App description (App Store)

Apple lists the app name, subtitle, keywords and company name as the fields that make an app searchable on the App Store, and the description is not on that list. Apple also advises against adding unnecessary keywords to the description to try to improve results. What Apple does say is that the description appears on the product page and when users install the app, and that it is used for web search engine results once the app is released.

• Maximum 4,000 characters, plain text only.
• Apple's product page guidance says the description can be updated when you submit a new version. For timely news it suggests promotional text instead.
• Avoid specific prices, because the price is already shown and a figure may be wrong in some regions.

Only the first lines are visible before a visitor expands the text, so open with the main benefit in plain words. Then list features in short paragraphs, and finish with support information. Write for the reader: this is conversion copy, closely tied to your screenshots and conversion rate.

• Pasting the keyword field into the description. This is keyword stuffing.
• Copying the English text into every storefront instead of writing a localized version.
• Mentioning discounts that expire.

Draft and check lengths with the metadata limits reference and compare the fields in the title and subtitle guide.

The description is where the store meets the web; see ASO vs SEO.