How To Get Featured On iOS App Store

Congratulations!

You’ve completed your app’s development phase and it’s time to take action. I’m sure that it was not an easy process for you, you may be thought as “that development process is the toughest one, everything will be easier after launch”. But unfortunately, you were wrong.

Every day, hundreds of mobile apps are being released on iOS App Store. It means that the competition is getting harder. This competition pushes app owners to promote their apps in some ways like organic efforts, paid efforts.

At the same time, Apple likes to maintain a healthy relationship by featuring their work and acknowledging quality products. For this purpose, they reward some of the successful apps by featuring them on the App Store page. That’s why every app owner wants to get featured on App Store to shine amongst other rival apps.

At this point, a crucial question comes to minds; what should an app owner do to get featured? Actually, there are some common strategies every app owner can track to reach their “featured” goals. But the deeper details of ways to get featured on app stores differ from store to store.

Best Ways To Get Featured In The Apple App Store

There are a few ways to be featured in the iOS App store: being featured on the homepage, hitting one of the top lists, or being chosen as an “Editors’ Choice”. If you want to get into any of these spotlights, you’ve got to know Apple’s guidelines for designing for iOS.

So, Let’s take a closer look the detailed ways to get featured in iOS App Store together.

Optimize The App Store Page

Due to the fact that a large amount of users finds apps through app searches more than other methods, the visibility of apps is getting more important. App Store Optimization (ASO) is an effective effort to drive more traffic. It provides more downloads by increasing visibility and this makes it possible to get noticed by editors.

Even if you have the greatest app amongst your rivals on the App Store, you may not reach the success (e.g. having huge downloads, making much money) unless your app has a great app store page.

Of course, you need to start with putting a great app name. You need to take your time to write an attractive and informative description which will spark user’s interest and don’t forget about high-quality screenshots. Also, you need to use relevant keywords on your page to make it easier for the users to find you. For more details, check Apple’s product page optimization guide.

Localization

In fact, localization is one of the topics that I could mention in ASO topic because it is a sub-component of it. But it is better to focus on localization exclusively because localization is a must-have feature for app owners who want to make their app get featured on App Store.

Without localization, the app would give you limited success. So widening it much more countries would give huge audience with ease. Because app localization is the process of adapting your app to a particular language and culture, which will help to boost app ranking and increase maximum downloads on mobile devices. Localization needs enormous effort and time, but it will be worth it. I mean, with appropriate localization, you can also increase the chance of getting featured.

UX & UI

The app should be well designed, properly organized, and eye-catching; Apple says. This progress needs a planned work on UI and UX. With user expectations for mobile apps in 2017, UX values most, and most of these technologies are indeed in service of removing conflict or context switching from the user flow.

Apple differentiates itself with its unique design. Just think about the minimalistic style of Apple products or the tiny bits and pixels of iOS interface. Apple tends to advertise apps that fit their aesthetic. Because of that, they’re going to favor apps which prioritize smart, clean design.

Actually, Apple editors base their decisions on a number of factors. But here are two important criteria’s that they consider:

The usability, and quality of the user interface

A unique user experience

So, don’t underestimate the importance of UX & UI and develop your mobile app accordingly.

Mobile app owners;

Want to learn the latest trends of UX?

Update Your App Regularly

The most important necessity about updating is adding new features, fixing bugs with every update. These moves will improve the UX. And the App Store has a section called “Best New Updates”. So updating will basically contribute to getting your app into feature list.

Apple prefers to see apps that are frequently updated and relevant to users, use this knowledge as an advantage. Is it New Year’s Eve? Make a special update for this occasion, for example. It is all about being up-to-date and responsive to your users.

Keep Your Reviews & Ratings Positive

When people are deciding to download an app or not, the first impression becomes crucial and app ratings & reviews affects it most. Because the opinions of others are a decisive social indicator of your app. According to the researchers, a safe spot is to maintain a 4.5 rating or higher. For this reason, app owners should encourage their users to leave reviews. Especially, embolden users to leave feedback who are using the app for a while (they tend to leave more positive feedback). If there’s a negative user review or a problem, don’t forget to give a reply and provide a solution. This will make things better.

Although controlling the reviews and ratings is not easy, it all comes down to user satisfaction. That’s why being responsive the critics, needs, or demands of the users is a must-to-do if you want to increase your app’s ratings. Just like users, the editors have the same decision process when they’re considering to feature an app. As I said, Apple is paying attention to UX. So, showing a bad experience including bad reviews and low rating will decrease your chances to get featured.

Go Native

There are some ways to develop mobile apps. But building a native app is your safest way to get featured. Apple generally tends to feature apps that are developed exclusively for iOS. Additionally, Apple likes to see native iOS apps because they are generally higher quality and, again, have a better UX. Hence, if you want to fight for being featured in the App Store, focus on iOS platform and build a native app.

If you want to create a native app, you must know some programming languages suitable for each platform. For iOS, you need to have a grasp of Objective-C and Swift that take full advantage of the APIs and frameworks built into iOS. These are also better equipped to transition smoothly into the new technologies Apple introduces the further versions of iOS.

Final Thoughts

It’s important to remember that Apple is always thinking about profit. They’re more likely to feature an app that is doing great than one that is suffering. So, app owner’s main purpose should be focusing on making a well-tailored app in terms of all aspects I mentioned above.

Now get to work 💪