, Shopify adds: "If your app is mobile-responsive or works with POS, include screenshots showing those experiences."

Requirement Three numbered rules apply to every image: "Screenshots should not include desktop backgrounds or browser windows. Feature images and screenshots that solely contain your app logo are not permitted" (4.4.4); "Each image in your app listing must be unique" and screenshots should show "different features, views, or states of your app" (4.4.5); and "Do not use our trademarks in your app icon, banner, or screenshots" (4.4.3).

What no image or line may say

Requirement These come from section 4 of Shopify's requirements.

• No prices. "Do not include pricing information in the images of your app listing (including within your app icon). Pricing information should only appear in the Pricing details section of your app listing." (4.2.2)
• No statistics. "Do not use any statistics or data in your app's listing content, overview of the app, and/or app introduction. This includes verifiable and unverifiable information." Shopify adds: "avoid using terms like "the first", "the best", or "the only"." (4.3.3, and 4.3.4 for images)
• No reviews or testimonials. "Reviews will be added to your listing page based on merchant feedback." (4.3.6 for images, 4.3.7 for the listing)

Note what this rules out in a film too: a line such as "used by thousands of stores" or "doubles your sales" is a statistic, and a quote from a happy merchant is a testimonial.

The review screencast

"Include a screencast to demonstrate your app's onboarding and features as described in its listing. We require more information in your demo screencast to be able to set up and test the app successfully. Ensure the video offers clear step-by-step instructions showing how to set up your apps core features. The screencast should be in English or have English subtitles."

Requirement Shopify, App Store requirements, 4.5.3

This is a working recording, not a film. Record the real setup from a fresh install, in order, and narrate or caption each step. It sits beside test credentials, which Shopify also requires: "Include account credentials in your testing instructions so we can review your app" (4.5.4).

Icon, name and text lengths

Best practice The listing's text fields have lengths Shopify states on the same page: the app name "30 characters or fewer, which is the maximum length that an app name can be"; the app introduction 100 characters; the app details 500 characters; each feature "up to 80 characters"; and up to five search terms. Shopify translates the subtitle, introduction, details, features, pricing details, search terms and "image alt text" automatically, so alt text is worth writing as carefully as the rest.

What Shopify does not say

Neither page we read says how the feature video is supplied, whether as a file or a link, which hosts are accepted, or what size and format the file should be. The listing form in your Partner Dashboard decides that. We have not seen that form for this guide, so we do not repeat what others say about it. A 16:9 export, matching the 1600 x 900 images around it, is the safe shape.

The checklist

The feature video

• Promotional, not a tutorial: the merchant's problem, the change in their store, the result.
• Screen recording kept to about a quarter of the running time.
• No prices, statistics, "the best" or "the only", reviews or testimonials.
• 16:9, to sit with the 1600 x 900 images.

Images

• Three to six 1600 x 900 desktop screenshots, at least one of the real interface, each one different.
• No browser windows or desktop backgrounds, nothing that is only a logo.
• A 1200 x 1200 icon without text; no Shopify trademarks anywhere.
• Alt text on every image.

For the reviewers

• A separate screencast of setup and core features, step by step, in English or with English subtitles.
• Test credentials that still work on the day of review.

Sources

Every page below was read in full on 22 October 2026. Shopify's pages show no date of their own.

• Shopify shopify.dev, Shopify App Store requirements
• Shopify shopify.dev, Shopify App Store best practices
• Google Play Console Help, Add preview assets to showcase your app
• Apple App Review Guidelines, guideline 2.3.4
• Apple App Store Connect Help, App preview specifications