How do you get your iOS app featured on the App Store?

Getting featured feels like a lottery you can't enter. It isn't. Since November 2024, App Store Connect has a form for it, and anyone with the right role on your team can fill it in.

Apple's editors still decide. But they decide from what you send them, and most launch plans never send them anything.

Can an indie app get featured on the App Store?

Yes. Apple says all apps and games are eligible for App of the Day and Game of the Day, "whether they're brand new or have been around for a decade."

Two more things work in a small app's favour:

• Picks are local. Apple says its featured selections are regionally curated, and it has over 120 editors worldwide. An app that matters in one country can be featured there.
• There's no checklist. Apple says so on the same page. No minimum downloads, no paid tier, no agency.

What there is: a nomination form, and a list of what the editors look at.

What do Apple's editors look for?

Apple lists seven factors for apps, plus extra ones for games. Here they are, with what an indie maker can actually do about each:

You won't fix all seven before a launch. Pick the two that are weakest and true to your app, and mention what you did in the nomination.

How do you nominate your app for featuring?

It takes about ten minutes (Apple's steps). You need the Account Holder, Admin, App Manager or Marketing role.

1. In App Store Connect, open Apps and select your app.
2. In the sidebar, under Featuring, click Nominations.
3. Click the add button (+) and choose Create Nomination.
4. Give it a name and pick a type.
5. Write the description: what's coming and why it matters.
6. Pick a publish date, or a date range.
7. Fill in the additional information: related apps, countries, in-app events, links, helpful details.
8. Submit the nomination.

Once it's submitted, you can still edit it, but not its type or its related apps. If you have many to send, Apple also takes up to 50 at once in a CSV file.

Which nomination type should you pick?

There are three:

One update, one nomination. Apple's games editors put it the same way in their talk on featuring: send each unique update as its own.

What should you write in a nomination?

Short, specific, and in plain words. The template allows 1,000 characters for the description, but the editors read many of these. Here's what each field is for:

Write the description as if the editor has never heard of your app. They probably haven't.

How early should you nominate?

Earlier than feels necessary. Apple gives different numbers in different places:

So plan on three weeks as the minimum, and more if you can. For a launch, that means nominating before App Review has even seen the build, which is fine: you can edit the date later. Set the release to manual so the date you gave is the date it ships. The 30-day launch plan and the launch checklist both put this step first.

Where can an app be featured?

More places than the Today tab. Apple lists these:

Almost all of these are editors' picks. In-app events are the one you create yourself and then hope the editors pick up.

Do in-app events help you get featured?

They give the editors something timely to feature. An in-app event is a dated thing happening inside your app, such as a challenge or a premiere. It can last up to 31 days and be promoted up to 14 days before it starts.

Events show on your product page and in search results on their own, which is worth having even if no editor picks them. And Apple says it shares them with its editors for promotional consideration. Attach the event to your nomination as soon as it's approved.

They suit apps with something that happens: a new season, a challenge, a launch week. A to-do app without one shouldn't invent an event just to have one.

What happens if Apple picks your app?

Usually an email, and not always one with a date:

• A request for artwork. If your app is being considered, Apple may email your Admin, App Manager and Marketing users asking for promotional assets. The artwork guidelines say a request is no guarantee of a feature, and that Apple can't give run dates or advance notice.
• An email when it's live. Turn on the "App Store Featuring" email in your App Store Connect notification settings, so you hear when your app is featured.
• A push for the Today tab. For some Today placements, Apple sends a notification through the App Store Connect app, along with ready-made images you can share.

Share them. A feature is also your best post of the year.

What if your app never gets featured?

Apple doesn't say how many nominations it picks, or why it passes on one. So treat the nomination as part of every release, not a one-time bet:

• Nominate every real update. A new feature, a new language, Apple Watch support. Each is a fresh chance.
• Fix the product page. It's on Apple's list, and it's also what converts the people who find you anyway. The listing checker flags the gaps, and the screenshot generator makes new screenshots in Apple's sizes.
• Launch everywhere else too. Featuring is one place. The Launch Map has the others, each checked on its own site.