How to make an app promo video, step by step

An app promo video is a short film that shows what an app does and ends on a way to get it. To make one, decide where it will play, write the one line it opens on, choose the screens that prove it, cut it to the shape and length of that place, and watch it with the sound off. The first step matters most, because the App Store, Google Play and a Reels feed each ask for something different, and a film made for one often breaks the rules of another.

In short

• Where it plays sets the rules. An App Store preview is 15 to 30 seconds of footage captured on the device. A Google Play video is a public YouTube link. An ad in a feed is usually a 9:16 video with a button at the end.
• The method: one place, one line, the real screens, one button, sound off.
• Length: there is no single answer. Apple allows 30 seconds at most, and the guides for ads suggest anything from 30 to 90 seconds. Put the idea in the first lines and let the place decide the rest.
• Ways to make one: record the screen and edit it yourself, use a template tool, or have an engine draw the film from your app's link.

What is an app promo video?

An app promo video shows what an app does, to someone who has not installed it yet. It is shorter than a product tour and more direct than a trailer: one idea, the app on screen, and a next step.

You will see the same thing under other names. In this article, an app demo video shows how one feature works, and an app explainer video says why the app exists and who it is for. A mobile app promo video is the same film for a phone-first audience. All three are made the same way, and the steps below work for each.

Where will it play? The rules of each place

Decide this first. The same footage cannot simply be posted everywhere.

The App Store. Apple allows 15 to 30 seconds per preview, and up to three previews per device size and language. Files are .mov, .m4v or .mp4, at most 500 MB, at most 30 frames a second. For the current iPhones the accepted size is 886 x 1920 in portrait.¹ Apple's page on previews adds the rules that decide what the film can be: a preview must show "footage captured on device", must show only content within the app, and must not show "people interacting with a device, such as an over-the-shoulder angle or fingers tapping the screen". It may not carry specific prices or dates such as "new for spring". By default previews play muted, so Apple suggests copy to add context.²

Google Play. You add one video by pasting its YouTube address. Ads must be off on the video, it must be public or unlisted, not age-restricted and embeddable. Only the first 30 seconds autoplay. Google recommends showing the real in-app experience within the first 10 seconds, making at least 80% of the film representative of the user experience, adding captions, and keeping words such as "Best", "#1", "Top" and "Download now" out of the on-screen copy.³

Ads. Instagram Reels ads are 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 and can run up to 15 minutes; the safe zones above keep your words clear of the interface.⁴ Here a closing button is the point of the film. Note the difference from Google Play, where "Download now" on screen is discouraged: a store video sells to someone already on the page, an ad has to bring them there.

A rule of thumb that follows from this: if the film is for a store page, it is a recording of the app. If it is for a feed, it can be designed, because nothing there says it must be a screen capture.

How to make an app promo video, in five steps

1. Decide where it plays, and make that film first

Pick one place and read its rules from the table. A feed ad and a store preview can share screens and a script, but they are two films. Make the one for the place that will bring the most people first.

2. Write the line it opens on

Put the whole idea in one line, set large in the first two or three seconds, before any picture of the app. A good test: read it aloud and ask whether a stranger would know what the app is for. "You think faster than you type" tells you what a voice typing app is for in six words. A line like "Welcome to the future of productivity" does not.

3. Choose the screens that prove it

Show the app doing the thing. Use the real screens, at the app's own resolution, and show the moment that makes someone want it: the result, not the menu. Apple asks for the "native UI resolution" rather than zooming in on the view.² Pick three or four moments and cut the rest. Where the film is not a store preview, you can also draw the proof as shapes: a bar that fills, a checklist that ticks, a word struck out.

4. Build it in beats, and end on one button

A new idea about every three seconds keeps a short film moving. A shape that works for a feed ad:

1. The line, as type.
2. The app in one picture.
3. Two or three proofs, one per beat.
4. The offer in one line.
5. The logo and one button.

For a store preview, keep the order and drop the button: the person is already on the page, and Google asks you to keep "Download now" out of the copy.

5. Watch it with the sound off, then check the rules

Every line of the story should be readable on screen. Apple's previews start muted, Google asks for captions, and a feed is watched with the sound on or off at the viewer's choice. Then check the file against the table: the size, the length, the safe zones, the prices and dates Apple does not want.

How long should an app promo video be?

It depends on the place, and the guides disagree because they are writing about different places. Apple caps a preview at 30 seconds. Google Play has no hard limit but autoplays only the first 30 seconds. A guide from the video tool FlexClip, last updated in December 2023, suggests a "30 to 90-second video ad". App Radar's lesson on Google Play, from 2020, says 30 seconds at the least and two minutes at the most.⁵ For a feed ad, the two examples below run 21 seconds. Whatever the length, the first lines carry the idea.

Two app promo videos, second by second

These are motion graphics films from the showcase on the 10xvid home page. They are not customer case studies, and this section says what each does on screen, not how it performed. Agent Games is one of our own products; Perla is shown on the site as "a wellbeing app". Both are 9:16, and they play muted here: watch whether each still makes sense without sound.

Perla, a wellbeing app (21 seconds)

• 0 to 3 s. "Your dream life, in your own voice" in a serif, over the app's home screen in a phone, with a Play tag.
• 3 to 6 s. Two pills, "Quote feeds" and "Movie magic", are struck through. "Written about you."
• 6 to 9 s. A three-step flow: Your answers, Narrated for you, Listen daily.
• 9 to 12 s. A player card greets the listener by name, with a waveform and a caption typing under it.
• 12 to 15 s. "The Wall": a checklist ticks itself.
• 15 to 18 s. "Meet your life, don't chase." set large.
• 18 to 21 s. The logo, the offer in one line and a "Get Perla" button that a cursor presses.

