You cannot guarantee App Store featuring. You can make it easier for Apple’s editorial team to understand why a launch, update, or event may be timely and useful to customers.
The current path is not a speculative email hunt. Apple provides featuring nominations in App Store Connect. A nomination can cover a new app, a major update, new content, or an In-App Event, and can include related apps, markets, localizations, supporting links, and details about accessibility or inclusivity.
The job is to submit a concise editorial story that the live product can support.
Start with a feature-worthy moment
“We want more downloads” is not an editorial story.
A stronger nomination begins with a specific change or moment:
- a new app that solves a recognizable problem in an unusually useful way;
- a major update that materially changes what customers can do;
- timely content connected to a real cultural, seasonal, or community moment;
- an In-App Event with a clear start, end, and reason to participate;
- a cross-platform experience that uses current Apple capabilities well;
- an accessibility, inclusivity, privacy, design, or technical improvement with customer impact.
Write the event in one sentence:
On [date], [app] helps [specific audience] do [new or timely thing] through [distinct product experience].
If the sentence could describe any app in the category, the story needs more work.
Make the product ready before the pitch
Featuring can amplify both strengths and problems. Review the actual experience first:
- The relevant build or event is complete enough to demonstrate.
- The product page accurately explains what is new.
- Screenshots, previews, and metadata are localized for the nominated markets.
- Onboarding reaches the nominated value quickly.
- Pricing, trials, subscriptions, and purchases are clear.
- Accessibility basics and supported device layouts have been tested.
- Support and incident response can handle additional attention.
- Claims in the nomination have evidence and do not exceed the product.
Do not nominate a concept while the visible product page still tells the old story.
Choose the nomination type and scope
In App Store Connect, open the app and use Featuring → Nominations. Apple lets authorized Account Holder, Admin, App Manager, or Marketing users create nominations.
Scope the submission deliberately:
- Related apps: include only apps that genuinely belong to the same story. Apple allows up to ten from the same developer account.
- Platforms: select the platforms where the experience is relevant.
- Countries or regions: nominate markets where the app, content, support, and timing are ready.
- Localizations: include the language versions that editorial reviewers and customers should evaluate.
- In-App Event: attach an approved or published event when it is central to the story.
A broad global nomination is not automatically stronger than a specific regional one.
Write the editorial story
An effective nomination answers five questions quickly.
What is happening?
Name the launch, release, content drop, event, or milestone. Include the relevant date and avoid internal project language.
Who is it for?
Define the customer in useful terms. “Everyone” gives the editor no audience context.
Why does it matter now?
Explain the timing: a launch, season, update, live event, social moment, or new capability. Do not manufacture urgency.
What is distinctive in the experience?
Describe the product interaction, design, content, technology, or customer outcome—not adjectives such as revolutionary or best.
What can Apple verify?
Point to the live build, event, product page, TestFlight link where appropriate, supporting press or documentation, and any accessible demo material.
A compact draft might look like:
Moment: A major update launching September 8 adds collaborative route planning for families traveling together. Audience: Families coordinating multi-stop trips across iPhone and iPad. What is new: Shared plans update in real time, offline access preserves the itinerary, and accessibility labels cover the new editing flow. Why now: The update launches before the autumn travel period in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Evidence: App Store product page, two-minute walkthrough, TestFlight link, accessibility notes, and localized press kit.
The details must be true. A nomination is not the place for invented market leadership, customer counts, awards, or results.
Use supplemental materials well
Apple allows up to five supporting URLs. Give each link a job.
Useful materials can include:
- a short product walkthrough;
- a TestFlight public link when suitable;
- a concise press or launch page;
- art assets or a visual brief;
- accessibility, privacy, or technical implementation notes;
- evidence for a partnership, event, or public claim.
Avoid a folder of unlabeled files. Name each resource and make access reliable without requiring an editor to request permission.
Keep videos short enough to review. Show the nominated experience early, with realistic content and readable captions.
Explain accessibility, inclusivity, and craft specifically
Apple’s nomination form explicitly provides room for helpful details, including accessibility and inclusivity.
Replace broad statements with implemented behavior:
- VoiceOver labels and reading order were tested on the new flow.
- Dynamic Type supports the specified range without clipping.
- Captions and transcripts accompany video or audio content.
- Color is not the only indicator of state.
- The nominated localizations were reviewed by native speakers.
- The experience supports reduced motion where animation is not essential.
Only describe what is present and tested.
Submit early enough
Apple’s nominations reference recommends finalizing a plan at least three weeks in advance. Treat that as a minimum planning constraint, not a promise of review or placement.
Work backward:
| Timing | Work |
|---|---|
| 6–8 weeks before | Define the story, markets, product dependencies, and assets |
| 4–6 weeks before | Stabilize the experience, localize, test, and prepare supporting material |
| At least 3 weeks before | Finalize and submit the nomination |
| Before launch | Verify the approved build, event, page, links, support, and analytics |
| Launch and after | Monitor product quality, reviews, traffic, and support load |
Individual nominations can be saved as drafts. CSV-imported nominations are submitted automatically, so use bulk import only when the workflow and data are ready.
Connect an In-App Event when the event is real
Apple recommends attaching a relevant In-App Event as early as possible when it is approved or published. An event can give editors and customers a concrete reason to care now.
Do not create an event card for a routine discount or minor update that does not meet Apple’s event guidance. Use the In-App Events guide to define the purpose, metadata, creative, timing, and measurement.
Prepare the product page for attention
Editorial featuring and product-page conversion are separate stages. Review:
- whether the first screenshots explain the nominated experience;
- whether the app preview demonstrates real product use;
- whether promotional text is timely and accurate;
- whether the description and release notes explain what changed;
- whether ratings and recurring review issues create an obvious trust gap;
- whether the relevant localization appears correctly.
Use the screenshot guide and 30-day launch plan to prepare the surrounding acquisition path.
Plan measurement before featuring happens
Featuring may change impressions, product-page views, downloads, source mix, support contacts, ratings, and downstream quality at the same time.
Capture a baseline by territory and device where possible:
- unique impressions and product-page views;
- conversion rate and downloads;
- source type;
- activation, retention, trial, purchase, and refund guardrails;
- crashes, support volume, and review themes.
If featuring occurs, record the exact placement, markets, dates, and concurrent paid or owned campaigns. Do not credit all movement to one placement when a product launch and promotion occurred together.
If the app is not selected
No response or placement does not prove the product or nomination was bad. Editorial supply, timing, market fit, and factors outside the submission can affect selection.
Keep the work that still improves the launch:
- a clearer product story;
- a stronger product page;
- tested localizations;
- reliable supporting materials;
- a release timeline and scorecard;
- a product experience ready for traffic.
Submit a future nomination when the app has a genuinely new moment. Do not recycle the same vague pitch every week.
Final nomination checklist
- The nomination centers on a real launch, major update, content moment, or event.
- The audience, timing, and customer value fit in one clear sentence.
- The nominated build and product page tell the same story.
- Markets and localizations are ready, not merely selectable.
- Claims, accessibility details, partnerships, and dates are verifiable.
- Every supplemental URL has a clear purpose and reliable access.
- A relevant In-App Event is attached when applicable.
- Submission happens at least three weeks before the planned moment.
- Support, analytics, and incident response are ready for attention.
- No featuring, rank, download, or revenue result is promised.