App Preview Videos: Are They Worth It for Indie Developers?

Every ASO guide eventually tells you to add an app preview video. "Video increases engagement." "Users love motion." "A video makes your listing stand out." It sounds intuitive. It also happens to be wrong for about half of all app categories.

The truth about app preview videos is more nuanced than the conventional wisdom suggests. For some apps, a well-produced video is a conversion multiplier. For others, it actively hurts downloads. And for indie developers with limited time, the question is not just whether video helps, but whether the 10-20 hours of production time delivers more value than spending those same hours on screenshot best practices, keyword research, or building features.

This article lays out the actual data, the category-specific recommendations, and a practical framework for deciding whether video belongs in your ASO strategy.

What Are App Preview Videos?

Before diving into strategy, it helps to understand the mechanics, because iOS and Android handle video very differently.

iOS App Previews

Apple allows up to 3 app preview videos per localization, each up to 30 seconds long. These videos occupy the first positions in your screenshot carousel -- they appear before your screenshots, not after them. This positioning is critical because it means your video replaces your first screenshot as the first visual element users see.

On the product page, iOS preview videos autoplay silently as soon as the user scrolls them into view. In search results on WiFi, they also autoplay in the small preview cards. This silent autoplay behavior means the video must communicate entirely through visuals and on-screen text for the majority of viewers. Sound is a bonus for the small percentage who unmute, not the primary communication channel.

Each video must show actual in-app footage -- Apple's guidelines prohibit hands, physical devices, or content recorded outside the app. This constraint limits your creative options but also forces the video to be an honest representation of your app experience.

Android Promo Videos

Google Play takes a fundamentally different approach. You get a single promo video per listing, hosted on YouTube and linked through the Play Console. Unlike iOS, the video does not autoplay. It appears as a thumbnail (your feature graphic with a play button overlay) at the top of your listing.

This means Android users have to actively choose to watch your video by tapping the play button. The barrier to engagement is significantly higher than on iOS, where the video plays itself. On Android, your feature graphic is doing the selling most of the time, and the video is supplementary content for users who are already interested enough to tap.

There is no duration limit from Google, but analytics consistently show that viewer retention drops sharply after 30 seconds and falls off a cliff after 60 seconds. Keep it short.

Do Videos Actually Improve Conversion?

This is where the conventional wisdom breaks down. The answer is not a clean yes or no -- it depends entirely on your app's category and the quality of your existing screenshots.

The Data: Mixed Results

SplitMetrics and StoreMaven, two of the largest A/B testing platforms for app stores, have published data across thousands of tests that tells a more complicated story than "video good."

For visually rich apps -- games, photo editors, video tools, social media apps -- preview videos produce a measurable conversion lift, typically in the range of 15-25%. Users of these apps want to see the experience in motion before committing to a download. The video satisfies that desire and reduces the perceived risk of downloading.

For utility apps, productivity tools, and simple-interface apps, the data flips. Videos in these categories produce a conversion decrease of 5-10% on average. The reason is straightforward: these apps look boring in motion. Watching someone check off a to-do or type a note is not compelling content, and the video displaces a screenshot that was doing a better job of communicating value.

The takeaway is not "never make a video" or "always make a video." It is "understand which side of this divide your app falls on before investing production time."

Why Videos Sometimes Hurt Conversion

There are three mechanisms by which a video can actively reduce your download rate.

First, on iOS, the video replaces your first screenshot in the carousel. Your first screenshot is almost always your strongest conversion asset -- it has your best feature, your most compelling caption, your clearest value proposition. When a video takes that slot and fails to be equally compelling in its first frame, you have traded a strong asset for a weak one.

Second, videos reveal your actual UI in motion, which removes the aspirational quality that well-designed screenshots create. A screenshot with a device frame, a gradient background, and a caption saying "Organize Your Life Effortlessly" creates an emotional response. A video showing the same app's actual interface -- with its real loading states, its real animations, its real content density -- is more honest but often less persuasive.

Third, videos that do not hook the user in the first 3 seconds waste the user's time and attention. On iOS, the video autoplays, so the user is watching whether they intended to or not. If those first 3 seconds show a splash screen, a slow animation, or an unclear UI state, the user scrolls past before your video gets to the good part. You have lost them, and they never even saw your screenshots.

The Autoplay Factor on iOS

This point deserves its own emphasis because it is the single most important technical detail about iOS app previews. The video autoplays silently, which means the first frame of your video functions as a screenshot replacement.

If your video starts with a black screen, a loading indicator, your app logo, or any other non-informative frame, that is what users see when they first encounter your listing. It is like having a blank first screenshot. Every fraction of a second of non-compelling content at the start of your video is actively hurting your conversion rate.

