Guides · · Maxwell Prehoda
12 App Promo Video Examples, Plus the App Store and Google Play Rules That Shape Them
An app promo video has two homes with different rules: the store listing, where a short, silent, on-device preview autoplays next to the install button, and everywhere else, where you are free to film people, tell jokes and run for a minute. The 12 entries below cover both: the App Store and Google Play preview formats, then promos from Duolingo, Strava, Calm, Monzo, Airbnb and Google Play's own Best App film, each labelled with the kind of app it suits.
Store rules are quoted from Apple's and Google's developer pages; video lengths, dates and descriptions come from each company's own YouTube channel. The last two entries are ours: app promo styles built as code, so your own screens can go in them.
1. App Store app previews: Best for the video next to your iOS install button
Platform: App Store, up to 30 seconds, up to 3 per language
Apple allows up to three app previews per language, each up to 30 seconds, using footage captured on the device. They autoplay muted on your product page and in search results, so Apple suggests on-screen copy for context, and they must "show only content within the app itself". Apple is explicit: "Don't film people interacting with a device, such as an over-the-shoulder angle or fingers tapping the screen."
Other rules catch teams out: disclose in-app purchases, subscriptions and logins, do not show specific prices, show more gameplay than cutscenes, and pick a poster frame carefully, because changing it on an approved preview means submitting a new one.
Watch out for: Your brand film will probably be rejected as a preview. Cut a separate, screen-only version for the store, with captions, and lead with the app's best moment, because many people see only the first few seconds.
2. Google Play preview videos: Best for the video on your Android store listing
Platform: Google Play, a public or unlisted YouTube video
Google Play takes one YouTube URL, not a playlist or channel, with no timecode parameters. Ads must be off or the video will not show, and it cannot be age-restricted or private. The video may autoplay inline, muted, for up to 30 seconds, so Google recommends keeping it short and showing the real experience in the first 10 seconds.
Unlike Apple, Google supports both landscape and portrait, as long as the video matches the app and portrait video has no black bars. Captions and localised versions are recommended.
Watch out for: Monetisation is the classic mistake: if ads are enabled on the YouTube video, it silently disappears from the listing. Upload a dedicated, unmonetised copy.
3. Duolingo Math: Best for a new product line inside a known app
Platform: YouTube, 62 seconds
Duolingo's 62-second promo for Duolingo Math is pitched on a feeling ("Struggling with math?") and one promise: the free app breaks every problem down step by step, from fractions and long division to algebra and exponents. It had more than 1.5 million views within six months.
When a famous app adds a new subject, the promo can skip the brand introduction and go straight to the problem it solves. Duolingo did the same at 23 seconds for chess on the web: one line, one product shot, a link.
Watch out for: Extensions of a big brand inherit its expectations. If the new product does not feel like the main app, the promo will create disappointment, not installs.
4. Strava "Every 19 Seconds": Best for subscription upgrades built on a real stat
Platform: YouTube, 60 seconds, plus cut-downs
The hook is in the title: every 19 seconds on Strava, a subscriber hits a goal. The 60-second film is about the chase, early mornings, little wins and friends who get it, and it presents the upgraded Strava subscription as your invitation to go for it. It has close to 290,000 views, and Strava cut it into separate Compete, Explore and Train versions.
A single, true number from your own data makes a brand film feel earned rather than aspirational. The cut-downs let each audience see the reason that matters to them.
Watch out for: A stat-led film needs a stat you can defend. Check it with your data team before it goes in a headline, and keep the methodology handy for press.
5. Strava "Dark Mode is Here, Finally.": Best for feature drops your users begged for
Platform: YouTube, 22 seconds
A 22-second clip with a joke for a description: "It's been 84 years, but the wait is finally over: dark mode is now on Strava." It thanks users for hanging in there, says the feature is free for everyone, and links to the help article.
Long-requested features deserve a wink, not a trailer. Admitting the wait builds more goodwill than pretending it was always the plan.
Watch out for: Self-deprecating humour only works once per feature. If the same joke runs for every overdue update, it starts to sound like an excuse.
6. Calm Silent Ad: Best for wellness apps selling the feeling itself
Platform: YouTube, 30 seconds
Calm's 30-second spot for US election day 2024 has a five-word description: "Silence, brought to you by Calm." On the noisiest night of the news cycle, the ad offers the thing the app sells: a break.
Calm keeps the same idea in its "Moment of Calm" series, such as Aliveness, a 66-second narrated pause. When your product is a feeling, the promo can be a small dose of it.
Watch out for: Restraint needs context. A silent ad works in the middle of loud programming; on a quiet social feed it just looks empty. Plan where it runs before you plan what it shows.
7. Monzo "Get busy living" spots: Best for fintech apps with one feature per ad
Platform: YouTube, 30 seconds each
Monzo's 2026 campaign is a set of 30-second spots, one per feature: Salary sorter, Joint account, Business expense cards, Integrated accounting, an Under 16s account. Each carries the same line ("Get busy living") and a short twist on it: "When your money's in the right place, you can be too."
One feature per spot under one campaign line is a clean system for an app with many features. Each ad targets one audience, and together they build the brand.
Watch out for: Financial promos need eligibility and terms on screen or in the description; Monzo's carry "16+ UK residents, Ts&Cs apply". Write those in from the first script draft.
8. Focus Friend, Google Play's Best App of 2025: Best for seeing what store editors celebrate
Platform: YouTube (Google Play channel), 50 seconds
Google Play's own 50-second film for Focus Friend by Hank Green, which won Best App of 2025 in the US and the UK. Google describes it as a simple, effective tool to "disconnect in order to reconnect" and stay present. Google made a similar film for Partiful when it won Best App in 2024.
