How to market an education app: schools, parents and learners

Through Apple School Manager. Apple says all apps on the App Store are automatically available for volume purchase, for the same price, in Apple Business and Apple School Manager, which is where businesses and educational institutions download apps for distribution in bulk. You do not need a separate listing: in App Store Connect, under Pricing and Availability, the app’s distribution method is Public. To make a paid app more attractive to schools, App Store Connect has a checkbox, “Offer a reduced price on Apple School Manager for volume purchases”. With it, the app is available at 50% of its listed price for purchases of 20 or more units by educational institutions. Once approved, the app appears in the Apps and Books section of Apple School Manager. If you build an app for one school or district only, Apple’s private distribution lets you name the organisations that can see it, but Apple notes that option is only available before the app is approved.

Apple announced this at WWDC26 in the session “Offer subscriptions to groups and organizations”. It describes two new paths for auto-renewable subscriptions that use StoreKit 2. With volume purchasing, a business or school buys subscription seats inside Apple Business or Apple School Manager and assigns them with its device management service. With group purchases, a subscriber buys several seats inside your app and shares an invite link; whoever accepts gets a seat. Apple says selling to groups is on by default for most StoreKit 2 subscriptions, off by default for those with Family Sharing, and that you can make a subscription available only on Apple School Manager, with pricing for verified educational institutions. Every seat is sold at your normal price unless you set volume pricing, with up to 5 price bands. Check App Store Connect for when these options reach your account. For subscription pricing and offers in general, see how to market a subscription app.

It is Google Play’s editorial programme for children’s apps, in which teachers and children’s education and media specialists recommend apps for kids. Google says Teacher Approved apps are eligible to appear and be featured on the Kids tab on Google Play, display the Teacher Approved badge, and get a section on their details page showing what makes the app stand out. Reviewers rate design, appeal, enrichment, age appropriateness, and how ads, in-app purchases and cross-promotion affect the experience for a child under 13; all content must suit the youngest target age group. Apps that comply with Google Play’s Families policies can opt in to be rated, though Google does not guarantee inclusion. It applies only if children are part of your audience, and then the store’s rules for kids apps apply too; see how to market a kids app. An app for adults, such as exam preparation or most language courses, is marketed like any other app.

Education has a calendar: the start of the school year, exam season, the new year for language learners. On the App Store, an in-app event such as an exam-prep challenge or a live class can appear in search and on your product page, and custom product pages let you show one set of screenshots to people learning Spanish and another to people learning Japanese, each with its own URL for ads and links. Language apps have an extra reason to localize the store listing: people often search in their own language for the language they want to learn. For the keyword field and what it may contain, see App Store keywords.

Censuus ranks apps by the visits they draw and by sponsorship on the web, and learning apps have their own category at education. Adding your app is free on the List my app form, and it can rise on the visits it earns. Sponsorship raises placement and adds a followed link to your website; details are on the sponsor page. For more places to list an app, see our checked list of free app promotion sites. We do not promise downloads or store rankings.