Under the Radar

◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm

◼   ► Marco Arment and I'm David Smith under

◼   ► the radar is never longer than 30

◼   ► minutes so let's get started so today

◼   ► we're going to continue from what we did

◼   ► last week where we were talking a bit

◼   ► about iTunes Connect and we thought it

◼   ► would be kind of good to dive into the

◼   ► specifics about setting up a app in

◼   ► iTunes Connect and I think specifically

◼   ► like not the actual like the practical

◼   ► part of it setting it up in iTunes

◼   ► Connect and like where the boxes are and

◼   ► what to set up but there's a lot of

◼   ► metadata that you have to set up when

◼   ► you're creating a new app that I think

◼   ► is something that is often hard it's

◼   ► like a I always kind of don't I kind of

◼   ► put it off doing it because I enjoy the

◼   ► creation of the app part more than I do

◼   ► like writing the app store description

◼   ► or setting the keywords or creating

◼   ► screenshots because that's often a

◼   ► nightmare but it's an important part

◼   ► like the reality is all of the work we

◼   ► do in creating the app is going to be

◼   ► completely wasted if we have a bad

◼   ► presence in the app store and the way

◼   ► that we control our presence in the app

◼   ► store is by setting this stuff up and so

◼   ► it seemed like maybe a worthwhile

◼   ► episode to kind of go through all the

◼   ► fields that iTunes Connect gives us to

◼   ► set up and then you can kind of talk

◼   ► about our experiences in creating in how

◼   ► we set the stuff up the considerations

◼   ► we have and kind of go from there sure

◼   ► yeah absolutely

◼   ► I love iTunes Connect yeah and so I

◼   ► guess the first place maybe we'll start

◼   ► with a prettiest thing is the icon or

◼   ► now actually the icons plural for our

◼   ► apps when we set them up because I

◼   ► believe if you did like we're an app on

◼   ► every platform possible you would have

◼   ► to create I think it's four icons you'd

◼   ► have the idea the iPhone iPad icon and

◼   ► then you'd have the watch icon the high

◼   ► message icon and I think Apple TV would

◼   ► have a different app icon too and so you

◼   ► have to create you know an icon that

◼   ► works well for all of those they have to

◼   ► all of slightly different constraints

◼   ► and different sizes and different rules

◼   ► like Apple watch icons for example

◼   ► cannot have dark backgrounds it's one of

◼   ► the rules

◼   ► Apple watch icons also I didn't even

◼   ► know about that I've been rejected for

◼   ► it two or three times so I've learned

◼   ► the hard way to not do that because

◼   ► basically because the honeycomb is

◼   ► screen on an Apple watch has a black

◼   ► background that is always black they

◼   ► don't want you to have a a pike on that

◼   ► kind of blends into that and so you

◼   ► can't have if you know if your icon was

◼   ► a you know a white glyph on a black

◼   ► background they were you could get

◼   ► rejected and so I've had to go in and it

◼   ► like for activity plus plus for example

◼   ► which is on the iPhone version is

◼   ► essentially a black icon with a you know

◼   ► colourful glyph on it on the Apple watch

◼   ► version it has a dark grey background

◼   ► with the same glyph on it and just you

◼   ► know but something to keep in mind that

◼   ► when you're creating an icon there's

◼   ► lots of these sort of little constraints

◼   ► and details that you may have to think

◼   ► through that it isn't just the you know

◼   ► it isn't just the 120 pixel version that

◼   ► you're going to show on the iPhone

◼   ► screen like there's lots of other places

◼   ► that it may show up and including the

◼   ► iTunes Connect version like the big

◼   ► version of it that you have to submit

◼   ► that's you know ten hundred and twenty

◼   ► eight hundred and twenty ten ten 1024 by

◼   ► 1024 I think I think so yeah

◼   ► and like you know so you have to have an

◼   ► icon that scales well between all those

◼   ► different sizes yeah that's it this is

◼   ► one of those one of those areas where

◼   ► like I think designers who were picky

◼   ► about such things used to take great

◼   ► care to custom scale every single little

◼   ► icon and make sure that the pixels were

◼   ► lined up properly in the lestrade ur and

◼   ► everything else and custom tweak all the

◼   ► different sizes and I think now more and

◼   ► more people are just just like having a

◼   ► batch script that just runs image magic

◼   ► and just takes the big one and resized

◼   ► it down to every size you need in a big

◼   ► batch automatically because there's so

◼   ► many now that doing anything custom is

◼   ► kind of ridiculous yeah and I think it's

◼   ► it's in reality is there's so many

◼   ► different it's like the nature of the

◼   ► displays we have a neck surgery is

◼   ► probably a good segue into your screen

◼   ► shots because screen shots used to be

◼   ► something that I like I would go through