The first frame must be as visually strong and information-dense as your best screenshot. This is a design constraint that many developers overlook, and it is the reason so many app preview videos underperform: they were designed for viewing start-to-finish, not for the reality of autoplay-first-frame-as-screenshot.

When Videos HELP Conversion

With the caveats established, here are the categories where video is genuinely worth the investment.

Visual and Interactive Apps

Photo editors, video tools, drawing apps, design tools, camera apps, and augmented reality apps benefit enormously from video because their value proposition is inherently visual and dynamic. A 30-second video showing a photo transformation, a filter being applied, or a drawing coming together communicates value far more effectively than any static screenshot.

For these apps, the question is not "should I make a video?" but "how do I make the best possible video?" The bar is high because competitors in these categories also have strong videos, and a mediocre video is worse than no video at all. Show your most impressive capability first, move through 3-4 features quickly, and end with a polished result that makes the user think "I want to do that."

Games

Games are the category where video has the strongest and most consistent positive impact on conversion. This is not surprising -- the entire gaming industry is built on trailers. Users are trained to watch gameplay footage before purchasing or downloading, and they actively seek it out.

For games, a well-produced video is close to essential. Users who see a game listing without a video may skip it entirely, assuming the developer either has something to hide or is not serious enough to produce a trailer. The video should show actual gameplay (not cutscenes or menus), highlight the most exciting moments, and demonstrate the core mechanic within the first 5 seconds.

If you are shipping a game and can only invest time in one thing beyond a functional listing, make it a video. It will have more impact than optimizing your screenshots, your description, or your keywords.

Apps with Unique UX Patterns

If your app features a novel interaction pattern, gesture-based navigation, or an unconventional interface, video can demonstrate how it works in a way screenshots cannot. Screenshots are inherently static. They can suggest motion through visual cues, but they cannot show motion.

Think about apps like Tinder (swipe mechanic), Shazam (listening animation), or any spatial computing app. The core experience of these apps is inseparable from motion and interaction. A screenshot of Tinder showing a card is mildly interesting. A video of the swipe mechanic in action is immediately understandable and compelling.

Ask yourself: does seeing your app in motion communicate something that screenshots cannot? If the answer is clearly yes, invest in video. If you have to think about it for more than a few seconds, the answer is probably no.

When Videos HURT Conversion

Simple Utility Apps

Calculator apps, timer apps, unit converters, weather apps with standard interfaces, and similar single-purpose utilities have straightforward UIs that are fully communicated by a single screenshot. There is nothing to show in motion that adds information.

A video of someone using a calculator -- tapping numbers, seeing a result -- adds no value. The user already knows how a calculator works. What they want to know is whether this particular calculator has the specific features they need (scientific functions, currency conversion, tip splitting), and that information is better communicated through captioned screenshots that can each highlight a different capability.

For these apps, your time is better spent perfecting your screenshots and captions than producing a video that will displace them.

Text-Heavy and Data Apps

Note-taking apps, spreadsheet tools, database managers, CRM tools, and similar data-oriented apps look visually underwhelming in video. Watching someone type text, scroll through rows, or navigate between tabs is not compelling viewing. The actual experience of using these apps is valuable but not photogenic.

These apps are better served by screenshots that show curated, visually appealing examples of organized data. You can control what data appears in a screenshot, making it look impressive and aspirational. In a video, you are showing the app as it actually is in motion, which for data apps means a lot of text and a lot of scrolling.

If your app is primarily about organizing, storing, or manipulating text and data, skip the video. Invest that time in making your screenshots show the most beautiful, most organized version of what your app can do.

Apps Where the Value is Invisible

VPN apps, background sync tools, battery optimizers, privacy tools, ad blockers, and automation apps all provide value that is not visually demonstrable. You cannot film encryption happening. You cannot show a background process syncing data. You cannot make ad blocking look exciting on screen.

A video of a VPN connection being established -- tap a button, see a "connected" indicator -- is neither interesting nor informative. It tells the user nothing they did not already know. Screenshots with infographic-style captions ("256-bit encryption," "Servers in 50+ countries," "Zero-log policy") communicate trust and capability more effectively than video for these categories.

Cost-Benefit Analysis for Indie Developers

Even if your app falls into a category where video helps, you still need to weigh the investment against other uses of your time.

Time Investment

Creating a professional-quality app preview video is not a quick task. Here is a realistic breakdown for an indie developer doing it for the first time:

Planning and scripting: 2-3 hours. You need to decide which features to show, in what order, with what on-screen text, and how to structure the 30-second narrative arc. Skipping this step and "just recording" produces rambling, unfocused videos.

Recording clean screen captures: 2-4 hours. You need your app populated with perfect sample data, your simulator or device configured correctly, and multiple takes of each sequence because you will make mistakes. Recording at the exact target resolution without scaling artifacts takes trial and error.