Award films are a useful benchmark: they show how the store itself describes a great app, in one sentence of benefit and a few screens. If you cannot describe your app that simply, your promo will struggle too.
Watch out for: You do not control these films, and most apps will never get one. Treat them as research for your own messaging, not as a plan.
9. Airbnb "New updates for hosts": Best for two-sided apps speaking to one side
Platform: YouTube, 1 min 56 s
Before a host-focused announcement in September 2026, Airbnb posted a preview of the new tools it had first shown to its Host Advisory Boards and US Community Leaders, framed as an exclusive look ahead of launch day.
Marketplace apps have two audiences who want different things. A promo made only for one side, with that side's own community in the story, lands better than a general ad that tries to speak to both.
Watch out for: Previews raise expectations. Make sure the tools are ready on announcement day, or the preview becomes a list of promises.
10. Duolingo learner story: Rocky: Best for long-form proof that the app works
Platform: YouTube, about 12 minutes
Duolingo travelled to Dallas to meet Rocky, who started learning Spanish to connect with his partner Danní and her family, and filmed him putting 478 days of lessons to the test. The video answers the question in its description head on: does Duolingo actually work?
A real user's story is the best answer to scepticism, and it gives you clips for ads, social and the store's "what's new" text. Duolingo pairs it with a separate video on the science behind its method.
Watch out for: Twelve minutes is a documentary, not an ad. Cut 15 to 30 second moments from it for social, and keep the long version on YouTube where people search for proof.
11. Our Three Phone App Promo (Studio): Best for showing an app's breadth in one shot
Platform: Motions Animation Studio, prompt is CC0 Ours
Three phones in sage, oat and clay float staggered in 3D on a blush backdrop, each running a different screen of a plant-care app (a care list, a plant's history, a leaf scanner) while callouts name each feature. The three-phone layout shows a home screen, a detail view and a key action at once.
Describe your app in the Animation Studio, swap in your screens, and export MP4 for social or a landing page. It is not a store preview (Apple wants footage captured on the device), but it is a fast way to make the promo that runs everywhere else.
Watch out for: Rebuilt screens must match the shipped app. Store reviewers and users both notice when they do not.
12. Our App Onboarding (Studio): Best for explaining an app in three swipes
Platform: Motions Animation Studio, prompt is CC0 Ours
A phone on a periwinkle stage swipes through three onboarding screens: a pot, leaves and a card morph into a watering can and then a grown plant under a sun, the page dots stretch like a worm, and the next button grows into Get started.
Onboarding is the most compact story an app has, so it makes a natural promo. For other mobile moments, see our Lock Screen Notifications and Fintech Card Wallet scenes.
Watch out for: Three screens is the ceiling. Every extra screen in an onboarding promo is a reason to stop watching.
How to choose an app promo format
Make two videos: one for the store, one for everywhere else.
Match it to the store rules
For the App Store: up to 30 seconds, captured on device, only in-app content, no hands or over-the-shoulder shots, captions for muted autoplay, and disclosures for purchases and logins. For Google Play: one public or unlisted YouTube video with ads off, the real experience in the first 10 seconds, and either orientation without black bars. Build the store cut first; it is the one next to the install button.
Match it to the job
Launching a new product inside a known app? Go straight to the problem (Duolingo Math). Selling a subscription? Use one true stat and a feeling (Strava). Shipping a requested feature? Keep it short and human (Strava dark mode). Many features? One feature per spot under one line (Monzo). Scepticism? A real user's story (Duolingo's Rocky).
Match it to the screen
Most people watch app promos on a phone, often muted. Design for vertical or square first, keep text large, put the best moment in the first three seconds, and test every frame at phone size. On the web, respect reduced-motion settings and give autoplaying video a pause control.
Cut your store preview this week
Record the three moments that make your app worth installing, on the device, and cut them into a 20 to 30 second preview with captions. That is your App Store and Google Play video. Then make the promo for everywhere else, where you can add people, music and a joke.
For the second one, describe it in the Studio: Claude draws your screens and devices, choreographs the motion and checks every frame, and you can export MP4 or GIF for social. For launch-day ideas, see our product launch video examples.
Make a 15-second vertical (1080x1920) promo for [app name] showing three screens: [home], [key action], [result]. One phone, centred, on a [colour] background; each screen slides in from the right with a 0.45s ease-out and holds for 3.5 seconds. One caption per screen, under 6 words, large enough to read on a phone; the app icon and "Download on the App Store" style end card for 2 seconds. No fingers or hands on screen. If the viewer prefers reduced motion, cut between screens with short fades.
Common questions
How long should an app promo video be?
For the App Store, up to 30 seconds per preview. For Google Play, there is no hard maximum, but only up to 30 seconds may autoplay, and Google recommends showing the real experience in the first 10 seconds. Social promos usually run 15 to 60 seconds.
Can I show people in an App Store preview?
Apple's guidance says not to film people interacting with a device, such as over-the-shoulder shots or fingers tapping the screen, and previews must show only content within the app. Save people and hands for your social and web promos.
How many app previews can I upload?
Up to three app previews for each language your app supports on the App Store. Google Play takes one preview video per listing, from a YouTube URL.
Why is my Google Play promo video not showing?
The most common reasons are ads being enabled on the YouTube video, the video being private or age-restricted, or a playlist, channel or timecoded URL instead of a plain video URL.
What makes a good app promo video?
The app's best moment in the first few seconds, captions for muted playback, one clear benefit, real screens, and a clear end card. The examples above each do one thing well rather than everything at once.