App Store optimization for beginners: 10 steps (2026)

By Sigsten Gustavii· 27 October 2026· 8 min read

App Store optimization is the work of choosing your app's name, subtitle, keywords and visuals so that the right people find it in App Store search and decide to download it.

Apple's own App Store search page says results are based on text relevance, meaning matches for your app's name, subtitle, keywords and primary category, and on how people behave: downloads, ratings and reviews. You do not need a marketing budget for the basics. Most of ASO is a handful of fields in App Store Connect with strict limits, and a few habits after release. This guide walks through ten steps, with Apple's own limits for each field, in the order you will meet them.

Step 1: Know what people search for

Before you write anything, list the words someone with your app's problem would type. Not your brand, their words: "water reminder", "habit tracker", "split bills". Type them into the App Store search on your iPhone and look at the suggestions that appear as you type, and at which apps come top. That list of phrases is the raw material for every field below.

Step 2: Choose a name that says what the app does

Your name has at most 30 characters, according to Apple's App information reference, and it is the strongest place for a search term. A common pattern is a short brand plus a descriptive phrase: "Sip: Water Reminder". Check that nobody else uses the name, and avoid other companies' trademarks.

Step 3: Write a subtitle with a second search phrase

The subtitle, also up to 30 characters, appears under the name in search results and on your product page. Use it for a second phrase people search, said as a benefit: "Drink enough on training days". Do not repeat words already in the name; they add nothing to search.

Step 4: Fill the 100-byte keyword field

The keyword field is hidden from people and read only by search. Apple's version information reference sets the rules: up to 100 bytes, each keyword longer than two characters, and no other apps' or companies' names. It also notes that your app is already searchable by its name and your company name, so do not repeat them.

• Separate with commas, no spaces: spaces waste bytes.
• Use single words: search combines them, so "water,reminder,hydration" covers many phrases.
• Skip plurals and repeats of words in your name and subtitle.
• Bytes, not characters: letters with accents and non-Latin scripts take more than one byte each.

Step 5: Pick the right category

Apple says both your primary and optional secondary category are indexed by search. Choose the category where people would browse for your app, not the one with the least competition, and do not repeat the category's name in your keywords, as Apple advises.

Step 6: Design an icon that reads at small sizes

In search results your icon is tiny. One simple shape, strong contrast and no text work well. Our guide to iOS app icon sizes covers Apple's 1024 × 1024 requirement and the dark and tinted looks of iOS 26.

Step 7: Make the opening screenshots do the selling

Apple lists screenshots among the parts of your product page that appear in search results, so the opening ones decide whether someone taps. Show the main job of the app, on the screen where it happens, with a short caption of three to six words. Keep them accurate: Apple reviews screenshots too. The exact sizes are in our post on App Store screenshot sizes.

Step 8: Write the description for people

Apple's reference describes the description as up to 4,000 characters of plain text. It appears on your product page and, once released, in web search results. Open with one sentence on what the app does and who it is for, then a short list of features, then anything people need to know about subscriptions. Promotional text, up to 170 characters, sits above it and can be changed at any time without a new submission, which makes it the place for news and offers.

Step 9: Earn ratings, and answer reviews

Apple says ratings and reviews appear in search results and can influence how your app ranks. Replying to reviews also shows the app is cared for. According to Apple's ratings and reviews page, you can ask for a rating with the system prompt up to three times in a 365-day period, so ask at a good moment, such as after someone completes something. You can reply to any review in App Store Connect, and you can reset your summary rating when you release a new version, which Apple suggests doing sparingly.

Step 10: Test and update

ASO is never finished. Apple's product page optimization lets you test up to three alternative versions of your icon, screenshots and previews against your original, for up to 90 days, one test at a time. Change your keywords with each update based on what you learn, and keep the app itself good: an app people keep using does more for its listing than any keyword.

A worked example

Here is how the fields fit together for a simple water-reminder app, so no word is wasted:

Notice what is missing from the keywords: "water" and "reminder", already in the name, and the brand. Every byte goes on a new word someone might search.

Common ASO mistakes

• A clever name nobody searches for, with no descriptive words.
• Repeating words across name, subtitle and keywords.
• Competitor names in keywords, which Apple does not allow.
• Screenshots of the login screen instead of the app working.
• A description that opens with history instead of what the app does.
• Asking for a rating the moment the app opens, before people have done anything.

How to set up your App Store listing with Borel, step by step

1. Build and test the app on Borel, so your screenshots show a finished app.
2. Ask Borel to draft listing text from your search phrases, in a message like the one below.
3. Press Publish and fill in the Your app step: the name (up to 30 characters), the icon, the category Borel drafts from your app, screenshots and a description (up to 4,000 characters).
4. Borel fills in the basics: a starting keyword list from your app's name within Apple's 100-byte limit, and hosted privacy policy and support pages for the required links.
5. Send to Apple with Pro and the Developer Program. Borel builds, signs and uploads the app with its listing.
6. Refine in App Store Connect: edit the subtitle, keywords and promotional text there as you learn which terms work.

Write App Store listing text for this app. Search phrases: water reminder, hydration tracker, drink water. Give me a 30-character name, a 30-character subtitle that doesn't repeat the name's words, a 100-byte comma-separated keyword list with no spaces, and a description that opens with what the app does.

The store listing page in Learn explains each field in Borel's Publish flow, and our post on publishing to the App Store without a Mac covers the rest of the route.

The bottom line

App Store optimization for a new app comes down to putting the words people search for in the name, subtitle and keyword field, within Apple's limits, then winning the tap with a clear icon and honest screenshots, and keeping ratings healthy. None of it needs a budget. If you are still building, start free on Borel, and write the listing while the app takes shape.

I think the cheapest marketing an app gets is a clear name and honest screenshots. Try these steps on your listing and tell me what moved.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

Describe the app you want and see its first screens before you pay anything.