Every developer wants to know how to get into phishing.
Today we will touch upon a topic that excites everyone involved in developing applications for iOS - getting into collections of stores in the Apple ecosystem. In September last year, a global update of the App Store took place , in connection with which developers had more chances to attract (benign) attention of the administration, win a new audience, increase profits, increase conversion and simply go into the trend.
First, let's define the concepts. On many foreign resources, article authors understand only one of its variations, the most inaccessible - “Application / Game of the Day”. In fact, Apple helps developers promote their products in several ways, each of which deserves attention.
1. Today tab
“Every visit to the App Store now starts with the Today tab, where you can learn all about games, applications and virtual culture,” Apple says on the official website. Now this tab resembles a news feed.
Every day, Today’s collection contains new cards compiled by Apple editors that span many games and applications. The number of cards varies depending on the localization: for example, there are 6 on the market in the US and 4 in Russia. Without a doubt, the Today tab is the best engine for promoting applications. Each card has its own declared theme, name, short story and a link to download the application.
The graph of the popularity of topics used for collections in the Today tab (US market)
According to a recently published study , the most popular category that App Store editors from the United States are particularly eager to promote are games (41%), which is not surprising. 8% are in the Education category, 5% each took Health and Fitness, Stickers and Productivity.
The Games and Education categories appeal to App Store editors more than others.
To get to the Today tab, the application must be really cool, trendy and just like the editor. According to rumors, a significant handicap is available to those about whom large resources have already written. But what will it give? According to official data from Apple, more than 70 million unique users from all over the world drop by the App Store daily. About 18-19 million users enter the American market daily. The results of getting into the collection can seriously overwhelm the developer. So, according to a study by Sensor Tower , phishing can increase the influx of new users by 800%.
Application positions before / after getting into the selection of the Today tab (free applications).
Accordingly, the influx of new users is guaranteed, as well as getting into the top 10 in its category. In theory, the appearance in the “Application of the Day” section should increase the number of downloads by 685%, and in the “Game of the Day” - by 802%.
2. Tab “Games” The
category of games, according to official figures, is the most popular in the App Store: the market presents more than half a million gaming applications. The collections of games and applications are updated once a week. To make it more convenient for users to search for really worthy projects in all their diversity, editors present recommended releases and updates, videos of the best titles, top charts and interesting articles.
Here you can get into different types of collections: from the choice of the editor with the placement of a large banner at the top of the page, to the top of paid and free applications at the very bottom of the page. Of course, the effect of all these types of promotion will also be different, and in places very unexpected. For example, our comrades from App Tractor mentioned in their article the possibility of falling downloads, recorded by the Sensor Tower service, after getting into the featured application with videos and screenshots.
3. “Applications” tab
In iOS 11, applications and games were placed in different tabs, which in itself gives more chances to light up. One of the Store Intelligence studies concerned this type of featured: according to their data, getting into the “Applications” tab can increase downloads by 141% (which shows a comparison of weekly periods for installations before / after featurening). By analogy with the “Games” section, the “Applications” tab contains large banners of favorites at the top of the page, below are collections of topics that are currently burning, and at the very bottom are the tops of free and paid projects.
After the release of iOS 11, a convenient form of communication became available for applying for phishing. It is necessary to fill in all the standard fields: the name of the application, the name of the company, whether there will be an application for a new application or for updating an existing one, in which languages the interface is localized, the monetization business model, as well as the estimated release dates. Apple administrators advise you to apply 6-8 weeks before the intended release of the application. From what we read about the experience of other teams, sometimes moderators contact developers after selection, but in most cases there are no alerts - you have to check the collections manually or learn about the successful outcome in hindsight, according to the growth of downloads.
Non-standard form fields deserve a more detailed review:
Version Highlights: here you list what will be new and interesting in the very version that is sent for fitting.
Marketing Plans: in this field you can tell about further plans for the development of the project. We focused on the opportunities that we want to provide in future releases, but we believe that it is acceptable to write about other aspects, for example, a promising partnership.
