iOS 11's 6 major App Store upgrades, are developers ready?

iOS 11's 6 major App Store upgrades, are developers ready?

iOS 11 eliminates all non-64-bit chip devices, which means that iPhones before iPhone 5s cannot be upgraded to iOS 11. At the same time, 32-bit apps cannot be installed in iOS 11.

From the push notification we can see several major improvements brought about by this upgrade: a new App Store; an enhanced version of Siri; improved cameras and photos; augmented reality technology; and a series of major improvements for the iPad. According to Apple's official website and reports from many domestic and foreign media , this upgrade makes the iPad more powerful, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the "rebirth of the iPad." But for the majority of people who operate and promote apps , what we need to pay attention to is the redesigned App Store. The App Store hasn't changed much since it launched nine years ago. This time, along with the release of iOS 11, the App Store also underwent a redesign.

1. New Label

Before iOS 10, the five items on the tab were [ Featured Recommendations , Categories, Rankings , Search, Updates]. In iOS 11, the App Store has changed to [Today, Games , Apps, Updates, Search].

iOS 10 bottom menu

From the bottom menu of iOS 11, we can see that the original [Rankings] has disappeared. CPs who are used to checking the rankings every day may be a little uncomfortable. The original [Featured Recommendations] has been split into [Games] and [Apps], and a new [Today] tab has been added. In general, the App Store has increased the intensity of editorial recommendations and reduced the influence of the rankings. At the same time, as the revenue share of "games" in the massive number of applications on the App Store continues to increase, they have been singled out. As for why [Search] and [Update] are swapped, it seems hard to guess.

2. More focused daily recommendations

In iOS 10, the way to recommend apps is a carousel banner + special icons, so users can browse a large number of apps every day. The new App Store homepage of iOS 11 is the [Today] tab, which uses an extra-large, card-style recommendation area. There will be a fixed recommendation module every day: special recommendations, today's apps, today's games, and today's themes.

For example, today's (September 20) special recommendation is "You and the Forbidden City at 7:00 in the Morning", which introduces three Forbidden City-themed apps, namely "Forbidden City Exhibition", "Daily Forbidden City" and "Forbidden City Community". Each app has a text introduction of 100-150 words and up to 5 application screenshots . It is reported that Apple has formed a professional editing team around the world to recommend high-quality apps in the App Store every day. This gives individual excellent apps more download opportunities when there are too many apps and user time is scarce. Therefore, how to win the recommendation of Apple editors will become the focus of attention of the majority of developers. In addition, when users browse the card-style daily recommendations, the browsing method of constantly swiping down is very similar to browsing Weibo and Moments . Perhaps the App Store is not willing to be just a platform for app distribution, and hopes that users can "come in and browse when they have nothing to do", thereby increasing user activity.

3. Recommended games that attract more money

Since its release, the App Store has launched millions of apps and received billions of downloads. As of last year, the App Store's total revenue had reached US$28.5 billion (approximately RMB 197.15 billion), of which 76.6% came from game apps. It is not difficult to understand why Apple has put the [Game] label in such a prominent position. With the update of new AR functions, a series of AR games are currently recommended under the [Game] label, and the disappeared [Rankings] also remain here - the paid and free rankings of the games are displayed here.

Editors' recommendations are once again given importance: Apple editors will recommend various topics in the [Game] tab, such as "Captain Set Sail!" which integrates sailing and space games, "Challenge the Ultimate Boss" which is a role-playing game that fights monsters and upgrades, and "Traveling the West" in the American Western design style.

4. Become a little transparent leaderboard

As mentioned above, the previous [Rankings] label has completely disappeared. In fact, it has not completely disappeared. It is just scattered under the [Games] and [Apps] labels, submerged in various special recommendations, and only the top 3 can be seen in each ranking list. You need to swipe to see the rankings behind. The most pitiful thing is that the original "best-selling list" was completely cut off. The further decline in the ranking position shows that Apple is weakening the guiding role of this functional area in users' selection of new applications. This is almost a helpless yet proactive response to the current problem of ranking manipulation . For promoters, the rankings can provide an intuitive view of the promotion effect and current download volume. If an App can make it to the list, it can attract widespread attention and bring in considerable organic downloads. With this upgrade, when the rankings become transparent, developers should perhaps focus more on the product itself.

