mobile-apps, app-store-optimization, distributionMost tactics about getting featured on the app store is about making a big store launch. Well this is the wrong approach according to lean startup.
What are some tactics to use on featuring your app that has been updated a lot of times to reach perfection?
Leaving big budget apps aside, and based on anecdotal evidence I’ve either seen while browsing the App Store or gleaned by reading random blog posts a few years back, the apps Apple features tend to:
Be original, plain and simple.
Follow Apple’s Mobile Human Interface Guidelines – if not to the letter, at least in spirit.
Offer outstanding or original user interface / user experience / game play / value.
Offer outstanding or original graphics or sound.
Make exemplar use of recently introduced features. (For instance, when iCloud launched, many featured apps were making use of it. I’d imagine making use of an Apple Watch will be very helpful to get featured in the coming months.)
Make exemplar use of advanced features or design patterns.
Push the boundaries of what can be done using Apple’s latest devices.
Be exclusive to the App Store.
With respect to that last point, there are two notorious ways to not get featured:
Don’t use cross-platform tools that generate code in a way that Apple can detect you weren’t writing native Objective-C or Swift code.
Don’t release on Android before you release on iOS.
Given the constant stream of apps, it probably helps to catch the eye of an Apple engineer or two by demoing your app to them at an Apple conference or elsewhere, to be connected with one of Apple’s various evangelists, etc.
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