Your story:This block is useful to editors if your product is selected for the “Application of the day” section. This does not mean that what you write will be displayed in the App Store: the editor will compose your text based on the proposed information. Accordingly, your task here is to interest him, to stand out among the other applicants. You can do this in different ways: tell the story of a company or project, reveal your mission, paint where you got your inspiration - in a word, don't be afraid to show your imagination.
The Version Highlights and Marketing Plans fields are marked as optional - you can skip them and let the application speak for itself. However, we would not recommend such a policy. A lot depends on your ability to convey the main advantages of the application, to show how you stand out in the presented category and why you are worthy to be in the collection. So it is better to use the characters provided to you to the fullest. By the way, the limit for the Your Story field is 1000 characters, for the Version Highlights and Marketing Plans fields - 2000 characters.
According to rumors, the administration of the App Store has a weakness for those who are actively using new opportunities for developers from Apple or have well mastered other trending technologies (blockchain, AI). Frankly, writing science fiction is probably not worth it, however, if you are implementing or even planning to introduce something like this, it is worth mentioning it.
In addition to textual descriptions, the App Store allows you to attach three links to materials of any other formats - you can add at least video, at least infographics, at least multi-page documentation. This opportunity should not be neglected either; As you know, visual information is perceived both better and more willingly.
Finally, a few words need to be said separately about the Mac Store. An application for phishing is submitted on the same form and on the same link as on the App Store; the only difference is that in one of the drop-down lists you will need to choose the MacOS platform. Unfortunately, neither us nor our acquaintances had any experience of getting into phishing here. However, our immediate plans include updating and promoting desktop applications - we hope that soon we will have something to tell about this.
So, the theoretical basis is clarified. Now we will pass directly to real examples. The further narration is based on the experience of the developers of FinEco , our partners, written correctly and read from their words. The guys are developing cross-platform financial applications, some of which have recently been selected by Apple editors to participate in feature-writing.
To increase their chances of getting into the selection, they applied for two projects at once, both from the Finance category. One of the selected projects was the application My Income and Expensesdesigned to control personal finances. A niche, to put it mildly, settled out, but the developers decided to focus on thoughtfulness and careful study. The first version was released exactly a year ago, and during this time the interface was significantly improved and the range of possible operations was expanded. Active communication in the comments (thanks to iOS 11) made it possible to better understand the audience, their requests and refine the initial functionality to what the user really needs. They filed an application for this application three weeks before the scheduled update.
On the advice of moderators in personal correspondence, the fields were filled in in English, although the team focused primarily on the Russian audience. In the blocks listed above, emphasis was placed on everything that distinguishes the application from analogues - speed of action, intuitive operation and visual display of results. In the Marketing field, they talked about further plans for automating and recognizing different types of information, tried to show the logical connection between the mission in your story and new features so that the latter did not look ascribed simply for beauty.
The team sent an application for the promotion of the second project a few days before the update. It was even before the adoption of the law on raising the retirement age, however, My Pension- an application for calculating retirement savings and tracking savings - it turned out to be a grudge of the day even then. Most likely, it was the highly social topics that helped the product so quickly attract the attention of moderators. Exactly on the date indicated in the application, he fell into the selection of the Today tab of the Russian market. As already mentioned, the news feed is updated daily, but this collection still hung for 7 days in the Applications section.
In the case of the first application, I had to show a little more patience - it was selected for the Today tab only a week later. All this time, the team carefully monitored the indicators through the built-in analytics system in appstoreconnect, on App Annie and directly on the market itself. When the happy moment finally arrived, it became obvious at first glance.
The data of the application "My Pension", on April 18 there was an increase in viewing the product page and installations.
In general, the approximate figures that we quoted in the first part of the article were not exaggerated. Application installations have skyrocketed so much that the promised 800% has proven to be an achievable goal. On average, every day you stay in the collection gave an increase in pageviews and settings by 20 times.
Hit in phishing, tab Today, April 26, 2018, My Income and Expenses
A week before and after getting into phishing. My Income and Expenses
We hope that this material was useful to you. If you have experience in getting into various sections of the App Store and Mac Store collections, we will be glad to read about it in the comments.
