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It’s an exciting time to be an app developer on Shopify. This is especially true when the team at Shopify is constantly making changes to enhance the experience as a developer and help you grow. In this post, we’re going to walk through the big changes being made and explore how App Store Analytics can help during the app store redesign. See the official announcement here
Overview
Here’s what’s changing in your app store listing:
- App self-categorization
- New App Details 500 character field
- New Feature List bullet points
- New feature image or video to highlight impact of apps
- No more Key Benefits section
- No more Detailed Description section
- Apps can now only have two tags for categories
- Mobile and POS screenshot sizes have changed
Shopify tells us to expect changes in search rankings. Search terms are now being required to help merchants find apps more easily.
Tags & Search terms
Apps are limited to only two tags. These tags place apps into different categories for browsing. This is intended to improve discoverability and avoid app categories being overloaded. Apps will now have a primary tag which should best describe your apps functionality, as well as a second one that it may also fall under. Search terms and tags will be the drivers for your App Store search rankings. There are updates in the documentation for app categorization and search terms here
New Mobile and POS images
Screenshots for mobile and POS are changing as well. Any mobile screenshots must conform to the new size of 1600px by 900px (16:9). The old size of 900px by 1600px (9:16) will no longer be supported. Any point of sale (POS) screenshots must conform to the new size of 1600px by 900px (16:9). The old size of 2048px by 1536px (4:3) will no longer be supported. NOTE: your existing images will likely remain, however new images must conform to the new size.
What happens if I don’t make the changes?
Well for one, you’re missing out on potentially improving your ranking and getting more merchant installs. Your app listing won’t disappear, however it will be considered an incomplete app listing, won’t be optimized for the new ranking algorithms, and won’t be eligible for promotion.
Want to make sure you’re ready for all these changes? Checkout our Figma template to mock up the new listing here
How can App Store Analytics help with these changes?
App Store Analytics is working on a feature that tracks changes to your rankings in the app store so you will be able to see in real time the changes that your app ranking has as of November 1st. However, you will need to be a paying customer before November 1st to ensure ranking data is accurate. Use our ranking tracking tool to make sure you can track the movements in the rankings before and after the change. Since app rankings are live, you can make incremental changes to your listing and view the updates in the ranking immediately.
Another tool we’ve created to help with the coming changes is created a new app store listing page where you can create a mock listing in the new updated format, save it, and have it at the ready for when the changes are made. This will allow you to iterate on the listing visually and have a head start on your competition. Check this feature out under your owned apps "New Listing" tab.
