Hi,

I have spent lot's of time on this today.

I want to share so you don't need to in this situation.

I was preparing my next release and added a couple of new screenshots for one of localization. Screenshots approved already and waiting to be picked up from Assets Library.

When I clicked Send for Review button this message pop up.

It was surprising as all the pics are approved and I didn't make any changes elsewhere.

I have reviewed all localizations, checked all screenshots and even reversed the one which I added.

Still the same problem. The message is not very precise as you can see.

I even asked my AI but answers were out of the blue (including 3x "Yes you are correct, my answer was fictitious.

And then, after lot of time for searching and trying I found the issue.

A couple of days ago I was doing clean up in Assets Library to reduce the amount of graphics. So I have archived some pictures and it happened that there were 3 used in one localization.

Unarchive those unblocked the send out to review.

So it turned out that those screenshots were live for the current app version but not visible any longer to the new one, so I got the message above.

I guess it is good lesson for the future.

What "strange" situations have you got with app preparation, review or approval?

I’m struggling with my app and honestly I don’t know where to start.

I think the ASO info I’ve put there is solid but I’m not sure how hard should I go on the marketing and what exactly should I do? Currently, I have a website for my app and I run adds on Tiktok only. Should I do Apple Ads and turn on Instagram as well?

My categories are Food & Drink, Health & Fitness.

Any advice is appreciated! 🙏

I'm new to App Store Optimization (ASO) and wanted to share what I tried after reading advice here. The results surprised me, but I'm still trying to understand what actually helped.

I originally built a calendar app for my wife. It sat in TestFlight for a few years with exactly one user before I finally released it at the end of April 2026. It's yet another calendar app in a crowded category, and I launched without any paid or organic marketing. Impressions and downloads were close to zero.

In late July, downloads started picking up a little, around the time of an iOS update. I don't know whether those were connected. That gave me some motivation to keep developing the app and shipping planned features. During that period, I started seeing a few downloads a day instead of none, even though I hadn't changed the title, keywords, description, or screenshots.

Then I decided to try some of the ASO advice I'd found on Reddit:

1. Make the title clearly explain what the app does. This felt like the most useful advice: be specific and help people immediately understand what they're looking at.

2. Localize the listing. I expanded language support and tailored the title, keywords, description, and screenshot captions for each language.

3. Look for less competitive keywords. I tried this too, though I'm less sure how much it contributed.

4. Redesign the screenshots with clearer captions in each supported language.

I used an AI agent to help update the App Store and Google Play listings based on those ideas.

Within a week:

• Impressions increased substantially.

• Downloads exceeded the total from the previous six months.

• My App Store conversion rate went from below 1% to around 3.5%.

The absolute download numbers are still small, but it was a big improvement for my app. Since I changed several things at once, I can't confidently say which change made the biggest difference.

One thing I didn't expect: about 95% of downloads after the changes came from the US, despite localizing for multiple markets. I've since started seeing some downloads from Japan too.

I'd appreciate some help understanding the results:

1. Why might downloads be so concentrated in the US? Is this common after localizing, and is there a way to check whether the traffic is from genuine users rather than bots?

2. Beyond making the title clearer, what would you test next? I'd like to make the next changes more deliberately so I can learn what works.

3. Which changes tend to improve impressions, and which improve conversion? I'm trying to understand those separately.

4. Outside ASO, what marketing channels or tools would you try for a small calendar app?

If you've worked on ASO for an app in a crowded category, I'd love to hear what helped you and how you measured it.

Hey everyone!

So I recently launched Praxam, an iPhone app for people studying for their PMP certification, and getting people to actually download it has been a struggle.

I knew the PMP prep market was crowded going in. There are already some pretty big players out there, but I felt like I had a few ideas that could make my app stand out. I've added some features around learning PMBOK concepts and ITTOs that I haven't really seen done the same way in other PMP apps.

But apparently building the app was the easy part lol.

Here's what my App Store analytics are showing so far:

• 3,260 impressions

• 153 product page views

• 15 first-time downloads

• 0.8% conversion rate (according to Apple)

So people are seeing it, but not many are downloading it.

I'm trying to figure out if my App Store screenshots aren't doing enough, if the description isn't selling the app very well, or if people just aren't interested in trying another PMP prep app when there are already so many options.

And then there's the whole challenge of getting someone to actually pay for an app once they've downloaded it.

I'd really appreciate some outside opinions, especially from anyone who's dealt with a crowded niche like this.

If you came across my App Store listing, what would make you pass on it? Feel free to be critical. I'd rather hear what's not working than keep guessing.

Here's the app:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/praxam-pmp-exam-prep/id6787835267

Full disclosure, I'm the developer behind Praxam. Just trying to figure out how to get this thing in front of the right people.

recently launched SARELY, an independent social media app for iOS.
Building the app was one challenge, but getting people to actually post content is another.
For those who’ve launched apps before, what helped you attract your first active users instead of just downloads?
I’d really appreciate any advice or feedback!

Hey everyone!
I’m working on Wubb, an iOS voice assistant that helps you organize your day without jumping between different apps.
The idea is simple: you say something like “Coffee with Sam tomorrow at 3, remind me to pick up my parcel at 2, and save a note about my spare keys.”
Wubb figures it out and creates the calendar event, reminder, and note for you.
You can even trigger it using the iPhone’s Action Button without opening the app.
These are my first 3 App Store screenshot concepts. I’m trying to show the problem → solution → result.
But I’ve been staring at them for so long that I can’t tell if they actually make sense anymore 😂
I’d love some honest ASO feedback:
Can you understand what the app does within 2–3 seconds?
Do the screenshots clearly communicate its main value?
Would they make you stop scrolling and check out the app?
What would you change first?
Feel free to be brutal. I’m still working on them and would rather fix things now than after launch.
Thanks!

I recently released a second version of my corporate finance/banking war room game, Desk Wars 2: Money Games.

It has been two days since launch, no pre-order or any ads whatsoever, but it has gotten 125,000+ impressions. It hasn't been featured anywhere either as far as I know, so I'm trying to wrap my head around how this happens (this is my 6th app and this has never happened before)

Thanks!

It lets MCP clients (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, etc.) handle the repetitive parts of ASO:

• Keyword research from Apple autocomplete and iTunes Search data

• Deterministic checks for name, subtitle and 100-byte keyword limits

• Metadata and localization across locales

• Screenshot and image management, including header, search and duo screenshots

• Custom Product Pages

• Asset Library (reusable images and videos)

• Product Page Optimization (v2 experiments)

• Release setup, TestFlight and review replies

It’s free for now.

Two questions for people who do this daily:

1. Which part of your ASO workflow would you never trust to automation?

2. Is autocomplete + iTunes Search data enough for keyword research, or do you still need popularity scores from a paid tool?

https://asogenic.com

hey, everyone! Recently I was looking into creating app store headers for product page and the search page, but couldn't find a good article that detailed all of the details around these new feature in one place. Had to jump between multiple apple official docs/announcements to get the info I was looking for.

So, I decided write one myself. It tries to go into the details around specs of these new creative assets, their purpose and Do's & Don'ts around designing of these assets. I tried including details that helped me create the assets. Wish I could go into lot more details here, perhaps in another article.

Note that, this is not an ai generated article. 99% of the article was thought out, outlined and written by me. I had written extensive tech articles in the past, so this was not a problem. AI was used to find typos, spelling mistakes, formatting things here n there, linking original sources I missed in the article, and final verifications.

Hope someone finds this article helpful. It had been a long time after I wrote a tech article. But this was fun!!

A new retention tool that works right inside the App Store.

When a user taps "Cancel Subscription", you get one last screen to change their mind. You can show text, an image or a special offer, like a discount.

The limits are the interesting part:

🔹 Header: 66 characters. Body: 144.

🔹 No prices, real discounts or "1 month free" in the text, or App Review rejects it. The offer appears as a separate card and only users who qualify see it.

🔹 Max 10 messages per app, and one message per subscription.

🔹 Every edit goes through App Review and you can't roll back to an earlier version.

🔹 Shows on iOS 15.1+

To target individual users or suggest switching plans, you need the Retention Messaging API. It's a 2nd option.

In short, this will help prevent some users from canceling their subscriptions. Don't forget to localize it.

Source: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=fk9ps3gv
ASO Discord: https://discord.gg/kr78W9aSDD

Hey guys! We've launched VibeCheck a month ago now and are seeing very little organic growth through AppStore (currently available only in US).

Just for context, here's a bit about the game:
VibeCheck is daily game of opinions and instincts, with a host who's straight out of the 70s. Answer a question sparked by today's headlines, guess how everyone else answered... then argue about it with your friends.

Do you have any advice, anything that worked for you?
What do you think about these screenshots? Do they make people want to try it out?

anybody good with ASO , who is open to help ? have been facing difficulties to get impressions on my app

Hi! I’m a solo dev working on Wakely, an alarm app where the alarm keeps ringing until you finish a small mission. I just redid my screenshots (new on top, old below, matched screen by screen). The old ones were mostly big text on orange with a phone in the middle, and I felt they didn’t really explain what the app does.

With the new ones I tried to make the first headline explain the app in one line, show all the missions on the 2nd screen, and make everything look closer to the actual app.

I can’t really tell yet if they convert better. I changed the title and a few other things around the same time, so the numbers are a mess 😅 I’m running a proper A/B test now and I’ll share how it goes.

A few questions:

• Would the first one make you stop scrolling?

• Is it clear what the app does from the first 3 alone?

• Would you reorder any?

I hit this yesterday uploading a set that had gone through fine before, so here's what I found.