Types of features on the App Store
First, let's define the concepts. On many foreign resources, article authors understand only one of its variations, the most inaccessible - “Application / Game of the Day”. In fact, Apple helps developers promote their products in several ways, each of which deserves attention.
1. Today tab
“Every visit to the App Store now starts with the Today tab, where you can learn all about games, applications and virtual culture,” Apple says on the official website. Now this tab resembles a news feed.
Every day, Today’s collection contains new cards compiled by Apple editors that span many games and applications. The number of cards varies depending on the localization: for example, there are 6 on the market in the US and 4 in Russia. Without a doubt, the Today tab is the best engine for promoting applications. Each card has its own declared theme, name, short story and a link to download the application.
The graph of the popularity of topics used for collections in the Today tab (US market)
According to a recently published study , the most popular category that App Store editors from the United States are particularly eager to promote are games (41%), which is not surprising. 8% are in the Education category, 5% each took Health and Fitness, Stickers and Productivity.
The Games and Education categories appeal to App Store editors more than others.
To get to the Today tab, the application must be really cool, trendy and just like the editor. According to rumors, a significant handicap is available to those about whom large resources have already written. But what will it give? According to official data from Apple, more than 70 million unique users from all over the world drop by the App Store daily. About 18-19 million users enter the American market daily. The results of getting into the collection can seriously overwhelm the developer. So, according to a study by Sensor Tower , phishing can increase the influx of new users by 800%.
Application positions before / after getting into the selection of the Today tab (free applications).
Accordingly, the influx of new users is guaranteed, as well as getting into the top 10 in its category. In theory, the appearance in the “Application of the Day” section should increase the number of downloads by 685%, and in the “Game of the Day” - by 802%.
2. Tab “Games” The
category of games, according to official figures, is the most popular in the App Store: the market presents more than half a million gaming applications. The collections of games and applications are updated once a week. To make it more convenient for users to search for really worthy projects in all their diversity, editors present recommended releases and updates, videos of the best titles, top charts and interesting articles.
Here you can get into different types of collections: from the choice of the editor with the placement of a large banner at the top of the page, to the top of paid and free applications at the very bottom of the page. Of course, the effect of all these types of promotion will also be different, and in places very unexpected. For example, our comrades from App Tractor mentioned in their article the possibility of falling downloads, recorded by the Sensor Tower service, after getting into the featured application with videos and screenshots.
3. “Applications” tab
In iOS 11, applications and games were placed in different tabs, which in itself gives more chances to light up. One of the Store Intelligence studies concerned this type of featured: according to their data, getting into the “Applications” tab can increase downloads by 141% (which shows a comparison of weekly periods for installations before / after featurening). By analogy with the “Games” section, the “Applications” tab contains large banners of favorites at the top of the page, below are collections of topics that are currently burning, and at the very bottom are the tops of free and paid projects.
We submit an application with an eye on the result
After the release of iOS 11, a convenient form of communication became available for applying for phishing. It is necessary to fill in all the standard fields: the name of the application, the name of the company, whether there will be an application for a new application or for updating an existing one, in which languages the interface is localized, the monetization business model, as well as the estimated release dates. Apple administrators advise you to apply 6-8 weeks before the intended release of the application. From what we read about the experience of other teams, sometimes moderators contact developers after selection, but in most cases there are no alerts - you have to check the collections manually or learn about the successful outcome in hindsight, according to the growth of downloads.
Non-standard form fields deserve a more detailed review:
Version Highlights: here you list what will be new and interesting in the very version that is sent for fitting.
Marketing Plans: in this field you can tell about further plans for the development of the project. We focused on the opportunities that we want to provide in future releases, but we believe that it is acceptable to write about other aspects, for example, a promising partnership.
Your story:This block is useful to editors if your product is selected for the “Application of the day” section. This does not mean that what you write will be displayed in the App Store: the editor will compose your text based on the proposed information. Accordingly, your task here is to interest him, to stand out among the other applicants. You can do this in different ways: tell the story of a company or project, reveal your mission, paint where you got your inspiration - in a word, don't be afraid to show your imagination.
The Version Highlights and Marketing Plans fields are marked as optional - you can skip them and let the application speak for itself. However, we would not recommend such a policy. A lot depends on your ability to convey the main advantages of the application, to show how you stand out in the presented category and why you are worthy to be in the collection. So it is better to use the characters provided to you to the fullest. By the way, the limit for the Your Story field is 1000 characters, for the Version Highlights and Marketing Plans fields - 2000 characters.
According to rumors, the administration of the App Store has a weakness for those who are actively using new opportunities for developers from Apple or have well mastered other trending technologies (blockchain, AI). Frankly, writing science fiction is probably not worth it, however, if you are implementing or even planning to introduce something like this, it is worth mentioning it.
In addition to textual descriptions, the App Store allows you to attach three links to materials of any other formats - you can add at least video, at least infographics, at least multi-page documentation. This opportunity should not be neglected either; As you know, visual information is perceived both better and more willingly.
Finally, a few words need to be said separately about the Mac Store. An application for phishing is submitted on the same form and on the same link as on the App Store; the only difference is that in one of the drop-down lists you will need to choose the MacOS platform. Unfortunately, neither us nor our acquaintances had any experience of getting into phishing here. However, our immediate plans include updating and promoting desktop applications - we hope that soon we will have something to tell about this.
How it was
So, the theoretical basis is clarified. Now we will pass directly to real examples. The further narration is based on the experience of the developers of FinEco , our partners, written correctly and read from their words. The guys are developing cross-platform financial applications, some of which have recently been selected by Apple editors to participate in feature-writing.
To increase their chances of getting into the selection, they applied for two projects at once, both from the Finance category. One of the selected projects was the application My Income and Expensesdesigned to control personal finances. A niche, to put it mildly, settled out, but the developers decided to focus on thoughtfulness and careful study. The first version was released exactly a year ago, and during this time the interface was significantly improved and the range of possible operations was expanded. Active communication in the comments (thanks to iOS 11) made it possible to better understand the audience, their requests and refine the initial functionality to what the user really needs. They filed an application for this application three weeks before the scheduled update.
On the advice of moderators in personal correspondence, the fields were filled in in English, although the team focused primarily on the Russian audience. In the blocks listed above, emphasis was placed on everything that distinguishes the application from analogues - speed of action, intuitive operation and visual display of results. In the Marketing field, they talked about further plans for automating and recognizing different types of information, tried to show the logical connection between the mission in your story and new features so that the latter did not look ascribed simply for beauty.
The team sent an application for the promotion of the second project a few days before the update. It was even before the adoption of the law on raising the retirement age, however, My Pension- an application for calculating retirement savings and tracking savings - it turned out to be a grudge of the day even then. Most likely, it was the highly social topics that helped the product so quickly attract the attention of moderators. Exactly on the date indicated in the application, he fell into the selection of the Today tab of the Russian market. As already mentioned, the news feed is updated daily, but this collection still hung for 7 days in the Applications section.
In the case of the first application, I had to show a little more patience - it was selected for the Today tab only a week later. All this time, the team carefully monitored the indicators through the built-in analytics system in appstoreconnect, on App Annie and directly on the market itself. When the happy moment finally arrived, it became obvious at first glance.
The data of the application "My Pension", on April 18 there was an increase in viewing the product page and installations.
In general, the approximate figures that we quoted in the first part of the article were not exaggerated. Application installations have skyrocketed so much that the promised 800% has proven to be an achievable goal. On average, every day you stay in the collection gave an increase in pageviews and settings by 20 times.
Hit in phishing, tab Today, April 26, 2018, My Income and Expenses
A week before and after getting into phishing. My Income and Expenses
Main conclusions
- Getting into the featured app store is realizable
- There are several types of features: the application can be placed in various tabs and collections. Getting into the Today section gives the best result, but collections and tops can also give good growth.
- Literate, sincere texts in the application form that might interest the editor decide a lot
- The chances of success increase if the application has unique features and / or solves pressing problems
- When an application falls into the selection, product page views and the influx of new users increases up to 20 times.
We hope that this material was useful to you. If you have experience in getting into various sections of the App Store and Mac Store collections, we will be glad to read about it in the comments.