Editing: 4-8 hours. Trimming clips, adding transitions (sparingly), overlaying text captions, syncing to music, and iterating on pacing. If you are new to video editing, double this estimate.

Iteration and feedback: 2-5 hours. Watching your own video on a phone, getting feedback from others, making adjustments, and re-exporting.

Total: 10-20 hours for a single video in a single language. If you need to localize the on-screen text for 5 languages, add another 5-10 hours for text changes and re-exports.

Compare this to screenshot creation, which takes 4-8 hours total with a dedicated tool like StoreLit, including batch export across all device sizes. The time differential is significant.

Financial Cost

If you outsource video production, expect to pay $200-800 for a basic app preview from a freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork. A specialized app video agency charges $1,000-3,000 for a polished result. On top of that, music licensing adds $15-50 per track from royalty-free libraries like Artlist, Epidemic Sound, or Musicbed.

For comparison, a full set of professional screenshots can be created in-house with a dedicated screenshot tool for a fraction of that cost. The math only works in video's favor if you are confident the conversion lift will generate enough additional downloads to justify the expense.

The Opportunity Cost Question

This is the factor most guides ignore. Every hour you spend on video production is an hour not spent on something else. For indie developers, the "something else" menu includes:

Screenshot optimization, which has a more predictable conversion impact across all app categories. Keyword research, which directly affects how many people find your listing in the first place. Building features, which improves retention and ratings, compounding your growth over time. Responding to reviews, which signals to potential users that the app is actively supported.

For most indie developers, the recommendation is to perfect your screenshots first, optimize your keywords, and only consider video once those foundations are solid and you have data confirming that your app falls into a category where video helps.

How to Create a Preview Video on a Budget

If you have decided that video is right for your app, here is how to produce one without spending thousands.

Screen Recording Approach

The most cost-effective method is direct screen recording from a simulator or physical device. On iOS, use Xcode's simulator recording (Command+R in Simulator, or use the xcrun simctl io command for more control). On Android, use scrcpy for high-quality recording from a connected device, or the built-in screen recorder in recent Android versions.

Before recording, prepare your app state carefully. Populate it with compelling sample data. Clear any debug indicators, development banners, or placeholder content. Set the status bar to show a clean state: full battery, WiFi connected, no carrier name, and a neutral time like 9:41 (which Apple uses in their own marketing materials).

Plan your recording script before hitting record. Know exactly which screens you will show, what actions you will take, and how you will transition between features. Practice the sequence two or three times before recording. Hesitation, wrong taps, and navigation missteps are obvious to viewers and make your app look confusing.

Editing with Free and Low-Cost Tools

iMovie (free on Mac) handles the basics: trimming clips, adding transitions, inserting text overlays, and layering background music. It is limited but sufficient for a clean, simple app preview. Avoid iMovie's built-in effects and transitions -- they look dated. Simple cuts between scenes are more professional.

CapCut (free) offers more advanced templates, text animations, and effects that work well for app previews. Its mobile-first design makes it quick to iterate on, though the desktop version provides more precision.

DaVinci Resolve (free tier) is the most powerful free option. It provides professional-grade editing, color correction, and motion graphics capabilities. The learning curve is steeper, but if you plan to produce multiple videos over time, investing a weekend in learning DaVinci Resolve pays dividends.

The universal rule: keep edits minimal. Clean cuts between features are more professional than excessive transitions, effects, or animations. Let your app be the star, not your editing skills.

Adding Polish: Music and Captions

Since iOS preview videos autoplay muted, on-screen text captions are your primary communication channel. Add benefit-focused text overlays using the same principles as screenshot captions: lead with benefits, keep it under 8 words, use strong verbs. Each caption should appear for 3-5 seconds -- long enough to read comfortably but short enough to maintain pace.

Time your captions to appear as you demonstrate the corresponding feature. "Track Your Progress at a Glance" should appear as the dashboard screen comes into view, not three seconds before or after. Synchronization between visual action and caption text creates a professional feel that viewers notice even if they cannot articulate why.

Background music should be upbeat, non-distracting, and appropriate for your app's tone. A meditation app video with aggressive electronic music creates dissonance. A fitness app video with gentle piano does the same. Match the energy. Royalty-free libraries like Pixabay Audio (free), Artlist ($9.99/month), or Epidemic Sound ($15/month) have thousands of options searchable by mood and energy level.

Technical Specifications

Getting the technical details wrong results in rejection during review or degraded playback quality. Here are the current requirements for both platforms.

iOS App Preview Requirements

Duration: 30 seconds maximum. Apple is strict about this -- 30.01 seconds will be rejected.

