Mallow's Blog

Configuring a product page of an App in iOS 11

Creating a great app is just the beginning in iOS Platform, it has to travel a mile to get placed in the app store. Your app has to pass the Apple review to get uploaded in the App store. You need to provide metadata in iTunes Connect to configure the product page of your app in App store. In iOS 11 Apple completely redesigned the iOS App Store to showcase your work with additional app previews, localisation and new text fields. We can use these redesigned features to increase user attention and the number of downloads of your app. Each and every element is important in your app’s product page, which has the power to boost the number of downloads. Let’s see each element one by one,

App name:

This is first most important element in your product page. This is the display name of your app. It should simple to spell, unique and it should not be greater than 30 characters. This name will appear on each device and each version of your app like Apple TV, iOS and iPad in the app store.

Subtitle:

This will be present in a place just below your app name, you can use this for mentioning an important feature of your app or typical use of your app. You can change the subtitle when releasing a new version of the app. It also should not exceed 30 characters.

 

Icon:

We can use this element mainly to gain the user attention and this will used as a symbol to convey the quality and purpose of your app. You can have a simple and more meaningful icon. To know more about human interface guidelines for app icon design, refer following link https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/overview/design-principles

App preview:

App preview is a small video which will demonstrate the app features, functionality and UI with its flow. This will give an overview of your app’s important features. The maximum limit of the app preview video is 30 sec. Apple recommends using the footage which is taken in an actual device to get the feel of your app. We can upload up to 3 app preview videos in any order from iOS 11, this will help us to provide video for localisation which your app supports. In your product page, app preview will be placed at first followed by description and screenshots.

In iOS 11 the app preview video will play automatically when it makes visible to the user in the screen without audio. If the user wants to see the preview with audio they can click the app preview and play it on a big screen.

In iOS 10.3 and below, the first preview only will be shown to the user. So prioritise the order of your app preview accordingly.  

Screenshots:

Apart from app preview videos, you can post your app’s screenshot to explain more about your app. Make your screenshots clear and informative to your user, since the screenshots will be placed first if you fail to provide the app preview video. You can post up to 5 screenshots on the product page.

Description:

Here you can give a complete description of your app. Just start with significant features of your app to get the user attention. You have to release a new version if you want to update your app’s description, so be careful when giving the description of your app.

Promotional text:

If you want to update some short news about your app frequently without releasing a new version, then this element will perfectly suit you. The promotional text appears on the top of the description text and it is limited to 170 characters. For example, you can give a text about upcoming features in next version, greeting texts, limited time sales, etc.. in your app.

Keywords:

Keywords will help the user to find your app when they are trying to search it. So use simple and relevant keywords words to your app. The keywords are limited to 100 characters and each keyword will be separated by a comma(,). To accommodate your keywords within the limit we can follow apple’s suggestion to provide keywords,

  • Don’t use plurals of words that you’ve already included in the singular form since the maximum limit is 100 characters.
  • Don’t use the name of category or name of the app.
  • Don’t duplicate keywords.

The improper keywords may lead to rejecting your app in review process, the followings are the don’ts when providing metadata for keyword,

  • Unauthorised use of trademarked terms, celebrity names, and other protected words and phrases
  • Terms that are not relevant to the app
  • Competitor app names
  • Irrelevant, inappropriate, offensive, or objectionable terms

In-app purchase:

Users can view and start an in-app purchase from your product page. Subscriptions and in-app purchases are shown on separate sections on your product page, and you can showcase up to 20 total items across both. Each item has its own display name, promotional image, and description. In-app purchases can also appear in search results and be featured on the Today, Games, and Apps tabs.

Your app must support the new SKPaymentTransactionObserver method to make in-app purchases available on the App Store. You can list in-app purchases in any order on your product page to help drive awareness for a specific content. If the users don’t have your app installed on their device when they make an in-app purchase, they will be prompted to download or purchase the app to complete the transaction.

What’s new:

In what’s new section you can add a short note about the new features and updates in the new version of your app. This will play a major role when you are releasing updated version of your app, to increase user adaptability of the new version of your app.

Rating and Review:

You can respond to your customer’s review by pointing directly to their feedback or review using iTunes connect. If you reply to their review, it will be notified to the user and he/she can edit their review at any time, the point is, user’s latest review will be shown on the product page.

The ratings of the app will be shown for all the version in of your app, so if you want you can reset the rating of your app at when releasing a new version.

NOTE: Apple recommends to reset ratings at when you are releasing major feature in the updated version, otherwise it will affect users attention to download your app.

 

Categories:

You can select up to two categories for your app. The first(Primary) Category is very important since your app will be sorted under primary category order when the user searches by category and filter based on category while searching for an app.

The primary category also decides whether your app should appear in apps tab or games tab in the App store in iOS 11.

These are the elements available in your app store product page. Apple completely redesigned the app store in iOS 11, some of the elements available only in iOS 11, so you don’t need to provide two metadata for iOS 11 and its earlier version. You need to provide only one metadata, rest will be handled by the App store.

 


Karthick S,
Junior iOS Developer,
Mallow Technologies.

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *