Your build is done, TestFlight is green, and the only thing standing between you and a submit button is a 30-second video you have no idea how to shoot. You open the Screen Recording toggle, tap your app, fumble the first tap, and three takes later you have a file with a notification banner across the top and a half-second of your home screen at the end.
Short answer: To make a professional app preview video, record your actual app on-device using DemoScope (HD Face Cam Screen Recorder on the App Store) in Other App mode, which puts a floating face cam over any app on your iPhone while capturing the screen. Plan four shots inside 30 seconds, record each as a separate take, and trim in the Photos app.
Last updated: October 2026
What an app preview video actually has to do
An app preview video is a short, screen-captured clip that plays on your App Store product page and shows the app doing its job. It works by replacing imagination with evidence: instead of a screenshot that says “fast checkout,” the viewer watches a checkout finish in four seconds.
Apple’s rules are tight. Previews run 15 to 30 seconds, you get up to three per localization, and the footage has to be captured from the device screen rather than mocked up in After Effects. The full list of specs, orientations and formats lives in app store preview video requirements: what apple wants, and reading it before you shoot saves you a rejection round.
The practical consequence: a professional app preview video is not a montage, it is one continuous-feeling task. Pick the single thing your app does better than the alternative and show that from first tap to payoff.
The four shots that fit inside 30 seconds
Here is the structure I use for every preview. Each shot is recorded as its own take so a fumble costs you eight seconds, not thirty.
- The hook (0 to 4 seconds). Open on the screen that makes the value obvious, not the splash screen or the login form. No one has ever downloaded an app because of a well-rendered sign-in page.
- The core action (4 to 18 seconds). One task, performed at a slightly slower-than-natural pace. Pause for about half a second before each tap so the viewer’s eye arrives before your thumb does.
- The payoff (18 to 26 seconds). The result state: the exported file, the finished workout, the booked slot. This is the shot people screenshot.
- The landing (26 to 30 seconds). Rest on a clean screen. Do not swipe back to your home screen at the end, and do not let the recording run into the Control Center.
Write the voiceover script before you record the screen, not after. If you are narrating live while tapping, a scrolling script on screen is the difference between one take and nine; the setup is covered in teleprompter screen recorder for iphone demos in 2026.
How do you record your own app with a face cam?
You record it with DemoScope’s Other App mode. This is the part most guides get wrong: your app is a different app from your recording app, so an in-app recorder cannot see it. Other App mode activates a system-wide floating picture-in-picture face cam, sends DemoScope to the background, and captures your screen across every app through the iOS Broadcast Extension while your face stays visible in the corner.
The workflow, in order:
- Open DemoScope and choose Other App as the recording source.
- Set up the camera bubble first: pick circle, square, vertical or horizontal rectangle, drag it to a corner, pinch to size it. Adjusting it mid-take is visible in the recording.
- Add a PiP border or a text overlay if you want one. Those three tools (Camera, PiP Border, Text) are what you get in Other App mode.
- Start the broadcast, switch to your app, wait two seconds, then begin.
- Stop from the system recording UI. The file lands in your camera roll as MP4.
The honest limitation: touch indicators and the teleprompter do not work in Other App mode. That is an iOS constraint, not a missing feature. Those two tools live in DemoScope’s in-app recording mode. So if tap visibility matters more than anything, you are choosing between seeing your taps and recording a third-party app, and you cannot have both in the same take.
My recommendation, with the trade-off stated plainly: shoot the App Store preview in Other App mode with the face cam turned off or very small, because Apple wants the preview to be app footage and a large face bubble eating a corner of your UI is a reviewer’s reason to say no. Then shoot a second, looser version with the face cam prominent for your landing page, Product Hunt post and social clips. Two recordings, ten extra minutes, and the version that converts on Twitter is not the version Apple grades.
Which recording setup should you use?
| Approach | Face cam | Touch indicators | Records other apps | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iOS built-in Screen Recording | No | No | Yes | Free |
| DemoScope, Other App mode | Yes, floating PiP | No (iOS limit) | Yes | Free with watermark and 10-min cap; Pro $19.99 one-time |
| DemoScope, in-app recording | Yes | Yes | No | Same pricing |
| Loom | Yes | No | Desktop/web focused | Subscription |
DemoScope Pro is a one-time $19.99 purchase that removes the watermark and the 10-minute limit. The free tier is genuinely usable for a 30-second preview test cut, since no preview should come anywhere near ten minutes anyway, but the watermark rules it out for the file you actually submit.
What goes wrong when you record on a phone
Things that have cost me takes, in rough order of frequency:
- Notification banners. Focus mode or Do Not Disturb, every time. A Slack banner over your hero shot is an automatic retake.
- Mic routing. If AirPods are connected, iOS records from them, and AirPod mics sound thin and roomy. Disconnect Bluetooth and use the phone mic, or hold the phone in a stand and speak toward the bottom edge.
- Storage. Device-native resolution capture eats space fast. Check you have several free gigabytes before a session, because iOS killing a broadcast at second 25 is a special kind of pain.
- Battery percentage and carrier text. The status bar is in frame. Charge above 80 percent, and if your app has a weird network state, fix it before you roll.
- The last half second. Stop the recording a beat after you think you are done, then trim. Trimming is not something DemoScope does; there is no editing in the app, so cut it in the Photos app or whatever editor you already use.
When not to bother with a face cam at all
If your app is a utility (a calculator, a VPN, a file manager), your face adds nothing to the App Store preview and takes up pixels your UI needs. Skip it there. Face cam earns its space when there is a human claim attached: an indie dev explaining why they built the thing, a tutorial where trust matters, a founder demo on a launch day post. For the broader argument about which demos benefit from a face, how to create an app demo video that actually gets downloads walks through it with examples.
And if you are recording something longer than a store preview, a walkthrough, an onboarding guide, a support video, the production rules change: longer takes, more narration, more need for a script on screen. That workflow is covered in app demo video: how to record one on iphone.
A preview video is the cheapest conversion lever you have on your product page, and it is also the one most devs postpone until submission day. Block out an hour, shoot the four takes, and keep the raw files. When you ship v2 you will only need to re-record the shots that changed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I record my own app on iPhone with my face in the corner?
Yes. DemoScope’s Other App mode puts a floating face cam over any app on your iPhone and records the screen system-wide using the iOS Broadcast Extension, so you can leave DemoScope, open your own app, and capture both. Touch indicators and the teleprompter are not available in that mode, since they only work in DemoScope’s in-app recording mode.
How long should an App Store preview video be?
Apple allows 15 to 30 seconds, with up to three previews per localization. Aim for 30 seconds and structure it as hook, core action, payoff, landing rather than trying to show every feature.
Do I need a Mac to make a professional app preview video?
No. You can make a professional app preview video entirely on the iPhone: record on-device at native resolution, export MP4 to the camera roll, and trim in the Photos app. DemoScope is iOS only (iPhone and iPad), with no Mac or Android version, so the whole workflow stays on the phone.
Does DemoScope edit or add captions to the video?
No. DemoScope records, overlays a face cam, shows touch indicators and runs a teleprompter, but it does not trim, cut, add captions or generate subtitles, and it has no cloud storage. Finished recordings save to your camera roll as MP4 and you edit them wherever you normally edit.
Is DemoScope a subscription?
No. DemoScope Pro is a single $19.99 purchase that removes the watermark and the 10-minute per-take limit. The free tier records and streams with a watermark and that 10-minute cap, including Other App recording and streaming.