◼   ► the process of setting up different

◼   ► screen shots for every single device and

◼   ► then if you localized like you can end

◼   ► up you know there are times that I've

◼   ► generated

◼   ► you know it's like hundreds of

◼   ► screenshots that I have to get set up in

◼   ► iTunes Connect but last year I think it

◼   ► was they changed the Meccan mechanism

◼   ► and you can now specify you know a if

◼   ► you just submit the plus-sized iPhone

◼   ► screenshot for example you can then say

◼   ► use this for all the other smaller sizes

◼   ► which is something that I've definitely

◼   ► taken advantage of in a lot of cases

◼   ► because you know it get the impression

◼   ► that these icons that they're never

◼   ► these screenshots they're never

◼   ► displayed like at their native

◼   ► resolution they're always shrunk down

◼   ► there always smooshed and so being too

◼   ► precious about them kind of like we're

◼   ► saying with icons where you know there's

◼   ► some maybe some value if you can if you

◼   ► have control over how that icon is going

◼   ► to be displayed that being Precious

◼   ► about making sure it's lined up

◼   ► perfectly and exactly the right size

◼   ► maybe is useful but I think the more

◼   ► pragmatic solution for a lot of this

◼   ► stuff is you know Apple has changes all

◼   ► the time to say this you know the shape

◼   ► and the size that a screenshot is shown

◼   ► in I mean even just the same screenshot

◼   ► will probably be shown at least three

◼   ► different sizes to a user if they when

◼   ► they're in the search area you know the

◼   ► first two screenshots show up there and

◼   ► they're really small and you tap on it

◼   ► and then they get bigger and if you tap

◼   ► on them again they'll go essentially

◼   ► fullscreen and so there's no way that

◼   ► you're going to have sort of pixel

◼   ► perfect artwork there and so in the end

◼   ► I've just kind of simplified and said

◼   ► you know what I'm just going to use the

◼   ► the ability to you know just give one

◼   ► set of screenshots and then make my

◼   ► screenshots yeah it's like spend more

◼   ► time making my screenshots good rather

◼   ► than spending that time just creating

◼   ► dozens and dozens of screenshots for and

◼   ► not really a huge payoff oh yeah yeah

◼   ► I've found similar benefits of like like

◼   ► I recently stopped doing separate screen

◼   ► shots for the 4x phones the iPhone se 5s

◼   ► because you know once they added the

◼   ► ability for me to to have the 4.7 screen

◼   ► shots apply to that I said that's fine

◼   ► because if I look at my analytics I can

◼   ► see like which screen sizes are peep

◼   ► actually really using in large numbers

◼   ► and yeah it doesn't the numbers aren't

◼   ► that great for some of the edge cases

◼   ► similarly with iPad because you can't I

◼   ► forget you can't have just nine point

◼   ► seven and have it show that's what to

◼   ► the twelve point nine really will it

◼   ► ever scale up or does it only scale down

◼   ► it only ever scales down so you you have

◼   ► to you have to specify the twelve inch

◼   ► one at least yeah that's unfortunate

◼   ► I wish they would change the head but uh

◼   ► but I kind of understand why they don't

◼   ► because it's easier for an app to to

◼   ► scale down than up you know with you

◼   ► know user expectation so anyway but yeah

◼   ► like generally I found that like you

◼   ► could now specify so much in you know in

◼   ► in screenshots and everything else

◼   ► descriptions localizations you can

◼   ► specify so much that it in the early

◼   ► days the the the standard wisdom was

◼   ► well of course why wouldn't you just do

◼   ► it all why wouldn't you give as much

◼   ► information as many screen chives as

◼   ► many assets as you possibly can but

◼   ► these days there are just so many that

◼   ► it's it's actually fairly prohibitive to

◼   ► require that I also don't update them

◼   ► unless the underlying interface changes

◼   ► noticeably like if I change you know a

◼   ► couple of pixels here there I want to

◼   ► get the screenshots because it isn't

◼   ► worth the time if I you know it has to

◼   ► change a lot for me to actually get the

◼   ► screenshots like it because it has to

◼   ► basically be a change that people would

◼   ► actually notice the difference between

◼   ► the screenshots in the app and similarly

◼   ► like you know I yeah there's all sorts

◼   ► of things that you need to maybe do to

◼   ► the screenshots cleaning them up if you

◼   ► like do things like fishing the status

◼   ► bar to make it you know it's a nice even

◼   ► you know full battery no carrier you

◼   ► know stuff like that basically what you

◼   ► get when you when you toggle the when

◼   ► you toggle it into QuickTime capture

◼   ► mode do people know that you can do that

◼   ► like this is a widely known thing I

◼   ► don't know it's probably specifying here

◼   ► yeah so so basically this is a thing

◼   ► when Apple added the ability to do app

