How to Prep for Being Featured in the App Store

January 6th, 2018

by Anh Nguyen

COO & Co-Founder at Gummicube, Inc

Every developer anticipates that fleeting moment when the “App Store: Promotional artwork request for…” email arrives in their inbox. But it’s not luck that brought that email. Every app that is chosen to be featured in the App Store is there because they practice good App Store Optimization strategies. Once an app is featured, Apple needs a set of creative assets to use. Every developer can submit these in the Promotional Artwork tab within iTunes Connect. When submitting your Promotional Artwork, it is mandatory to use the pre-set templates because it is the only format supported on iTunes Connect. This is so Apple does not have to request every type of asset from a given developer every time they need it. Instead, the developer’s kit of assets will be readily available to Apple at any time. There is more than one Dropwell in the Promotional Artwork Tab for different types of creative assets that Apple might need for a featured app. When submitting artwork for each Dropwell, it is imperative to respect Apple’s promotional artwork guidelines as well. For instance, artwork cannot include any URLs, marketing taglines, app icons, references to price, or featured Apple products. However, the different types of Dropwells have different specifications. Title Treatments

Used as an overlay on other artwork as needed
File Types: PSD, ZIP
Dimension: 4000 x 4000 pixels
File Name: AppName_AS_TitleTreatment

Product Page Artwork

Used for the customization of the app’s Product Page
File Types: PSD, ZIP
Dimension: 4320 x 1080
File Name: AppName_AS_ProductPageArt

Artwork for the Today Tab

Request will be sent from iTunes Connect as a high priority asset
Use the Master Art Photoshop template provided by Apple
File type: PSD, ZIP
Dimension: 3524 x 2160
File Name: AppName_AS_FeaturingToday

Supporting Imagery

Used to submit any additional content
File Type: PSD, ZIP
Dimension: 4000 x 4000
File Name: AppName_AS_SupportingImagery

App Store Featuring Art

Uses hero artwork. Used to quickly inform users about the app
File Types: PSD, ZIP
Dimension: 4320 x 1080
File Name: AppName_AS_FeaturingAppsGames

Apple TV Artwork

Guidelines are different than traditional creative assets
Used for background art and logos

Key Takeaways It may be easy to overlook general specifications needed for promotional artwork submissions. However, Apple has pre-set these guidelines in the developer’s best interest. Just because an app is featured in the App Store, doesn’t guarantee that they will be chosen over other featured apps. Creatives must be enticing, unique, and memorable to convert users. The “featured” window is a short one, so it must be utilized to its full capabilities.

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