What Apple says counts
Apple’s search guidance names two groups of factors: text relevance, meaning matches in your app’s name, subtitle, keywords and primary category, and user behaviour, meaning downloads, ratings and reviews. Apple also says that promotional text does not affect search ranking. Search results can show app tags, which Apple generates with language models from the metadata you provide.
Name and subtitle
- Name, up to 30 characters: simple, memorable, easy to spell, and a hint at what the app does. Avoid generic terms and names close to existing apps.
- Subtitle, up to 30 characters: the value in a phrase. Apple advises against generic lines such as “world’s best app”.
- No other brands. Guideline 4.1(c) forbids using another developer’s brand or product name in your name without approval.
Keywords
- Fill the field: up to 100 bytes per language, terms separated by commas, no spaces after the commas. Spaces inside a phrase are fine.
- Do not repeat words already in your name, subtitle or category.
- Skip plurals of words you have in the singular, and filler such as “the”, “app” or “game”.
- No trademarks, celebrity names or competitors’ app names. Apple calls improper keywords a common reason for rejection.
- Balance popularity and competition. Popular terms bring traffic but are hard to rank for; specific terms bring less but convert.
How to choose them is in App Store keyword research.
Category and icon
- Primary category: the most relevant one. It is indexed for search, decides which tab you appear in, and an irrelevant choice can be rejected.
- Secondary category: optional, and also indexed.
- Icon: simple, recognisable at every size, with no unnecessary detail. Test alternatives with product page optimization.
Screenshots and app previews
- The first one to three screenshots appear in search results when there is no preview, so they carry the whole pitch.
- One benefit per screenshot, in the order people would use the app.
- Show the app in use (guideline 2.3.3): not just a splash screen, login or title art.
- Include Dark Mode if the app supports it.
- App previews: up to three, up to 30 seconds each, autoplaying muted, so the first seconds have to work without sound.
- Right sizes: check them with our screenshot size checker.
Creative assets
The new product page header and search result images and videos, optional and governed by guideline 2.3.14. Our creative assets guide has the sizes and rules.
Description, promotional text and What’s New
- Description, up to 4,000 characters: a short paragraph, then a list of main features. The first sentence is what people read without tapping “more”.
- No keyword stuffing and no prices in the description. Write it for people.
- Promotional text, up to 170 characters: news and limited-time messages, changed at any time without a new version.
- What’s New: list new features in order of importance; generic notes are only acceptable for bug fixes (guideline 2.3.12).
In-app purchases on the product page
- Promote up to 20 items across in-app purchases and subscriptions; they can appear in search and on the Today, Games and Apps tabs.
- Names up to 35 characters, descriptions up to 55, each with its own promotional image (Apple).
Ratings and reviews
- Ask at the right moment with the system prompt, which can appear up to three times in 365 days.
- Reply to reviews in App Store Connect; reviewers are notified and can update their review.
- Fix what reviews repeat. Ratings influence search ranking, and the app is the cheapest way to improve them.
Localisation
App Store Connect supports metadata in 50 languages. Each language has its own name, subtitle, keywords, description and screenshots, so localising multiplies your keyword space as well as your reach. See how to localize your App Store listing.
Custom product pages and tests
- Custom product pages: up to 70 extra versions of your page with their own screenshots, previews and promotional text. You can assign keywords to each, so it appears in search instead of the default page, and add a deep link (iOS 18 and later) (Apple).
- Product page optimization: test up to three alternate icons, screenshot sets or previews against your original, one test at a time, for up to 90 days (Apple).
- In-App Events: timely events that appear on your page, in search and on the Today tab.
Measure
- App Analytics: impressions, conversion rate and downloads, filterable by source such as App Store search.
- Benchmarks: Apple added peer benchmarks for download-to-paid conversion and proceeds per download in March 2026 (Apple).
- Change one thing at a time, and give each change long enough to show a result.
Related: App Store keyword research · App Store character counter · App Store Optimization