◼   ► preview videos which will probably also

◼   ► discuss they they added to QuickTime on

◼   ► the Mac QuickTime Player on the Mac the

◼   ► ability to use the iPhone as a screen

◼   ► capture device and record screencast

◼   ► movies onto the Mac of the iPhone screen

◼   ► and so this is very useful for recording

◼   ► one of the side effects of this is

◼   ► whenever the iPhone is being captured by

◼   ► QuickTime the iPhone goes into a special

◼   ► mode where its status bar gets replaced

◼   ► with this perfect version that's the

◼   ► display the time is 942 now 41 I find 41

◼   ► yeah 9:41 a.m. and displays its full

◼   ► battery full reception no ugly carrier

◼   ► name so it basically makes me perfect

◼   ► pretty status bar and as long as the as

◼   ► long as the phone is connected to

◼   ► QuickTime in this way it stays that way

◼   ► so what I usually do if I can't easily

◼   ► like you know fake them with static

◼   ► status bars that I've generated

◼   ► elsewhere is I will take all of my

◼   ► screenshots with the phone in this mode

◼   ► with it connected to QuickTime so I have

◼   ► perfect status bars on all of them it's

◼   ► a neat little hack that you know you can

◼   ► do I wish it was easier to do this there

◼   ► are there are some hacks there's

◼   ► something called status bar magic that

◼   ► that at one time at least would change

◼   ► the iOS simulator into this mode which

◼   ► made it even easier but I believe that

◼   ► that doesn't work anymore or

◼   ► occasionally doesn't work with new

◼   ► versions or whatever else but that's a

◼   ► nice little way to get nice clean

◼   ► screenshot satis bars yeah and I think

◼   ► it's probably worth of us are just

◼   ► talking briefly about what makes a good

◼   ► screenshot yeah cuz I feel like there's

◼   ► there's like these this this wide

◼   ► spectrum of what you can do in a

◼   ► screenshot like on the one extreme you

◼   ► have the screenshots that are like like

◼   ► illustrations or whatever where you have

◼   ► like a 3d iPhone in space that's like I

◼   ► said a lot of fun recently now where

◼   ► they have an iPhone that's like tilted

◼   ► to the side that spans two screenshots

◼   ► so it's like taking advantage of the

◼   ► fact that the first two screenshots are

◼   ► shown next to each other in the search

◼   ► area and so they'll like take an iPhone

◼   ► and like turn it to the side and make it

◼   ► sort of almost a landscape you know

◼   ► thing across diagonally you can take

◼   ► that's the one extreme where you have

◼   ► that or you have lots of words in your

◼   ► you know in your screenshots will be

◼   ► like you know awesome amazing super

◼   ► terrific app written in the screenshot

◼   ► or on the other extreme you have the

◼   ► screenshots that are just screenshots of

◼   ► the app I suppose like things that are

◼   ► less trying to explicitly tell you a

◼   ► story and more just show you what the

◼   ► app is like I've tried both I think in

◼   ► general I've tended towards doing the

◼   ► just screen shots of the app approach I

◼   ► find that that I think is I'm better

◼   ► able to execute it a in terms of I'm not

◼   ► a great designer like coming up with

◼   ► pretty clever things is not really my

◼   ► you know my forte and I think I try and

◼   ► typically in my screenshots I tell it's

◼   ► probably like tell a story in the sense

◼   ► of having them be consistent with each

◼   ► other you know so I try not to have

◼   ► showed the app like you know it depends

◼   ► on the app but you know if I'm saying

◼   ► sleepless Plus if I have a detailed view

◼   ► of a night you know that same night will

◼   ► also appear in the first screenshot

◼   ► where it was like the the roll up view

◼   ► and things like that just so that

◼   ► there's some consistency across it that

◼   ► you could kind of see how someone would

◼   ► you be using the app you know but mostly

◼   ► I think the purpose of these screenshots

◼   ► is just to give someone a sense of what

◼   ► the app is like and I think you in

◼   ► generally do better doing it that way

◼   ► then trying to be too cutesy with it but

◼   ► maybe I'm just not artistic enough to

◼   ► make a really good cutesy approach yeah

◼   ► I feel like I've never actually tried

◼   ► the whole like abstract version of

◼   ► screenshots where you remove where it is

◼   ► it's no longer actually a screenshot of

◼   ► the app and you you add text around it

◼   ► and you span it across multiple frames

◼   ► I've I've never actually done this and

◼   ► the main reason why similar to your

◼   ► reasons is that a I don't think I would

◼   ► be very good at it and be it feels like

◼   ► that shouldn't be allowed it's it's one

◼   ► of those things kind of like like adding

◼   ► keywords after your app title which I

◼   ► didn't do but now I do

◼   ► in part because when I created overcast

◼   ► the the strict name overcast was already

◼   ► taken so I had to put something else

◼   ► after it but I also not do it because I

◼   ► think it benefits me in search we're now

◼   ► you know the Anil IMAP officially is

◼   ► overcast : podcasts player similarly I

◼   ► think I think doing these these like

◼   ► fancier non actually screenshot

◼   ► screenshots

◼   ► I think it it shouldn't be allowed I

◼   ► honestly think it it that should be a

◼   ► rule in the AppStore those should not be

◼   ► allowed but it's so widespread I mean

◼   ► almost every app with any budget at all

◼   ► does that now it is it is almost

◼   ► ridiculous how universal that is and how

◼   ► incredibly perverted the concept of

◼   ► screenshots have become like it there it

◼   ► is nothing like actual screenshots for

◼   ► most apps it there now they might as

◼   ► well just say marketing image one

◼   ► through five like that's because that's

◼   ► really what they are now there's there

◼   ► is no relevance to screenshots at all

◼   ► ultimately I suspect that people like us

◼   ► will probably have to do that at some

◼   ► point maybe now maybe in the future just

◼   ► because it probably does work better to

◼   ► get because it does make your app look

◼   ► fancier because you're able to show big

◼   ► marketing text and and all these like

◼   ► fancy things that that a standard screen

◼   ► child would not show and again like I

◼   ► wish it wasn't allowed but the fact is

◼   ► it is allowed and everyone's doing it

◼   ► and we might be at a disadvantage by not

◼   ► doing it yeah and of course the funny

◼   ► thing is it I believe it did use to not

◼   ► be allowed you know like the advantage

◼   ► of having been in the App Store since it

◼   ► began I'm pretty sure it used to be a

◼   ► strict rule that you couldn't do that

◼   ► and then people started you know getting

◼   ► a little bit more clever with it where

◼   ► it used to be like some every now and

◼   ► then you would have an app where it was

◼   ► you wouldn't have any words but you

◼   ► would put the a screenshot on an iPhone

◼   ► so you just have a little border on the

◼   ► outside and then they kind of that

◼   ► border got smaller and then you'd pop

◼   ► start putting separating words and then

◼   ► I remember I think when I knew that like

◼   ► whatever the war was over and it was now

◼   ► gonna be allowed was when the Apple

◼   ► Store app like the official Apple Apple

◼   ► Store app for iPad was released and it's

◼   ► screenshots included what you know like

◼   ► a shrunk down version running on an iPad

◼   ► with we no black text on a white

◼   ► background you know on a white

◼   ► background is there screenshot and it's

◼   ► like all right well if Apple is doing it

◼   ► in their own apps now I guess that war

◼   ► is done and now it is allowed but yeah

◼   ► it's it's a tricky thing because I feel

◼   ► like I don't like it too much I mean I

◼   ► can see why people use it but

◼   ► if one thing anytime you put text in a

◼   ► screenshot like that and it gets resized

◼   ► so many different ways like text doesn't

◼   ► resize very cleanly and nicely and I

◼   ► think you can always look it off and

◼   ► look a bit tricky you know look not as

◼   ► nice as you might want it to be and I

◼   ► think also it makes it less localized

◼   ► murder makes localization much more

◼   ► complicated because suddenly you know

◼   ► there's a lot of apps the core of the

◼   ► app doesn't need localization you know

◼   ► it's like if I have a in an app that

◼   ► displays your step count like your step

◼   ► count is your step count and I mean

◼   ► there's certainly some countries where

◼   ► you would display you know there's

◼   ► different small little texts that are

◼   ► different but you can get a better sense

◼   ► of the amp you know but if I have been

◼   ► big letters above you know step count

◼   ► like that only really works if you're

◼   ► looking at the App Store in English and

◼   ► so doing something more specific is a

◼   ► little bit problematic in that regard as

◼   ► well yeah and it's also interesting that

◼   ► that the the watch and app preview

◼   ► videos explicitly prohibit anything

◼   ► beyond screen shot like of the actual

◼   ► app running dim but like I know in

◼   ► previous videos it seemed like that was

◼   ► starts and maybe not get enforced as

◼   ► strictly recently and that's probably

◼   ► over - though it's important to remember

◼   ► that with watch screenshots you want to

◼   ► set the time to 1009 oh yeah that is the

◼   ► official I don't know these things are

◼   ► always kind of funny that they become

◼   ► these these little traditions that you

◼   ► know iPhone screenshots should be set at

◼   ► 9:41 watch screenshots should be set at

◼   ► ten or nine well that's that's not

◼   ► because of the unveiling time but that's

◼   ► a watch thing long story I mean because

◼   ► it makes the watch look happy right yeah

◼   ► pretty much

◼   ► and it shows the logo and it frames it

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◼   ► kind of big area of setting up an app in

◼   ► 19 Connect is probably writing the

◼   ► description which is an area that I feel

◼   ► like I have very mixed feelings about

◼   ► because it's displayed very prominently

◼   ► you know these the first two lines of it

◼   ► or the first you know couple sentences

◼   ► interpret displayed very prominently in

◼   ► the app store but I know for myself that

◼   ► I never basically read them

◼   ► for any app that I've ever downloaded

◼   ► like I mostly just look at screenshots

◼   ► and based my decisions of if I want to

◼   ► download the app from that and so I try

◼   ► kind of go back and forth when I'm

◼   ► writing these or how important they are

◼   ► how you know how much information I want

◼   ► to put in there do I want to do it as

◼   ► kind of like a wall of text or should I

◼   ► do a bulleted list I think there's

◼   ► definitely this this weird tension there

◼   ► because it is one of the few

◼   ► opportunities this this this opportunity

◼   ► to reach out to our customers and you

◼   ► know talk to them directly but I think

◼   ► in recent years but I had tended towards

◼   ► is you know the app store description is

◼   ► as short as I can write it like I tend

◼   ► to write one paragraph like maybe four

◼   ► or five sentences at most that describes

◼   ► the app and its core functionality and

◼   ► then below that I tend to do a bulleted

◼   ► list of kind of like the checklist

◼   ► features that someone might be wondering

◼   ► about you know it's like does this

◼   ► integrate with this does this use this

◼   ► that kind of thing and then I just like

◼   ► that is my description so that the

◼   ► top-level thing and especially that

◼   ► first sentence has to be as good as I

◼   ► can make it because for most users

◼   ► that's all they'll ever see and so I

◼   ► want to make like describe the app in

◼   ► it's like the elevator pitch for the app

◼   ► it's like in that first you know maybe

◼   ► 120 characters or so like you really

◼   ► need to be able to dial in exactly what

◼   ► the app does and why someone might want

◼   ► it anything beyond that first couple of

◼   ► sentences I find not to have much effect

◼   ► at all and this is yet another field of

◼   ► the app store just like screenshot so

◼   ► we're like you know abuse was pretty

◼   ► rampant from day one and so it stopped

◼   ► very quickly it's not being used for any

◼   ► kind of search relevance as far as we

◼   ► can tell and it's you know most a

◼   ► prescriptions are filled with like you

◼   ► know star star star on sale now star

◼   ► star star or a list of apps that it's

◼   ► similar to or a list of like you know

◼   ► websites that might have said something

◼   ► about it once 10 years ago or something

◼   ► like they're fairly low value as a

◼   ► reader and I find that as far as we can

◼   ► kind of guess or figure it doesn't seem

◼   ► like people read them very closely this

◼   ► is one area though where like and this

◼   ► applies to a lot of these metadata

◼   ► things that if you have a free app

◼   ► you're at a serious advantage because if

◼   ► you have a paid app I feel like people

◼   ► people probably give these things more

◼   ► scrutiny description and screenshots

◼   ► everything else whereas if you have a

◼   ► free app it's so easy to just tap that

◼   ► get button and just try it for yourself

◼   ► looks is way better than trying to spend

◼   ► 15 minutes waffling over you know four

◼   ► different app descriptions figuring out

◼   ► which ones like if it's free you can

◼   ► just get it and see and see for yourself

◼   ► whether it's for you or not and so I

◼   ► think for free apps these things matter

◼   ► a lot less but for you know for paid

◼   ► apps it's obviously probably a different

◼   ► story because the buyer behavior is

◼   ► different but this is kind of yet

◼   ► another area where if you have a free

◼   ► app you do have some advantages that

◼   ► like you can put pretty much anything or

◼   ► nothing in the screenshot in description

◼   ► and as long as it's like slightly

