The App Store Optimization Checklist for a New App Launch

An ASO checklist for a new app launch has three phases. Before submission, you write the indexed metadata, pick keywords, make screenshots and an icon, set up localization and decide on pre-orders. In launch week, you check what went live, ask for ratings at the right moment and reply to reviews. In the first 30 days, you read search and conversion data, adjust keywords with your next release and run your first screenshot test.

Below is the full checklist across both the App Store and Google Play, with the field limits and platform rules checked against Apple’s and Google’s documentation. Copy it into your launch doc and tick things off.

Metadata limits for both stores

Keep this table next to you while writing. App Store limits are from Apple’s product page guidance; Google Play limits are from Google’s store listing best practices.

Before submission

Keyword research

• List the words a stranger would type to find an app like yours: the problem, the task, the category word they’d use, not your internal feature names.
• Check App Store and Play search autocomplete for each seed word and note what comes up.
• Look at the top five apps for your main terms. Note what their names and subtitles target, and where they look weak.
• Pick one or two primary terms you can realistically rank for, plus a long tail of secondary words.
• If you have an Apple Ads account, check relative search popularity for your candidates.

App Store metadata

• App name (30 characters): brand plus your most important keyword if it reads naturally.
• Subtitle (30 characters): what the app does, using keywords not already in the name. See subtitle vs promotional text for examples.
• Keyword field (100 characters): commas, no spaces, no repeats of name or subtitle words, singular forms, no competitor names. Our keyword field guide walks through filling it.
• Primary and secondary category chosen deliberately; Apple says the primary category matters most for discoverability.
• Promotional text (170 characters) written for launch day.
• Description with one clear opening sentence, then features.
• Nothing in any field that names another app, mentions price, or makes a claim you can’t back up (App Review Guideline 2.3.7).

Google Play metadata

• Title (30 characters) without words like "Free", "No Ads" or "#1"; Google’s guidance lists these among things to avoid.
• Short description (80 characters): the clearest one-line pitch you have, with your primary keyword.
• Full description (4,000 characters): written in everyday language with your keywords used naturally, not as a list. Google warns against repeated keyword lists.
• No emoji, ALL CAPS (unless it’s your brand), or unattributed testimonials.

Screenshots and video

• App Store: at least the 6.9-inch iPhone size (1290 × 2796 px portrait), plus 13-inch iPad (2064 × 2752 px) if your app runs on iPad. Full table on our screenshot sizes reference.
• Google Play: 2 to 8 phone screenshots (1080 × 1920 px is a safe size) and a 1024 × 500 px feature graphic. See the Google Play screenshot requirements and the feature graphic guide.
• First screenshot states the main benefit in a few words. Our post on the first App Store screenshot covers what to put on it.
• Captions use your real keywords where they read naturally (why that helps).
• Clean status bars and realistic content in every capture (how to take clean simulator screenshots).
• Screens show the app in use, not just a splash or login screen, per guideline 2.3.3. The common reasons sets get bounced are in why Apple rejects screenshots.
• App preview video only if it shows the app better than stills do; Apple’s guideline 2.3.4 says previews may only use screen captures of the app itself.

Icon

• App Store icon at 1024 × 1024 px; Google Play icon at 512 × 512 px.
• Test it at small sizes next to your top competitors’ icons in a mock search results screen. A distinct shape and colour usually beat detail.
• No text unless it’s a single bold letter or your wordmark.

Localization

• Decide which markets matter in year one, then localize metadata and screenshot captions for them together.
• Check Apple’s list of additional languages per storefront; for example, the US storefront supports Spanish (Mexico), among others.
• Localize, don’t just translate: our post on why translation isn’t localization covers the difference, and the screenshot localization guide covers the visuals.

Pre-orders and pre-registration

• App Store: a new app can be offered on pre-order with a release date between 2 and 180 days out (Publish for pre-order).
• Google Play: pre-registration campaigns can run for up to 90 days, and eligible devices get the app auto-installed on launch day (Play Console Help).
• New personal Play developer accounts need a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 continuous days before production access, so plan that time in.

Analytics baseline

• Know where to find App Store impressions, product page views and downloads by source type in App Analytics, and store listing visitors and acquisitions in Play Console.
• Write down your launch metadata, screenshots and the date, so you can tell later what changed.
• Set up keyword rank tracking for your primary and secondary terms before launch, so day one has a baseline.

The baseline matters more than it looks. Launch traffic is noisy: a mention on social media or a friend’s newsletter can double page views for a few days and then vanish. If you change the subtitle and the screenshots in the same week as that spike, you won’t be able to tell which of the three moved the numbers. Writing down what shipped, when, and what the numbers were in the first full week gives every later change something honest to compare against. It also helps you spot slow, real trends, like search impressions creeping up for a keyword you added, underneath the launch noise.

Launch week

• Check the live listing on a real device in each main storefront: name, subtitle, screenshots in the right order, the right localization showing.
• Search for your own primary terms and your exact app name. If you don’t appear for your own name, check the metadata that went live.
• Turn on the ratings prompt at the right moment. Apple lets you prompt up to three times in a 365-day period (Ratings and reviews), using RequestReviewAction in SwiftUI or AppStore.requestReview(in:). Google’s In-App Review API has a time-bound quota it doesn’t publish, says not to trigger it from a button, and says not to ask "Do you like the app?" first.
• Ask after a success, such as a completed workout, a saved document or a finished level, not on first open.
• Reply to every early review. On the App Store the reviewer is notified and can update their review; on Play you can reply from Play Console.
• Update promotional text if launch coverage or a launch offer gives you something to say. It doesn’t need a new version.

First 30 days

• Read the search source. Compare App Store Search impressions and conversion with your baseline. Play Console’s store performance reports show traffic by source and search term.
• Check keyword ranks weekly. Drop terms you show no sign of ranking for and add new ones from what you’ve learned. Ship the keyword change with your first update.
• Plan the first screenshot test. Apple’s product page optimization tests up to three treatments for up to 90 days; Google Play has store listing experiments. Our A/B testing guide covers both.
• Consider a custom product page for any campaign or audience that needs a different pitch. Apple allows up to 70; see the custom product pages guide.
• Read reviews for words. The phrases users use to describe your app are often better keywords and captions than the ones you chose.
• Fix crashes first. Google says apps with strong technical performance are generally favoured, and bad reviews from crashes undo any metadata work.

If you’re building the screenshot set from scratch, our step-by-step screenshot guide covers the process, and the Figma guide helps if you’d rather design by hand. Launch Shots can also generate and publish a set directly to App Store Connect and Google Play Console, and its ASO console tracks keyword ranks and conversion after launch.

The short version

• Before submission: keywords chosen, name/subtitle/keyword field filled, Play title and descriptions written, screenshots at the required sizes, icon tested small, localization decided, pre-orders set if wanted, baseline recorded.
• Launch week: listing checked on a device, ratings prompt triggered after a success, reviews answered, promotional text updated.
• First 30 days: search impressions and conversion compared to baseline, keyword changes shipped with the first update, first screenshot test started.