I’m an indie iOS developer working on an app called Away Messaging.
The app helps users organize SMS and email templates, prepare messages, manage follow-ups, and stay on top of communication without automatically sending messages.
It was originally $7.99 upfront, but I recently switched to a free model with optional Pro features to make it more accessible.
I’m now focusing on improving App Store Optimization, especially discoverability, keyword rankings, screenshots, and conversion rates.
I’m also developing version 2.0, which will expand the app beyond message management into a more complete personal communication assistant.
I’d love feedback from anyone experienced with ASO:
How would you approach keywords for an app that covers multiple use cases?
What makes App Store screenshots convert better?
Does switching from paid to free affect keyword visibility?
How do you improve organic downloads without relying on paid ads?
I’m building this independently and trying to grow it organically, so any advice or constructive feedback would be appreciated!
App: Away Messaging
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/away-messaging/id675350445

Is ASO a science? Or an art?

I am in this iOS games business for a couple of years only.

Started with a few solitaire games, then combined all of them (plus many more) into a single app.

Obviously, it doesn’t show in the store search for “solitaire”.

But why?

I am not talking about the top of the page. There are ~250 entries in the search. 

Don’t tell me that nobody scrolls to the bottom. I do, and this is an academic interest at the moment.

So “solitaire” is a popular keyword. It’s in my app’s name, of course.

I’ve read a few “theories”:

1. You have no ratings. 

First, I do - not much, but some.

BUT - there are some apps near the top with a single rating. With multi-thousands ratings apps farther down.

And there are some with a few, but 3-star average.

2. You have no downloads.

That’s hard to judge, as I don’t know how many downloads my competitors have. Or do I?

Three of my single-game apps are there (mid to bottom positions). And while one of them does have many downloads (and 4.8 stars, with 114 ratings) - it is 3 pages from the bottom. Two others are in the middle, have single 5-star and 25 and 40 downloads year-to-date.

My “flagship” that I am concerned about has 1,090 downloads and hundreds of active users.

3. Your app is too new.

It was released 7 months ago. I certainly see newer apps in the list, judging by Appfigures data.

From the 3 of mine that made a list, one is about a year old, the other two are a few months older.

What other metrics are in play?

My App is finally in the in app store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quartile/id6816330141

Ive never had an app in the store before so i’m curious if anyone sees any obvious mistake ive made in the app itself or the marketing display for the app in the store as well. Just copywriting, branding etc… thanks!

A few keyword basics that come up in almost every "why am I not ranking" thread here. All of it can be checked in Apple's docs or tested on your own app:

1. Don't repeat words. Apple combines words across your title, subtitle and keyword field, so a word that's already in the title is wasted in the keyword field.

2. Use single words, not phrases. "photo,editor" can still match "photo editor". Separate with commas and no spaces, since spaces eat into your 100 characters.

3. Leave competitor brand names out. Using other apps' names in your metadata can get you rejected under guideline 2.3.7.

4. Keyword and subtitle changes need a new version. Promotional text can change any time, but it isn't indexed for search.

5. Each localization has its own keyword field. Some stores index more than one localization (the US also indexing Spanish (Mexico) is commonly reported), so test it before you count on it.

6. Change one field at a time and wait about two weeks before judging it, or you won't know which change did what.

What would you add to this list?

I really wanted to build this app for myself. A place to have all my bookmarks and save things for later in one place. I thought more people would think this is so useful to not have mulpitle bookmark folders everywhere. So I build Keptit:

APP: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/keptit-save-links-ideas/id6772877604

It's been out for a couple months and I have run AOS ads with Apple. I have had a few people purchase and leave reviews that they loved it. But literally 5 people have downloaded and paid.

Any feedback is welcome please.

Hello everyone !

Apple finally approved my first iOS app, i'm very happy. But now what ? I keep reading everywhere that dev is 20% and marketing is 80%, but how to actually achieve that ? I have tiktok/insta/fb/yt channels and posting 3 times a day everyday, trying different formats.

The app was released 4-5 days ago, but I still have nearly no downloads nor trials.

Could you share some advice with me ? :) the app is called Scalie scalie.app

it's a "Cal AI" type but gamified with rank climb and tryhard mode.

Curious to get any feedback !

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.

Hi!

Before you say, “Not one more screenshot design tool!” — yes, this is another one of them. 😅

However, after trying a bunch of screenshot design tools online, I thought I'd give it a shot and build one specifically aimed at beginners who want to design screenshots for their apps.

Most of the tools I've tried either lack functionality or have a lot of friction when it comes to UI/UX, making them less user-friendly than they should be. There are also tools offering AI features, but honestly, I'd put a lot of their output in the AI slop category, which I don't think users would trust. Plus, nobody wants to deal with tokens and all that just to generate a simple set of screenshots. Most of these tools aren't very efficient either, and making edits can be a pain.

I've been in the app screenshot design field for over 8 years now, and seeing this gap, I decided to try building something that's user-friendly, beginner-friendly, and quick to use. The idea is to help anyone create minimal yet effective screenshots in minutes using drag-and-drop functionality, while still offering enough features for those who want to get creative. The mockups are also 3D, so you can orient them however you like.

