How to promote an iOS app with App Store Connect’s own tools

With a pre-order, Apple publishes a limited version of your product page and people can order the app before it is released. On release day it downloads automatically onto their devices and they get a notification. A brand-new app can set a release date 2 to 180 days after the pre-order goes live, and an existing app entering a new region 2 to 365 days after; you can also pick different regions and dates. Pre-orders can appear in search results, and on the Today, Games and Apps tabs if the app is being featured. The Android side of the same plan is pre-registration, covered in how to promote an app on Google Play.

You can publish up to 70 custom product pages for iPhone and iPad, each with its own screenshots, promotional text and app previews, and each with a unique URL. That URL is the useful part for promotion: a post for students can link to a page that shows the app doing student things. You can also assign keywords to a custom page, so it appears in search results for those keywords instead of your default page, as long as each keyword combination belongs to a single page and matches its intent. A custom page can carry a deep link into a specific place in your app, supported from iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, and its metadata goes to review separately from an app update. Apple also lets you use these pages in Apple Ads campaigns.

Product page optimization tests alternate app icons, screenshots and app previews, called treatments, against your original product page, including a pre-order page. You can test up to three treatments and choose what share of visitors, picked at random, see a treatment instead of the original; people on iOS and iPadOS 15 or later keep seeing the same treatment for the whole test, and results show in App Analytics. A test runs for up to 90 days or until you stop it, and App Store Connect estimates how long it needs to reach the improvement you are looking for. If you test an alternate icon, it also appears on the device of people who download the app. For screenshot sizes and rules, see screenshot sizes.

In-App Events are timely things happening inside your app, such as a challenge, a premiere or seasonal content. They can appear on the Today, Games and Apps tabs, in search results and on your product page, and you submit them without a new app version. An app can have up to 10 events published at a time and up to 15 approved in App Store Connect. Each event can last up to 31 days and be promoted up to 14 days before it starts, and you can limit it to certain regions. An event is also a good reason for a featuring nomination; see how to get featured.

Apple lets you give press and influencers early access with promo codes set up in App Store Connect: up to 100 per version of your app, per platform, and up to 100 per in-app purchase. For in-app purchases and subscriptions there are also offer codes, which give a free or discounted purchase for a limited time and can be shared online or offline, for example at an event. Giving someone access is fine; asking them for a rating in return is not, as covered in how to get more app reviews.

App Store Connect tools work on people who already reached your product page; the other half is getting them there, and a custom product page URL is a good link to use when you do. Censuus ranks apps by the real visit traffic they draw: adding your app is free on the submit page, 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.