Creating an iOS App Preview Video
Step 1: Record & Trim:
From iOS 11+ you can now screen record directly from your phone using the Control Centre’s Record Screen Button. However, this tutorial will guide you through utilizing the QuickTime Player application for recording and trimming App Preview Videos.
Step 1a: Connect your device via USBA/C to your Mac and open up QuickTime Player and selected File > New Movie Recording. Some might immediately think it should be “Screen Recording” but this will only record what’s on the Mac’s screen, we want to record wants on the screen of our external device.
Step 1b: Ensure the Camera source and Microphone source point to your device (In my case, iPhoneKX), you can edit this by selecting the down arrow next to the record button in the middle. This will come into focus once your mouse hovers over the new recording window. Once both sources are checkmarked with your device you can hit the record button and start your recording. To stop the recording, hit the black square stop button that replaces the red circle record button upon recording.
Step 1c: Trim and Save. App Preview videos have to be 30 seconds or less, so you’ll need to use the awesome convenient trim tool in Quick Time to ensure it’s less than 30 seconds. It can be found in the Edit Menu or hit Command + T to bring up the Trim action context.
You can then drag the yellow handles to your desired start and ending frames and then hit “Trim” button and BOOM, the video is trimmed and ready to be saved. Save the file (File > Save).
Step 2: Edit & Export
One of the stumbling blocks many developers encounter is having their videos rejected because the exported video frame rate is incorrect. Using iMovie and specifically the “New App Preview” feature will avoid this mishap.
Step 2a: Create a App Preview project in iMovie.
Open iMovie and select File > New App Preview. This option is not available when you just hit the big + button for new project, you’ll need to go to File sub menu.
Step 2b: Import your recorded Video in the “My Media” section and then drag in into the timeline section on the bottom. Here you can do additional editing, add some music and titles if that’s your preference.
Step 2c: Export as App Preview. File > Share > App Preview
Upload via Safari
The final step is to use Safari web browser to upload your App Preview video. Will not be able to use any other browsers to upload specifically App Preview Videos. You can use alternate browsers to upload sscreenshots.
