ASO for Mac app developers: keywords for the Mac App Store

You build apps for macOS, perhaps with an iOS or iPad companion. You know how to ship, and you now want your listing to be found.

• Shared fields across platforms. Name and subtitle live under App Information, which is shared across platforms, and each is localized per language. A name change for iOS changes it for macOS too.
• Mac screenshot rules. Mac screenshots must be 16:10 and one of 1280x800, 1440x900, 2560x1600 or 2880x1800 pixels. The screenshot sizes answer lists the rest.
• Small niches. Many Mac apps serve a narrow job; broad keywords are mostly Hard.
• A listing you edit rarely. Many Mac apps ship updates without touching metadata.

1. Install LocalASO and activate. The same Mac that builds your app can run the research.
2. Add your app with its App Store link or ID and a few direct rivals as Competitor.
3. Read the board in your main storefront, then in countries where you have users. Use verdicts to decide what to change.
4. Run Optimize. The name is limited to 30 characters and the subtitle to 30; the keyword field accepts up to 100 bytes. The title and subtitle guide and the metadata limits tool list every field.
5. Export or upload as a draft. LocalASO never submits for review or touches builds.
6. After release, check ranks again and keep the history, which is stored locally.

Developers who work with an agent can wire the board into their editor through the MCP server; the Claude Code workflow is described separately.

• No Mac-specific ranking charts. Ranks come from Apple's public search results for the app and keyword you add; verify a surprising number by searching in the App Store yourself before acting on it.
• No direct-distribution help. Notarization, licensing and your own website are outside its scope.
• Estimates, not Apple search counts.
• Apple App Store only.

If your Mac app has an iOS or iPad sibling, remember that name and subtitle sit under App Information, which is shared across platforms. Decide the name once for both. Keywords and the description, in contrast, are version-level fields you can tune per platform, and each localization carries its own text. Run the board for each listing separately so the Mac app is compared with Mac rivals and not with phone apps that rank for different reasons.

Add the app, look at the Push keywords, change one field. Download or see pricing. Related: first app launch and relaunching an old app.