Google Play Promo Video on the Store Listing

A Google Play promo video is not another screenshot. On the store listing it is one preview video, added as a YouTube URL in the preview video field. Play Console does not take a video file in that slot. Use the URL of a video, not a playlist and not a channel. Do not append a timecode or other extra parameters.

Google documents this on Add preview assets to showcase your app . The image under the play button is still the feature graphic. Size and file rules for that image are in Google Play feature graphic size. Still images beside the video follow Play screenshot recommendations. Apple’s video rules are a different spec: App Store preview video specifications.

What has to be true before the video can show

Google’s requirements, not suggestions, are specific. Turn ads off. If the video uses copyrighted material, turning monetization off may not be enough, and you may need a different video. Set the YouTube privacy setting to public or unlisted. Private videos do not qualify. Do not use an age-restricted video. The video has to be embeddable so Play can show it.

The preview sits before your screenshots. People start it from a play button on the feature graphic. It may also appear on home and search, and it may autoplay inline with muted audio for up to 30 seconds, depending on the device, the setting, the network, and the surface. When it does not autoplay, the button sits on the feature graphic. That 30-second figure is the autoplay window, not a maximum length Google published for the file. Do not invent a max duration. Google does say to keep the video short because only the opening autoplays and people must tap to continue.

The feature graphic is the cover

If a preview video is present, the feature graphic is the cover image, except for Spatial Android XR videos, which use the YouTube thumbnail. Design the 1024×500 graphic so a play button can sit on it and the subject is still clear. Google’s own guidance says to keep the focal point toward the center and to avoid cutoff zones at the edges. A title crammed into a corner disappears when the button and the crop arrive.

Do not put ranking claims, “#1,” or “best” on the cover. Google’s preview-asset rules tell you to avoid language that suggests Play performance, awards, testimonials, or price promotions, and to avoid calls to action such as “install now.” The cover should say what the app is. For a kids story app, that is a story in progress, not a medal.

Worked example: a kids story app

The app reads a picture book on the device: a page, a short narration, a tap to the next page. The promo video should be that. Open on a page turn within the first seconds, not on a logo. Google recommends showing the actual in-app experience as early as possible in the first 10 seconds, and aiming for at least 80 percent of the video to be the user experience rather than title cards, logos, or other promotional footage.

Because autoplay is muted, put the story beat on screen in words a parent can read, or show the page clearly enough that sound is optional. Do not film a hand tapping the phone unless the core use is off the device. Reading a story in the app is on the device, so show the app. Skip “best bedtime app” and skip a countdown sale. Those lines fight the metadata rules and they date the video.

The story app’s promo video is a YouTube URL that shows the book quickly, with ads off, and a 1024×500 feature graphic as the cover.

Horizontal or vertical, without black bars

Google supports both a wide video and a tall video on the store listing. Pick the shape that matches the app. A picture book that is read in a tall phone layout should not be pillarboxed inside a wide frame with black bars on the sides. Google specifically says not to leave black bars on either side of a tall video. Choose one shape and fill it.

On-screen words, if you use them, have to be readable and on screen long enough to read. Do not flash a slogan for a few frames. Localize the video, including the UI, the taglines, and the audio, when you are actually supporting that market. A dubbed logo over an English book is not localization.

Screenshots still have a job

The video does not replace the screenshot row. Many people never tap play. The screenshots have to explain the story app on their own: a page, the read-aloud control if it exists, and a way to pick a book. Follow the Play screenshot guidance for phone and tablet sizes. Do not repeat the video’s title card eight times as images.

Games are called out by Google as needing a preview video for some surfaces. A story app is not automatically in that bucket. Even so, the same asset rules apply if you add a video. You still only get one standard preview URL. Extra Android XR videos are a separate, optional case and do not change the phone listing’s single preview field.

Do not borrow Apple’s preview rules

App Store previews are video files with their own durations, poster frames, and device sizes. Pasting those specs onto a Play listing will send you to the wrong upload form. On Play you are pointing at YouTube. On the App Store you are uploading a preview that has to be screen capture of the app. Make two cuts if you ship both stores. Do not assume a length that was true for Apple is a Play maximum.

The still frames you pull from the story video can feed the screenshot set if they are the real UI and the right pixel size. AppGrowthKit is for those stills, not for hosting the YouTube file. Get the page and the narration right in the app, export stills that match, and keep the video URL for Play Console.