How to write an app store listing that gets downloads

Search the Play Store for “split bills” and look at what comes back. An icon, a name, a star rating. Tap one and you get screenshots, a short description and the install button. Google's short description sits at the top of your page with room for 80 characters.¹ Apple says the first sentence of your description is what people read before they decide to tap “more”.²

The rest of the page is for people who are already half sold. Write the top bit first and give it most of your time.

Both stores give you 30 characters for the name.^{2, 3} Use them for your brand plus a few words saying what the app does. Say you've built an app called Sharp. “Sharp” alone tells a stranger nothing. “Sharp: Split Bills with Friends” tells them what it's for and puts “split bills” where search can find it. The App Store also gives you a 30-character subtitle under the name, so there you can keep the name short and explain in the subtitle.²

Google is strict about the title. No emojis, no ALL CAPS unless your brand is written that way, and nothing about ranking or price. Put “#1” or “free for a limited time” in it and you're asking for your listing to be pulled.⁴

Think about the words your users say out loud. People here search for “POS”, “airtime”, “data”, “transfer”, “ajo”, “thrift”, “bus ticket Lagos”. Very few type “fintech platform”. Ask five people who'd use your app what they'd type to find it, and write down their exact words, spelling and all.

Then type them into the Play Store search box and see what it suggests, and which apps come up.

The App Store has a separate keyword box, 100 characters long. Commas between words, no spaces after them. Apple says not to waste it on plurals of words already in there, on the word “app”, or on your category's name.² Play has no such box. Your words go in the title and descriptions, written as normal sentences, and Google can suspend an app that crams in the same keyword over and over.^{3, 4}

Google asks for no emojis, no capitals for emphasis and no “download now” in the short description.¹ Write one sentence about who it's for and what they get. “Split rent, food and fuel with friends, and see who still owes you” does far more than “The best way to manage your money”.

The full description can run to 4,000 characters,³ but most people never open it. Apple suggests a short paragraph, then a short list of the main features.² Open with the problem in your user's words. Then answer what people here ask before they download. Does it work with my bank? Will it eat my data? Do I have to pay? Can I use it when the network is bad?

Leave out reviews you made up or can't put a name to. Google doesn't allow anonymous testimonials in the description, so “Best app ever!! - Tunde” has to go.⁴

Your screenshots do most of the work. Apple says the first one to three can show in search results when you have no preview video, so they need to show the point of the app at a glance.² Google lets you add up to eight per device type. To be considered for its recommendations, an app needs at least four, at 1080 pixels or more.¹

Give each screenshot one idea: a real screen from the app with a short caption above it. Google asks that the caption take up no more than a fifth of the image.¹ Use naira amounts and Nigerian names in your demo data. A screen showing “₦12,500 for Sunday rice, Chioma paid” feels made for the person looking at it. One full of dollar signs and “John Doe” feels like a template.

Your strongest screen goes first.

Google needs a 512 by 512 pixel icon and a 1024 by 500 feature graphic before you can publish.¹ Keep the icon simple enough to read when it's the size of a fingernail on a crowded home screen.

A video is optional for apps on both stores. If you make one, show the app working straight away, because both stores may play it with the sound off.^{1, 2} Apple allows up to three previews, each up to 30 seconds long.²

Open your listing on a mid-range Android phone, on mobile data. Is the name cut off? Can you read the captions? Do the screenshots load on a weak signal, or do people stare at grey boxes?

After launch, change one thing at a time, then give it two weeks before you touch the next. On the App Store you can edit the promotional text, up to 170 characters, whenever you like without sending a new version for review.² Use it for news, like a new feature or support for another bank.

Reply to reviews too, the angry ones most of all. People read them before they install.

On Prow: Posting your app on Prow is free, and you can add its App Store and Google Play links to your project page. If you later list it for sale, you prove it's yours through the store listing itself. For Google Play, Prow emails a code to the support email on your listing. For the App Store, you paste a line into your Promotional Text, which goes live without a review. So keep that support email one you actually read.

• The name is your brand plus what it does, 30 characters at most.
• The short description is one sentence on who it's for and what they get.
• Search words taken from your users' mouths, not your pitch deck.
• Screenshot one shows the main job, with naira and Nigerian names in it.
• Title free of emojis, capitals, "#1" and prices.
• Tested on a cheap Android phone on mobile data.