◼   ► relevant to get people downloading it

◼   ► yeah and I think it's nicer probably

◼   ► there's some weird things that you may

◼   ► also have to include in your description

◼   ► yeah like I know for myself I do a lot a

◼   ► bunch of apps that integrate with

◼   ► healthkit and I need to include in the

◼   ► app store description a little side

◼   ► little sentence that says you know this

◼   ► app integrates with the health database

◼   ► on your iPhone you know you'll be given

◼   ► the option to grant or deny access to

◼   ► this or something like that like I and

◼   ► if I don't if I don't have that in my

◼   ► app store description my app will be

◼   ► rejected and so it's something to keep

◼   ► in mind that image varies based on the

◼   ► category but like for example that's

◼   ► something that you may need to do and so

◼   ► in a weird way this is the place where

◼   ► you put like the small print you know

◼   ► this is the I feel like the legal

◼   ► disclaimers and things like you may need

◼   ► to also just put those at the bottom of

◼   ► your description field to cover yourself

◼   ► there as well yeah same thing with Auto

◼   ► renewal subscriptions also have one of

◼   ► those required blurbs and this really

◼   ► isn't documented anywhere so you just

◼   ► have to basically submit an app without

◼   ► knowing that get rejected have the

◼   ► rejection tell you what the description

◼   ► needs to include and then resubmit that

◼   ► a lot of people have to go through that

◼   ► thank you very special thanks to Curtis

◼   ► Herbert of Coca love Fame for saving me

◼   ► that rejection loop on overcast

◼   ► subscription last fall he reminded me of

◼   ► it like right before I submit it it was

◼   ► it it was right after I submitted before

◼   ► it was reviewed so I could still go and

◼   ► edit description yeah I mean if the

◼   ► reality is though yeah I don't worry

◼   ► about descriptions as much

◼   ► used to I worry I may be over the first

◼   ► two or three sentences and then beyond

◼   ► that I'm just trying to be plain and

◼   ► simple and like straight forward and I

◼   ► feel like that accomplishes most of what

◼   ► a description is you know trying to do

◼   ► so I think the other areas that are you

◼   ► go through you set the ratings for the

◼   ► app I think that's fairly

◼   ► straightforward like you just kind of

◼   ► think about your app and like does it

◼   ► include this does it include that and

◼   ► you just kind of check the box and you

◼   ► know it's the nice thing about that

◼   ► section is that as you're just you know

◼   ► saying does it do this does it do that

◼   ► you'll the update the rating that your

◼   ► app would get as a result will update in

◼   ► real time and so you can get a sense of

◼   ► you know like why is my app 13 plus or

◼   ► whatever then you can work out we know

◼   ► which of those criteria is doing that

◼   ► and then you know decide I've obviously

◼   ► if for whatever reason that would be

◼   ► problematic for your application then

◼   ► you can make the appropriate changes and

◼   ► the keywords for it I think is the next

◼   ► area that is basically you're just

◼   ► trying this is important like dark magic

◼   ► about this where people go into great

◼   ► did you know Drake depths have tried to

◼   ► work out what the optimum keywords are

◼   ► for an app and I used to go down that

◼   ► road a bit more I mean I try and be

◼   ► thoughtful about it now and I always

◼   ► make sure that I fill out my keywords

◼   ► field because in theory these are the

◼   ► you know these are the keywords that are

◼   ► used in search to determine if your app

◼   ► is going to show up or not but I mean

◼   ► the weird thing about it is unless your

◼   ► app is showing up very highly for one of

◼   ► these terms it doesn't really matter if

◼   ► you show up on the search you know so if

◼   ► you include a term that you're gonna you

◼   ► know be the hundredth search result for

◼   ► it's as though you didn't include that

◼   ► keyword in some ways as well

◼   ► so mostly this is just trying to sort of

◼   ► cover your bases B and just put things

◼   ► in there that will help the app I guess

◼   ► you know whatever the app store search

◼   ► engine understand your app it better you

◼   ► know give it a lot of words and then

◼   ► hopefully you know sometimes it's

◼   ► probably useful like if your app does

◼   ► you know it has a petunia it has a has a

◼   ► couple of you know branches a couple of

◼   ► different genres of app or does a couple

◼   ► of different things then like maybe I

◼   ► make

◼   ► to be crazy thoughtful and like dive

◼   ► into it but beyond just that basic stuff

◼   ► I kind of just sit down think for 10

◼   ► minutes and then move on yeah and you

◼   ► know and there are services and stuff

◼   ► that will help you allegedly optimize

◼   ► keyboards and stuff like that and

◼   ► honestly I've never found their high

◼   ► prices worth the risk of even trying

◼   ► them because it's it seems like it's

◼   ► very much like SEO tactics of like this

◼   ► might work but you also are probably

◼   ► just getting ripped off yeah and one

◼   ► thing I will say that's probably worth

◼   ► thinking about is using the new search

◼   ► ads interface in that we got with the

◼   ► search ads stuff you can there you can

◼   ► specify one of the things you can see is

◼   ► what keywords are showing up our shark

◼   ► converting well against your app and

◼   ► these can be ones that Apple is

◼   ► generating not necessarily you're

◼   ► generating yourself and so one thing I

◼   ► have done subsequently this when I'll

◼   ► run in a search campaign for an app and

◼   ► they'll go in and make sure that there

◼   ► aren't any keywords that are doing well

◼   ► in the search ad thing that are for

◼   ► whatever reason not showing up I didn't

◼   ► include in my keywords and so it's just

◼   ► a good little like check to be like huh

◼   ► is there something here that I need to

◼   ► you know that I should include in my

◼   ► keywords or alternatively you can see

◼   ► sometimes there's keywords that seem

◼   ► like they would be good keywords for

◼   ► your app but when I run a search

◼   ► campaign against them they perform

◼   ► really poorly and so it's probably like

◼   ► actually maybe I don't want to show up

◼   ► in that area like there's a better

◼   ► keyword that I can you know that could I

◼   ► could put it in place of that one so

◼   ► that's another little tool that we have

◼   ► is we're trying to hone those in yeah

◼   ► and the last area is probably the app

◼   ► review notes area which in some ways is

◼   ► some that you may not think you know I

◼   ► never really need to use but I will say

◼   ► it's always a good idea to try and think

◼   ► of it is there anything that you want to

◼   ► communicate to the app reviewer about

◼   ► your app and if so put it in that field

◼   ► anything you've been rejected for in the

◼   ► past that have seen that you've since

◼   ► fixed like I have a whole list of these

◼   ► for all my different apps that I'll you

◼   ► know like things that they they you know

◼   ► they I was rejected for and I have since

◼   ► fixed I will indicate that and write

◼   ► that out in the app review notes and

◼   ► just say hey you know I'd like this was

◼   ► in the year there was one there used to

◼   ► be a problem with this

◼   ► it was innocence been resolved because

◼   ► sometimes the a per viewer will miss

◼   ► something and it just saves a bunch of

◼   ► time to just be very upfront and

◼   ► explicit and say like you used to

◼   ► you know there used to not have a

◼   ► restorer purchases button I do now

◼   ► it works it's great and it just has

◼   ► saved me I think time over is pricey

◼   ► saving our viewers time in my time just

◼   ► be clear about these things so you know

◼   ► take advantage of that field if it's

◼   ► something that you can think about and

◼   ► with that route of time this week thanks

◼   ► listening everybody and we'll talk to

◼   ► you next week bye