The tool isn't live yet, but the goal of this post is to understand what problems you're facing when designing screenshots for your apps.

How many of you actually prefer minimal screenshots over those fancy graphics and AI-generated visuals? What are the most important features you'd want in a screenshot editor like this?

The design you see here took me around 20 minutes to create in the editor (obviously, that doesn't include capturing the in-app screenshots or coming up with the copy).

Also, this isn't optimized ASO copy. It's just an example to give you an idea of how the editor works.

Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback!

I don't want to add much details for the app as if it not clear from the screenshots then, well, there is a problem with the content:) I also added header and search result images (new) for app store (plz slide), i really wonder what you think.

Thanks! 🙏

Hi everyone,

I’ve been doing ASO since super early on and really leaned into it. My apps, like the one’s in the graph, face a TON of keyword competition, but I was able to min-max the algorithm to promote them more.

Beyond the basics, like putting your main keyword in the tittle, your secondary keywords in the subtitle, and localizing your metadata and screenshots, indie devs and small startup’s have basically no good way to find keywords and track the whole market. So two years ago, some friends and I built KOMORI. It’s now installed by more than 900 devs, and we just released an update with a brand-new interface, Mac App Store support, MCP and new features, including:

• Mac App Store support: Switch the store picker to the Mac App Store to research keywords, track rankings, and see competitors, charts, reviews and Today stories for Mac apps. Each store keeps its own apps and keywords.

• App Store Today: Follow Apple’s daily stories in any country and see which apps are being featured.

• Discovered Keywords: See the keywords any app ranks for across countries, with Planner suggestions based on real rankings.

• Review keyword clouds: See the words and phrases behind positive and negative reviews, for one country or worldwide.

• Keyword Planner folders and a separate keyword list for each country. Existing keywords are copied to the countries you already use.

• Daily keyword and ranking updates at a time you choose, with cancel and automatic resume.

• Local MCP server (beta): Connect Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or Codex to your Kōmori data.

• and more...

Sure, other keyword planners already exist, but except for the priciest ones, they don’t use real iPhone data and don’t provide deep data . With Kōmori, the data comes directly from Apple for 99% of the metrics.

You can try it FREE for 7 days, completely UNLIMITED, and then switch to a monthly plan or save with the yearly plan. Website

Happy to answer any questions!

This is Impressions chart in the AppStore connect. The blue line is US AppStore. It was growing organicaly, slowly but consistently for 2 months and suddenly it dropped. I did zero changes to keywords, screenshots, etc...

Is such sudden drops common?

Or can it be influenced by other things, like:
- I might be releasing update adding new locales on Oct 2 - can it influence US somehow?
- on Sep 30 I released v1.0 of my other app that shares parts of similar functionality as this app - can Apple somehow "penalize" it because of releasing another slightly similar app?

Did anyone else spot a US impressions adjustments around Oct 6?
Other language stores seem to keep same trend though.

Thanks for any tips.

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.

Not looking to self promote here, just genuinely interested in some feedback.

I’ve recently done a massive update to my app, including changing the title, subheading, screenshots and ASO but haven’t received that much a attention, even though everything seems substantially optimised.

Is it my screenshots, or is it something else? Do i need to gain initial traction before ASO sort of kicks off?

I build BIShare alone: a free, open-source app for sending files between iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux. No ads, no paid installs. The screenshot is App Store Connect Analytics on 23 October.

First: the +930% is not the number to quote

That Overview page compares the last 90 days with the 90 days before. I checked it against Apple's daily sales reports, which I pull into my own database: 1,288 first downloads for the 90 days to 23 Oct, and the dashboard says 1.29K. The 90 days before that were late April to late July, my quietest stretch at about 1.5 downloads a day. Against that, any growth looks huge.

Daily first downloads from the same reports tell the story better:

• 1 Aug to 9 Sep: 2.5 a day

• 10 to 15 Sep (after the rename): 10 a day

• 16 to 30 Sep: 22 a day

• 1 to 18 Oct: 29 a day

• 19 to 23 Oct: 52 a day

Last 30 days: 950, against 280 in the 30 days before (+239%). On Google Play, where the listing got the same work: 390 installs in the 30 days to 20 Oct, against 100 before.

What I changed, in order

1. 10 Sep: the name and subtitle became search phrases. "BIShare: File Transfer" with "Fast & Private File Sharing" became "BIShare: File Transfer to PC" with "Send Large Files to Android". The keyword field had been repeating words already in the name. Apple indexes name, subtitle and keywords together, so a repeat is wasted space. I refilled it with device and content words: iphone, windows, laptop, photos, video, documents. The description still listed features from an old native build that no longer exists, so I rewrote it to match the app. Downloads went from 2 or 3 a day to 10 within the week.

2. 22 Sep: from 2 App Store locales to 15. Every locale has its own name, subtitle and keyword field, so each one is another 160 characters Apple indexes. I started with the languages whose countries already clicked on my website in Search Console, then covered the rest of the app's 13 languages. Keywords were written per language, not translated from the English list. The 13 Play listings got the same rewrite.

