Landscape vs Portrait App Preview: Which One Wins in App Store Search?
Orientation looks like a production detail. It isn't: it decides what people see of your app before they tap it — in search results, where most App Store decisions are made.
What Changes in Search Results
A search result card has a fixed width. What fills it depends on your first asset:
- Portrait first: up to three assets side by side — usually your preview plus the first two screenshots. Each one is small, but together they tell a short story.
- Landscape first: one video, full width, playing muted. No screenshots next to it. Text in it is roughly twice the size, and the card looks unlike the portrait ones around it.
So landscape trades range for impact: one big message instead of three small ones.
The Case for Landscape
- It stands out. In a list of portrait cards, a wide video is the one that breaks the pattern.
- Text is readable. Captions that are tiny in a portrait thumbnail become legible.
- You can zoom in. Crop to the part of the screen that matters — the button, the chart, the board — with nothing else competing.
- It fits games. Most games are played sideways anyway, so the footage needs no cropping. Games are where landscape previews are most common.
The Case Against
- One message only. Three portrait assets can show three benefits; a landscape video has to win with one.
- It replaces your screenshots in search. If your screenshots already convert well, you're hiding them.
- It's less of an advantage on the product page. Your screenshot gallery is still portrait, so outside search a landscape preview is just a different shape, not a bigger one.
- People watch for seconds, not thirty. Whatever orientation you pick, the first 3–5 seconds carry the whole video.
A Middle Option
Orientation is set per preview, and you can upload up to three:
- Preview 1 — landscape. This is what search results show.
- Preview 2 — portrait. Keeps the gallery consistent for people who reach the product page.
You get the wide card in search without giving up the portrait story on the page.
Exact Sizes Apple Accepts
| Device | Landscape | Portrait |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone X and newer (incl. Pro Max and iPhone Duo) | 1920 × 886 | 886 × 1920 |
| iPhone 8 Plus and older 5.5" | 1920 × 1080 | 1080 × 1920 |
| iPad Pro / Air / iPad / mini (current) | 1600 × 1200 | 1200 × 1600 |
| Mac, Apple TV | 1920 × 1080 | — |
- Length: 15–30 seconds
- Frame rate: up to 30 fps
- Format: H.264 (.mov, .m4v, .mp4) or ProRes 422 HQ, up to 500 MB
- How many: up to 3 per localization
Footage must come from the app itself. A landscape video of a portrait-only app is still possible — crop and zoom into the UI — but it has to look like the real app, not a mock-up.
When to Choose Landscape
Good fit:
- Your installs come mostly from search
- One feature sells the app on its own
- It's a game, or the app is used in landscape
- Your category is crowded and every card looks the same
Poor fit:
- Your app has several equal benefits to show
- Portrait screenshots already convert well
- Your UI only makes sense in a tall frame (feeds, chats, long lists)
How to Test It
Don't switch on a hunch:
- Product Page Optimization in App Store Connect lets you run a landscape treatment against your current setup and compare conversion.
- Before/after: if you just swap, compare conversion over the same weekdays for two weeks on each side, and don't change keywords or price in between.
Making the Video
The hard part is the same in both orientations: exact resolutions per device, readable captions, and one version per language. App Store Preview Studio is a Mac app built for this: it adapts each export to Apple's specs for every device size, translates your captions, and flags 30-second overruns and pricing words before you upload.
See How It Lands
A new preview changes who downloads your app — and they'll tell you whether it matched their expectations in reviews. AppStoreReview monitors reviews across 175+ countries and alerts you as they arrive, so "not what the video showed" doesn't go unnoticed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an App Store preview video be landscape?
Yes. iPhone and iPad previews can be portrait or landscape, and each of your up to 3 previews per localization can have its own orientation. Mac and Apple TV previews are landscape only.
What resolution does a landscape iPhone app preview need?
1920 × 886 for every Face ID iPhone, from iPhone X to the current Pro Max and iPhone Duo. Older 5.5-inch iPhones use 1920 × 1080. iPad landscape previews are 1600 × 1200. Length is 15–30 seconds at up to 30 fps.
How does a landscape preview look in App Store search results?
When your first asset is a landscape preview, the search result shows that one video across the full width of the card, playing muted. With portrait assets, the card shows up to three of them side by side instead.
Should I use landscape or portrait for my app preview?
Landscape suits apps that live or die in search and can make their point in one strong video, especially games. Portrait suits apps with several benefits to show at once, because three portrait assets say more than one wide one.