FAQ
Last updated: September 2026
The first half covers app preview videos generally. The second covers TapCraft. If your question is missing, email support@tapcraft.app
App preview videos
What is an app preview video, and do I need one?
A short video showing your app in use. On the App Store it sits in the screenshot carousel; on Google Play it plays above the screenshots. It is also the asset you post on X, Product Hunt, Reddit and your landing page — and that is usually where it earns its keep, because a listing gets seen after someone is already interested, while a video is what makes them interested.
Will a device-framed video be accepted as an App Store App Preview?
Probably not, and this is worth understanding before you submit. Apple expects App Previews to be captured on the device and to show the app itself, at specific resolutions — footage wrapped in a phone illustration is generally rejected for that slot.
Device-framed videos are for the places that reward them: your landing page, X, LinkedIn, Product Hunt, Reddit, TikTok, Reels, Shorts, ad creative, investor updates. Check Apple's current App Preview specification in App Store Connect before relying on any video for the store listing itself — the rules change, and we would rather you check than take our word.
Does Google Play accept a video?
Google Play takes a YouTube URL rather than a file, and it is more permissive about what the video contains — a framed, edited promo is normal there.
How long should it be?
Apple allows 15–30 seconds for App Previews. For social, shorter wins: ten to fifteen seconds is usually the whole story, and people scroll past anything that takes longer to make its point. Shorter clips also render faster.
What size and aspect ratio?
Portrait 9:16 — 1080 × 1920 covers TikTok, Reels, Shorts and X, and is the shape phone recordings already come in. Going above that mostly grows the file unless your recording was captured above 1080, because extra pixels are upscaled rather than genuinely sharper.
How do I record my Android screen?
Android has a built-in screen recorder in the quick settings panel. For a cleaner result use adb shell screenrecord, which skips the recording indicator. Turn on Show taps in Developer options only if you want the system's own dots — if you are adding ripples afterwards, leave it off.
How do I record my iPhone screen?
Add Screen Recording to Control Centre and record from there. The result is a portrait MP4, which is what you want.
How do I get rid of the red recording indicator and my notifications?
Turn on Do Not Disturb before recording, and cover the status bar afterwards. TapCraft can replace the whole strip with a clean bar that matches your app's own colour, which is usually easier than trying to record a perfect one.
Do I need a Mac?
No. The well-known tools in this category are Mac-only desktop apps, which is why this one runs in the browser — it works the same on Windows, Linux and Mac.
TapCraft
Do I need to install anything?
No, for the main workflow: upload a recording, place taps by clicking, export. There is an optional command-line tool that captures exact tap coordinates over adb while you record, if you want ripples on the precise pixel your finger touched.
Where do the tap ripples come from?
Either you click the preview to place them, or you capture them with the adb tool and import the file. Nothing is guessed from the video — an earlier attempt at automatic detection produced far more false positives than real taps, so it was removed rather than shipped as something that looks clever and is usually wrong.
What can I upload?
Portrait MP4, MOV or WebM, from a real device or an emulator. Anything that is not a video it can read is refused as soon as you drop it, rather than at the end of an export.
What resolution does it export?
1080 × 1920 free, and 1440 × 2560 (2K) or 2160 × 3840 (4K) on a paid plan. The larger sizes only look sharper if your recording was captured that large — everything else in the frame is drawn fresh at any size, but your footage is only ever as detailed as it was recorded.
Why is there a watermark on the free tier?
The free tier is unlimited, and the watermark is what pays for it. It is tiled across the frame rather than tucked in a corner, because a corner badge is cropped off in seconds. Removing it is what the paid plans are for — and on Pro you can replace our wording with your own, so the same space works for you instead of us.
What does it cost?
Free forever with the watermark. $9.99 once for 10 watermark-free exports that never expire, or Pro at $15 a month or $60 a year — which works out at $5 a month. Full details on Pricing
I paid but my plan is not showing
Confirmations usually arrive within seconds. If several minutes pass, the most common cause is paying with a different email than the one you sign in with — purchases are matched by email address. Send us the address you paid with and we will connect it.
Can I add music or a voiceover?
Yes, with your own audio file, on Pro. Music ducks automatically under a voiceover, and you can add a soft click on every tap. Exports are silent by default either way, which is right for store listings and muted autoplay.
How long do you keep my videos?
Until you delete them — there is no automatic expiry today. Deleting a project from My videos removes the video, its thumbnail and its records.
Do you use my recordings for anything?
No. They are read once by the renderer and served back to you — not watched, indexed, used in marketing, or used to train anything. See the Privacy
Why is my export taking a while?
Exporting is real video encoding, and it scales with clip length and size. It runs in your browser using your own hardware, so a long clip at 4K on a modest machine takes the longest. Trimming to the part worth watching is the single biggest speed-up — and usually makes a better video.
Something is broken
Tell us what you were doing and we will look at it. Email support@tapcraft.app