Promotional text

What is App Store promotional text?

Promotional text is the 170-character text block Apple displays at the top of the App Store description, above the "More" expandable section. Unlike the rest of the metadata, promotional text updates without a new binary submission: a developer can change it in App Store Connect and the change goes live within hours.

This makes promotional text the right surface for time-bound campaigns: a new version launch announcement, a seasonal promotion, a limited-time pricing change, a feature spotlight. Many teams refresh promotional text weekly or monthly while leaving the underlying description stable.

What's the limitation of promotional text?

Promotional text is NOT indexed for App Store search. Keywords in promotional text don't affect ranking; the search indexable surfaces are app name, subtitle, and the 100-character keyword field. Promotional text is purely a conversion surface, not an ASO surface.

This makes it different from the description in another way: while the description is also not search-indexed, the description does affect App Store Recommendations (Apple's "You might also like" algorithm). Promotional text doesn't seem to affect recommendations either.

How is promotional text used effectively?

Common patterns: lead with the most recent meaningful change ("New: dark mode and Apple Watch sync"), highlight social proof ("Featured in App Store: Best of 2024"), or surface a time-bound CTA ("50% off through Sunday"). The 170-character limit forces concision; most effective promotional text is one tight sentence plus a short follow-up.