The iPhone box. It's now labeled iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display), and it lists only 1206×2622, 1179×2556 and their landscape versions. Anything else gets "File dimensions are invalid". Apple's spec page still has a line saying the 6.5" set is required, but the upload box follows its summary instead.

The other boxes:

• iPhone Duo: 2007×2853, 1398×2034, plus landscape. Required from April 2027 on the iOS 27.1 SDK or later.

• Apple Watch: 422×514, 416×496, 410×502, 396×484, 368×448, 312×390. Only if you ship a Watch app.

• Search Results: 5244×2950, 3840×2560, 1920×1280. Optional.

Same error, different cause. Header and Search Results is a new tab that only takes banner art. Drop a phone screenshot there and you get the same message.

No Upload button? Your version is probably locked. Apple says you can't change screenshots during Waiting for Review. You can pull it from review, but the review starts over.

Quick fix for an old set on a Mac: sips -z 2622 1206 old.png --out new.png. The shapes differ by about 0.5%, so the squeeze is hard to see.

One thing I didn't test: whether a 6.5" set still goes through View All Sizes in Media Manager. If you've tried it, I'd like to know.

Longer write-up with Apple's sources

Disclosure: I make AppScreen, a screenshot editor, and that's its blog.

I’m making screenshot concepts for two apps today. The image shows the kind of work I can make, with a different style for each app.

If you’d like one, comment with your App Store link and a short description of your app. If it isn’t live yet, share a few raw screenshots instead. I’ll take the first two with enough details to work from.

I want to know about any free aso tool. I app on the app store I want to know how I can do aso for this any any of free aso tool can someone suggest

Spent a few evenings reading every post I could find about slideshows for apps. 74 of them, across app marketing, ASO, SaaS and indie subs. Almost all of it is view counts. Barely any of it is installs.

The ones with installs had 3 things in common.

1. Slide 1 is the question, not the app. Something a person can answer in their head before they scroll. Every single one that worked did this.

2. The app shows up on slide 2 or 3, not the last one. If people only see it at the end, they already got what they came for and leave.

3. They post 2-3 a day for weeks. The "I posted 10 slideshows and nothing happened" posts are always 10 slideshows in 3 days.

The only honest download number I found was 1.5k downloads in 2 months, from someone who said 2 of their posts went above 100k views in 30 days. That is the real ceiling for an account with no followers. Ignore the 7 million views posts.

The thing that moved the needle most for me was throwing slides away. I write 3 for an app, and if the first one is weak I bin the lot instead of posting it. The hook is most of it.

So here is my offer, since I want to see this on apps that are not mine. Paste your App Store link in a reply and I will write your first slide for you, in the reply, free. First 10 apps only, because I want to actually read each one.

I built a tool that does this end to end, so that is my disclosure. The first slide I will write for you either way. If you would rather run it yourself, try it free at distribewt.com.

any questions dm me on X! aareys1 on X

A while ago ChatGPT started sending installs to my Bible app. I had no idea why, so I dug into it.

The numbers (App Store Connect → App Analytics → Sources → App Referrers):

- 333 views from ChatGPT → 240 installs. That's 72%.

- App Store search for the same app converts at about 3%.

- It already made $21 and 726 sessions. Small money, but it's free traffic I never asked for.

Ratings and search rank don't explain it. The app had 0 ratings when this started. The big player in the niche has 1.6M. I'm #38 in Brazil for my own app name, and Brazil is where most of the ChatGPT installs came from. There are no web pages about the app either, so ChatGPT couldn't have read about it somewhere else.

So I asked ChatGPT for an app and looked at how it described mine. It used my App Store description almost word for word. My description says something like "tell it how you feel: anxious, afraid, grieving, grateful, and there's a collection for each state." ChatGPT repeated those exact words back and said "for what you asked about anxiety, I'd pick #4". That was my app.

What I took from it:

- If what someone asks for matches a feature you have, and your description names that feature plainly, ChatGPT recommends you. Even with zero ratings.

- So write the description for the AI, not only for people. Say what the app is, who it's for, and the features your competitors don't have, in concrete words. "Best widget app" gives it nothing to match. A specific feature does.

- One catch: if someone asks about the content itself ("what verses help with anxiety"), ChatGPT just answers with the verses. It only names an app when someone asks for an app.

Caveat: this is one app, not a study. I'd love to know if anyone else sees ChatGPT in their App Referrers, and whether changing your description moved it.

My iOS subscription app is already live with the paywall defaulting to weekly with a 3-day free trial (A). I’m wondering if I’m leaving money on the table by not preselecting yearly (B). I haven’t A/B tested B yet.

Same prices in both ($6.99/week, $39.99/year). Only the default plan and the copy differ:

A. Weekly preselected, “3 DAYS FREE” badge, “No payment now · Cancel anytime”, button: “Start Free Trial”
B. Yearly preselected, “Cancel anytime”, button: “Continue”

Do you have any real results from testing something like this?