5. Better search function

Faced with a massive amount of apps, it is difficult to find the exact app you need. According to surveys, about half of the downloads come from search results, so the importance of search is self-evident. In the new version of App Store, the number of App screenshots on the search results page has increased from two to three. If the first position is a video, it will play automatically, giving us the opportunity to present more information at the same time.

At the same time, the App title can only display 19 half-width characters (less than the App product page), but the subtitle can also be displayed on the search page. Therefore, the combination and creativity of "title + subtitle" will be the focus of copywriting creativity. In addition, unlike previous versions where search results were just product lists, in the new version of the App Store , the search system can retrieve App descriptions, developer names, in-app purchases, categories, editorial stories, and even collections. In addition, a search function has been added to "Purchased Items" to facilitate finding historically downloaded applications (some applications have been removed from the store, but can still be installed again in purchased items). Therefore, there are a few points to note: 1. The fonts and icons of the application screenshots should be larger for easy identification; 2. If you have the ability to make a video, do it; the dynamic effect is more eye-catching; 3. Pay more attention to the coordination of the subtitle and the main title; 4. Pay attention to the optimization of descriptions, developer names, etc.

6. More comprehensive product pages

In the new version of App Store, the App’s homepage integrates the three tabs of “Details”, “Comments” and “Related” into one page, making the overall effect more comprehensive. The effects and changes from top to bottom are: the icon is 1.44 times larger than the original version, and then the rating is moved to the bottom of the icon to occupy a large line alone, and a numerical score is added. Again, if there is a video, it will automatically play silently. Again, if the app is already installed, the latest dynamics (ie version update instructions) will be displayed above the app screenshot. Some app pages have added "View Details", which can display the app video again. The rating is displayed again in a large area below the developer's head, and the first user comment is exposed. At the end, the developer's other apps and similar recommendations like "Guess you like" are released.

It can be seen that application ratings are widely displayed, and ratings often directly affect download rates, so developers should pay enough attention to them. It is worth mentioning that the original rating system, which would be cleared every time a version was updated (this really bothered developers, as they had finally accumulated 1,000 five-stars, but would have to re-upgrade them because of a version that fixed a bug), now allows developers to choose whether to reset the rating each time a new version is submitted. This way, we only need to reset ratings for major updates, while bug-fix releases can keep their ratings. Let's say goodbye to the trouble of not daring to update in order to maintain the rating~ There are some other things that developers should pay attention to: The description cannot be modified at any time and needs to be updated with the version, but the promotional text can be modified at any time; The number of uploadable video previews has increased from 1 to 3; The number of characters that can be filled in the title has been reduced from 50 to 30 characters; The text in the subtitle can be searched as a keyword , with a higher weight than the keyword but lower than the title. In general, the visual part of the product page is more important, the copywriting should be more refined, and developers should return to their core business and focus on improving the quality of the App, improving user ratings, and further increasing downloads.

Final Thoughts

Game developers may be the biggest beneficiaries of this year's series of changes to the App Store. Previously, games were just a category under apps, but now they have become completely independent and their exposure has increased significantly. Previously, phenomenal mobile games such as " Onmyoji " and " Honor of Kings " have appeared in China, and Apple officials have also strongly recommended games such as "Monument Valley 2" . It can be foreseen that more exciting game applications will appear in the future, and the monetization capabilities of game developers are expected to reach new highs. In the past, the editorial recommendations in the App Store were simply to give a bunch of apps a title and then list them, but now the daily recommendations under the [Today] tag are more like editors telling stories to users every day. The editor will select several topics every day and tell you the story of each application in the form of pictures and texts. As a user, it should be difficult to resist such recommendations. Therefore, obtaining Apple's official recommendation may be more effective in increasing downloads than squeezing into the top of the list, and how to strive for recommendation will become a new "science". Furthermore, under the [Today] label, the App Store will highlight a recommended game and application every day. Combined with the ranking module that weakens both functionality and display, Apple obviously hopes that developers and applications that want to occupy a place in this section will focus more on the quality of the application itself, so as to obtain recommendations from editors, rather than relying simply on brushing the rankings to achieve the purpose of allowing players to intuitively understand an application.

The author of this article @徐洋洋 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

Product promotion services: APP promotion services, information flow advertising, advertising platform

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