Required resolutions vary by device class. For the 6.7-inch display (iPhone 15 Pro Max, 16 Pro Max): 1290x2796 pixels. For the 6.5-inch display (iPhone 15 Plus, 14 Pro Max): 1284x2778 pixels. For the 5.5-inch display (compatibility size): 1920x1080 pixels. For 12.9-inch iPad: 2048x2732 pixels. You do not need to submit all sizes, but providing the 6.7-inch version is strongly recommended as it covers the most popular current devices.

Format: H.264 or HEVC codec, in .mov or .mp4 container. Frame rate: 30 fps. No letterboxing or pillarboxing -- the video must fill the entire frame edge to edge. Up to 3 videos per localization are supported, meaning you can show three different aspects of your app if you want.

Android Promo Video Requirements

Google Play links directly to a YouTube video, so your technical constraints are YouTube's standard upload requirements. Recommended resolution is 1080p (1920x1080) in landscape orientation, though portrait videos work too.

There is no strict duration limit from Google, but data on viewer retention makes the recommendation clear: keep it under 60 seconds. The optimal length is 30-45 seconds -- long enough to show 3-4 key features, short enough that most viewers watch to the end.

The video thumbnail in the Play Store uses your feature graphic (1024x500 pixels), not a frame from the video itself. Design this graphic deliberately -- it is what users see before deciding whether to tap play, making it functionally equivalent to your first screenshot on iOS.

Common Technical Pitfalls

Do not record at your device's native resolution and then scale to the target resolution. Scaling introduces artifacts, blurriness, and frame rate issues. Record at exactly the resolution Apple or Google requires.

Clean your status bar before recording. On a real device, enable airplane mode to remove the carrier name, charge to full battery, and set your clock to a round time. On a simulator, Xcode automatically provides a clean status bar, which is one reason simulator recording is preferred.

Remove any development artifacts before recording: debug menus, console overlays, placeholder text, test data that looks obviously fake ("Test User," "Lorem ipsum"), and any UI that is not part of the shipping product. Users notice these details, and they undermine trust.

Alternatives to Full Video

If you have decided that a full video is not the right investment for your app right now, there are lighter-weight alternatives that capture some of video's benefits.

Animated Screenshots

Some developers create the illusion of motion through carefully designed screenshot sequences. Before-and-after comparisons within a single screenshot, swoosh lines suggesting movement, sequential frames showing a workflow -- these techniques communicate dynamism while maintaining the conversion benefits of well-crafted static images.

This approach works particularly well for apps that benefit from showing a process or transformation but do not need full motion to communicate it. A photo editor can show a before/after split. A finance app can show a chart with an upward arrow suggesting growth over time. A productivity app can show three states of a project (planning, in progress, complete) within a single screenshot.

Visual Storytelling Across Your Screenshot Set

While app stores do not support animated screenshots, you can create a narrative flow across your screenshot sequence that functions like a video storyboard. Screenshot 1 shows the starting state (the problem). Screenshot 2 shows the action (your app solving it). Screenshot 3 shows the result (the outcome). Subsequent screenshots expand on additional capabilities.

This sequential storytelling approach engages users in a way that isolated, unrelated screenshots do not. It creates forward momentum through the carousel -- users swipe to the next screenshot to see what happens next, much like they would watch the next seconds of a video.

Feature Graphic as Video Substitute (Android)

On Google Play, the feature graphic (1024x500 pixels) occupies the same prominent position as a video thumbnail. For apps that do not benefit from video, investing extra time in a compelling feature graphic is a better use of resources.

A well-designed feature graphic that showcases your app's best screen with a strong benefit caption, set against a branded background, can be as effective as a mediocre video for many categories. It loads instantly (no buffering), works on all connection speeds, and does not require a tap to engage.

Think of the feature graphic as a wide-format screenshot -- your single best shot at communicating your app's value in one image. For non-game, non-visual apps on Android, this is often the highest-impact visual asset you can invest in.

Making the Decision

Here is a simple framework for deciding whether to invest in an app preview video:

Is your app a game? Make a video. It is close to essential for conversion.

Is your app visually rich (photo/video editing, design, AR, creative tools)? Make a video. The conversion lift is well-documented and significant.

Does your app have a unique interaction pattern that is hard to explain in screenshots? Make a video. It will communicate what screenshots cannot.

Is your app a utility, productivity tool, or text-based app? Skip the video. Invest the time in better screenshots instead.

Is your app's value invisible (VPN, sync, security, automation)? Skip the video. Use infographic-style screenshots to communicate value.

Are you unsure? Start without a video. Perfect your screenshots. Monitor your conversion rate. If you have strong screenshots and your conversion rate is still below your category average, then consider A/B testing your screenshots before investing in video to see if the issue is content rather than format.

The goal is not to check off a box on an ASO checklist. The goal is to maximize downloads per impression. For some apps, video does that. For others, it gets in the way. Know which camp you are in before committing the hours.