What to Write in the App Store What's New Text

• What's New appears on your product page and on the Updates tab.
• If a feature or fix came from feedback, say so, so users know you listened.
• List new features, content or functionality in order of importance, and add call-to-action messaging.
• Guideline 2.3.12 requires new features and product changes to be clearly described.
• The field is limited to 4,000 characters, is unavailable for the first version, is required for later versions and can be localized. See the character limit answer.

1. Headline change. One sentence naming the biggest change in terms of what the user can do.
2. Supporting changes. Two to four short lines, in order of importance.
3. Feedback credit. One line when a change came from users.
4. Next step. A call to action: try the feature, turn on the setting, or read about it.

Keep routine fixes to one honest line at the end, such as "Bug fixes and performance improvements." That is allowed for minor releases, but never use it to hide a real change.

A hypothetical habit tracker, Streakly, ships a Home Screen widget and fixes a time-zone bug.

Before (generic): "Bug fixes and improvements." (27 characters)

After:

Now with the Home Screen widget you asked for. Streakly shows today's habits at a glance, and the streak counter no longer resets when you change time zones.

That is 157 characters: one sentence of feature, one of fix, and a credit to users. The first sentence carries the headline on its own; the second adds the detail. If the update were only a crash fix, "Fixes a crash when opening reminders." is specific, short and still honest.

• First line first. Assume many readers stop after the first sentence.
• Describe the benefit, not the ticket. "Faster launch" tells less than "Opens in under a second on iPhone 15" if you can prove it; only publish numbers you measured.
• Do not repeat the description. What's New is about change. Evergreen claims belong in the description.
• Do not stuff keywords. Apple lists name, subtitle, keywords and company name as searchable fields, and What's New is not among them, so it is not a place for keyword lists.
• Localize it. Each language has its own What's New, and a generic English line next to a localized description feels inconsistent.

Read the text as a visitor who has never used the app: does the first sentence tell them what changed and why it helps? Then read it as a loyal user: is anything they reported missing? Finally count characters if you localize, because some languages need more room than English. The text is required for every version after the first, so build the check into your release routine.

If you want to announce something that is not part of this version, such as a sale or a feature that is coming later, use promotional text. It can change at any time without a new version, while What's New is tied to a version.

Fill in What's New per language as part of every release. LocalASO can write or improve it in each language with your AI, skips it on a first version, and uploads the result to App Store Connect as a draft that you review before submitting; see the Optimize docs and the App Store Connect docs.