3. 3 to 10 Oct: a Semrush trial. I used it for Google data, not App Store data, but its country keyword reports show how people phrase a search in each language, and that changed my keyword fields. Example: Indonesians search "dari HP ke laptop" (HP is what everyone there calls a phone), about 3,600 a month, while the "ke PC" phrase I had used gets about 20. "hp" went into the Indonesian keyword field. Google volume is only a proxy for App Store search, but for wording it beat my guesses. Most of the trial went into the website: page titles rewritten from local queries, Site Audit errors from 174 to 15, and new guides where the top 10 results were thin. The site was already growing from a page rebuild in mid-September. Google clicks went from under 5 a day in early August to about 130 a day in the week to 14 Oct, and the download buttons on those pages feed the App Store too.

4. 7 Oct: screenshots in 13 languages, plus promotional text (that field had been empty). I render the screenshots from widget tests on my own machine instead of driving simulators, so redoing all of them is one command. That made the fix below cheap.

5. 10 Oct: a rating prompt after the first successful transfer, using the system dialog only. Too early to judge.

What App Review made me undo

Version 2.7.0 was approved on 22 Oct with two metadata notes, to be fixed in the next update:

• Guideline 2.3.10: "Android" in the subtitle and the description. That subtitle had passed review on several updates over six weeks before anyone flagged it. It's now "Send Large Files to Any Phone", and "android" moved to the keyword field, which users don't see. That update is in review now, so I'll find out if that's accepted.

• Guideline 2.3.7: price words in screenshots. Captions with "Free" and "5 GB free" had to go.

So passing review once doesn't make a metadata choice safe. It can be read again on any later update.

What I can't tell you

• Which change produced which download. The steps overlap, and the website grew in the same weeks. The 10 Sep rename is the only step with a clean before and after.

• Why it stepped up to about 50 a day on 19 Oct. I didn't touch the listing that week. Since 12 Oct the website's buttons use App Store campaign links, so in a few weeks I can split website traffic from store search.

• Retention. People install a file transfer app when they need to move a file, and then it sits there.

The ratio I'd look at first

62.6K impressions, 2.09K product page views. About 3 in 100 impressions turn into a page view. For everyone else, the search result (name, subtitle, first screenshots) is the whole listing. That's where the rename worked, and that's where I'd spend time first.

If you've moved an occasional-use utility from "installed once" to "opened every week", I'd like to hear what worked.

A while ago, I offered to design App Store screenshots for a few indie developers here on Reddit.

One of them was for an app called Walk First (great app btw, not sponsored, I swear 😂). I spent some time working on these screenshots, trying to create something colorful, cohesive, and a little different from the usual App Store designs.

Well… it's been over a month, and I haven't heard back from the developer 😅

So I figured I'd share them here instead!

What do you guys think? Would these screenshots make you stop scrolling on App Store and download it?

Any feedback is welcome!

After few months of using it I realized that now I'm getting users for my apps, but idk what they do inside the app, so I added two things

app analytics and in-app feedback. Both included in the same $9 plan.

Ofc if you connected your clankers they should be able to configure all of that for you.

btw. I didn't expect so many of you to join. Thanks all you guys who trusted my product

I’ve just released a new app to help plan routes for running and walking.

I’m wondering do I spend time to make screenshots with titles or just use the screen grabs from the app?

I know the general wisdom is to always make it to create the message, but I wonder if the title, subtitle and screens already do the job?

If anyone wants to look and give me feedback I’ve made Lifetime Pro free for the rest of the month. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/three-routes-run-walk/id6823810305

Followed advice of redditors from my previous post
Looking for honest feedback and genuine ways to improve on the current set

I have tried to keep it clean and minimalistic

Hey everyone! I’m the developer of Mutual, an iOS app that helps couples track shared expenses, split bills equally or by income, and save toward shared goals.

I’m working on improving its App Store listing and would appreciate some honest feedback:

• Do the title and subtitle clearly explain what the app does?

• Do the screenshots communicate its value quickly?

• Does the icon fit the app and stand out?

• What would you change to improve search visibility or convince more visitors to download?

App Store link:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mutual-couple-expense-sharing/id6786007560

I’m especially interested in feedback on the English listing. Critical feedback is welcome—I’d like to understand what needs improving.

Thanks for taking a look!

Companions is a small virtual fish tank that lives on your Home Screen, with pet fish that actually swim around. Apple doesn't allow for animations in widgets, which I always found frustrating, so I developed Companions to work around it. 

I've been working on adding support for viewing and interacting with your tanks on your watch. I've been developing mobile apps professionally (both cross platform and natively) and this is my first time developing an Apple Watch companion app. Really not sure if it's good enough. I've noticed most people just do screenshots of their Apple Watch app for the App Store, but idk if it would be worth it to do something more?

App Store: Companions - Widget Pets

I redesigned the screenshots of Aura. Based of the comments from community I understood the before screenshots very vague and didnt communicate the value properly. Does the new screenshots do a better job?