The line comes first, the app is in the first frame, and the film ends on one button.

Agent Games, an arcade of AI-made games (21 seconds)

• 0 to 2 s. "AI WROTE THIS" in heavy yellow and white type on blue.
• 2 to 5 s. Squares fly together into a game's screenshot. "Every game names the model."
• 5 to 8 s. A circle wipes to a stack of game cards and the number of games in the arcade.
• 8 to 11 s. "One tap. Play." The site's own screen inside a phone.
• 11 to 14 s. "Which model is best? You judge."
• 14 to 16 s. A game's top score lands in a ring, then turns into a gold coin. "Beat the crown."
• 16 to 19 s. Three buttons, Sign-up, Install and Download, are struck out one by one. "Just your browser."
• 19 to 21 s. The logo, "Free, no sign-up" and a "PLAY NOW" button that a cursor presses.

The viewer's first doubt, whether there is anything to install, is answered by striking out three buttons.

What the two share

• The hook is type, in the first two or three seconds.
• A new beat lands about every three seconds.
• The real app is on screen, not a stand-in.
• Proof is something you can see: a tick, a ring, a struck-out word.
• Every line is on screen as text, so the film reads without sound.
• It ends on the logo, one line of offer and one button.

These are motion graphics ads, not store previews. As Apple's rules above show, a store preview has to be a capture of the app itself, so use a film like these on a feed and a recording for the App Store.

Three ways to make one

1. Record and edit yourself. Capture the screen on the device (Apple points to QuickTime Player on a Mac for iPhone footage), then cut it in an editor such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro, which Apple names.² You control every frame, and it takes the most time. It is the right route for a store preview.
2. Use a template tool. FlexClip's guide, for example, walks through picking a template, uploading assets, generating a script, adding text-to-speech voice and subtitles, and exporting a 1080p MP4.⁵ It is faster than editing from nothing, and the guide covers the film more than the rules of each place.
3. Have an engine draw it from your link. 10xvid takes this route, below.

Make an app promo video with 10xvid

10xvid makes app promo videos from a link. Paste your website or your App Store page and it reads the words, the pictures, the logo, the colours and the type. You can add references, shape the story in the Format DNA, and press Produce, choosing the length (5 to 30 seconds), the shapes (9:16, 1:1, 16:9), a voice or none, and videos or images.⁶

It has two engines. Motion V1, the engine behind the films above, does not generate pixels: it draws every frame from your real pictures, colours and type, so text stays sharp. It runs 30+ checks on every film before you see it, and a film with a visible fault is cast again. Motion V1 Flash is the quicker one: about five minutes a video, once its turn comes, with no quality gate, which suits many quick versions of an ad to test or a first ad for a new app.⁷

These are motion graphics films, so they fit the feed, not the App Store preview slot. Your material and your ads are yours.

The first ad is free, with no card: make your first ad.

Questions about app promo videos

What is an app promo video?

A short film that shows what an app does and ends on a way to get it, made for a store page or a feed.

How do I make an app promo video?

Decide where it plays, write the one line it opens on, choose the real screens that prove it, build it in beats that end on one button, and watch it with the sound off. Then check the file against that place's rules.

What is the difference between an app promo video and an App Store preview?

An App Store preview is one kind of app promo video, with strict rules: 15 to 30 seconds, footage captured on the device, no people interacting with a device. A promo video for a feed can be designed freely, as long as it fits the platform's shape and safe zones.

How long should a mobile app promo video be?

For the App Store, 15 to 30 seconds at the most. On Google Play only the first 30 seconds autoplay. For a feed ad, the examples above run 21 seconds. Put the idea in the first lines.

What is an app promo video maker?

A tool that builds the film for you, from a template or from your app's link. Check what it outputs: the shape, the length and whether the text stays sharp.

What is the difference between an app demo video and an app explainer video?

A demo shows how a feature works on the screen. An explainer says why the app exists and who it is for. Many app promo videos do a little of both in under 30 seconds.

Do I need a voiceover?

No. Apple's previews play muted by default and Google asks for captions, so the film has to work as text first. A voice or music can be added where the place allows sound.

Can I use the same video on the App Store, Google Play and ads?

Not as it is. The App Store wants footage captured on the device with no people touching it, Google Play wants a YouTube link with ads switched off, and an ad needs the shape and safe zones of its placement. Start from the same screens and script, and export each place its own film.

1. Apple, App Store Connect Help, "App preview specifications", read on 16 October 2026. ↩
2. Apple Developer, "App Previews", read on 16 October 2026. ↩
3. Google Play Console Help, "Add preview assets to showcase your app", read on 16 October 2026. ↩
4. Meta Ads Guide, video specs for "Instagram Reels", read on 16 October 2026. The page shows the specs for the awareness objective. ↩
5. FlexClip, "App promo video", last updated 22 December 2023, and App Radar, "App Promo Video: How to Create a Great Promo Video for Google Play", dated 27 May 2020, both read on 16 October 2026. ↩
6. 10xvid.com/engine, read on 16 October 2026. ↩
7. 10xvid.com/docs/models, read on 16 October 2026. ↩