10 Tips to Get Your App Featured
on the App Store
💖 Thank you so much for joining the SwiftLee Weekly Newsletter. It’s my
mission to make you a better app developer over the years to come. Let’s
grow together, starting by getting your apps featured!
Getting your app featured on the App Store allows you to gain organic growth and more
reach. Users can find your app by browsing through the App Store inside one of Apple’s
curated lists of apps.
I’ve been developing apps since 2009, and several of my apps got featured over time.
It’s essential to know these weren’t only large companies’ apps; even small ones can
get featured. Let me share my tips and tricks for getting several apps featured by Apple.
1. Tell Apple about your app
Getting your app featured in the App Store starts by telling Apple about your app. They
will only be able to consider your app to be featured if they know your app exists. You
can’t expect Apple’s curation team to check out each new app submission proactively,
so you’ll need to help them by filling out Apple’s App Promotion Form
at appstore.com/promote.
I’ve gotten RocketSim in the list of Essential Apps for Developers by submitting Apple’s
promotion form for several significant updates. Of course, it wouldn’t end up on that list
if it wasn’t a qualitative app. However, it would also not end up on the list of Essential
Apps if I didn’t tell Apple about its existence.
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I got my RocketSim App Featured by promoting it with Apple.
In my experience, even larger well-known apps benefit from filling in this form. I’m
currently working at WeTransfer, an app with millions of users. Apple knows about our
app due to its scale and reach but only occasionally features it in lists like “Build in the
Netherlands.” By filling in Apple’s promotion form, we can get our app featured for other
reasons, like major releases containing new App extensions (e.g., Live Activities
or Shared With You).
Make sure to keep a copy of your answers to questions like “Tell us about your
development team.” to make it easier for you to submit the form more frequently. When
describing your app and its features, assume the one receiving your form knows nothing
about your app or Apple’s technologies. Even though you submit an app in the financial
category doesn’t mean your form gets reviewed by someone with financial knowledge
who can correctly value your app’s quality. Express yourself with details and create a
clear understanding of your app’s qualities and new features.
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2. Think like Apple’s Editorial Team
If you look at the App Store frequently, you’ll notice Apple tries to align its featured lists
with events like Black Friday and World Accessibility Day. Significant sports events like
the FIFA World Cup also get attention, allowing your app to get featured if relevant.
Apple plans ahead their curations for 6 to 8 weeks, so you need to be early with
submitting your app. I’ve been using the promotion form to tell Apple about
WeTransfer’s great accessibility support and included several demonstration videos to
simplify Apple’s curation.
3. Optimize your App Store Presence
Beautiful, well-maintained App Store pages are more likely to get featured. Just like
before, you need to think like Apple’s Editorial Team. Would you feature an app with
only one screenshot and one supported language over an app with ten screenshots
localized in more than five countries?
Apple loves telling its users about beautiful apps, and they will like to promote your app
even more if it uses the latest App Store features. You increase chances of your app
getting featured by implementing things like:
Promoted In-App Purchases
In-app events
App Previews
For the latter, it’s essential to look at your statistics. App Previews can impact your App
Store conversion rates, both positively and negatively.
4. Localize your App
Apple is more confident your app brings value to its users if it comes in the native
language of the end-users. If your app comes with only an English copy, you’ll be less
likely to get featured in countries like France or Spain.
Note that you can localize some things at a time. You can start by localizing your App
Store pages, which is already a significant improvement. A second step could be
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localizing your App Store Screenshots, then localizing your app. You can determine the
order yourself based on what’s realistic for your timeline.
5. Get More Ratings
Getting your app featured will be more challenging if your app only has a few ratings.
On the flip side, Apple is easily convinced by your app’s value if it notices a high number
of 4+ ratings. Positive ratings show that your users love your app and that it will likely be
valuable to other users.
I wrote an extended tutorial to help you Increase App Ratings using
SKStoreReviewController.
6. Be a good App Citizen
If you make your app a good citizen, you’ll ensure it fits nicely in the user’s journey.
Ensure you use system components that look similar to Apple’s system apps. Custom
UI looks great but risks mismatching what Apple likes to see. Your app’s user
experience is essential to Apple, so make sure it’s cohesive, efficient, and adds valuable
functionality that’s easy to use.
7. Make your app accessible
You’re more likely to get your app featured if your app provides an excellent experience
for a broad range of users. It’s essential for you to include accessibility support and
make your app work great with features like Dark Mode, Voice Over, and Dynamic Text.
8. Keep your crashes low
While I don’t have any evidence, a high crash rate will decrease your chances of getting
your app featured. A crash leads to unhappy users, bad reviews, and lower retention.
These metrics will lead to less growth and make proving your app’s quality more
challenging. Both Apple and your users will thank you for fixing those top crashes.
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9. Innovate and Implement Latest Features
While it’s not always realistic to implement every new feature announced during
WWDC, there are some you can support. Especially during a new major OS release,
you’ll have the opportunity to get your app featured in lists like “Apps with Live Activities”
or “Explore Great New Widgets.”
I always like to create room for my team to work with Apple’s latest APIs as it’s both
refreshing, fun to work with, and likely to lead to the innovation Apple loves to see.
Consider setting up a WWDC hackathon as a team-building activity: win-win!
10. Make your app unique
Last, but not least, try to make your app unique. This might not be possible for every
app, but it’s essential to think about your app as a whole. If you’re building another Mail
app, it will take a lot of work to stand out. What can you do to make your Mail app
unique? What are features your competitors don’t have?
Apps that stand out, define a new genre or take a fresh approach to a familiar topic will
more likely be picked up by Apple’s editorial team.
Conclusion
Getting your app featured might be challenging, but it will be realistic if you focus on the
right things. By improving the overall quality of your app, you’ll be able to stand out.
Ensure you frequently fill in Apple’s promotion form and tell them about your app’s great
new features.
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