A feature announcement people actually watch
Most features ship into silence. The release note says what changed, the changelog says when, and neither says why anyone should care. A short recording of the thing working, narrated by somebody who knows it, does the job that text has never done well.
Show the before, briefly
A feature only means something against the problem it removes. Five seconds of the old way — the extra taps, the empty state, the thing you had to do twice — makes the next twenty seconds land. Skip it and the viewer sees a screen they have no reason to care about.
One feature per recording
A release with four changes is four recordings, not one long one. Each is findable later, each can be posted separately, and none of them is a tour.
Be in it
The person who built the thing explaining it is the whole difference between an announcement and an advert. It does not need a studio; a corner of the frame is enough, and the credibility is in the voice and the face, not the production.
Where it goes
The same forty seconds works in the release notes, in a post, in an email to users who asked for it, and in a reply to the support thread where it was requested. Record once at full resolution and let each place compress it.
How long should it be?
Under a minute. If it needs more, it is more than one feature.
Can I use it as an App Store preview?
Not as filmed — previews may not show a presenter or footage outside the app. Record a separate one from screen capture alone.
