App Store Name and Subtitle: Using Your 30 Characters Well
Your app's name and subtitle are the first words people read and the words Apple weighs most when matching a search. Each has only 30 characters, so every word has to earn its place.
Two fields, two jobs
The name and the subtitle are each limited to 30 characters. Both appear in search results and on your product page, and Apple reads both when deciding which searches to show your app for.
That means they serve two audiences at once: Apple's search system, and the person deciding whether to tap. Write for the person first. A listing that ranks but does not persuade loses the install anyway.
The name
Your name should be recognisable and memorable, and, where it can be done naturally, include the single most important phrase you want to be found for. A brand name plus a short descriptor is a common pattern.
- Put the most valuable phrase near the start, where it reads best in a crowded list.
- Keep it honest. Names stuffed with unrelated terms look spammy and can be rejected in review.
- Check the final length. Thirty characters includes spaces and punctuation.
The subtitle
The subtitle is your second chance to say what the app does. Use it for a second key phrase and a benefit, written as a plain sentence fragment.
- Do not repeat words from the name. They are already read, so repeating them wastes characters.
- Lead with what the person gets: "Brackets and scores, simplified" says more than a list of terms.
- Avoid claims you cannot support, such as "#1" or "best". They break the review guidelines.
Fitting phrases together
Apple combines words across your name, subtitle and keyword field. So you do not need each exact phrase written out: you need the right words present somewhere. If "tournament" is in the name and "bracket" is in the subtitle, you can match "tournament bracket" without spending characters on the whole phrase twice.
Plan the three fields together. Decide the handful of phrases that matter most, then spread their words across the name, subtitle and keyword field so nothing is repeated and nothing important is missing.
Localise them
Each language of your listing has its own name and subtitle. A translation that reads naturally and uses the words people in that country actually search will do more than a literal one. If you can, research phrases per language, as described in App Store keyword research.
Test one change at a time
Name and subtitle changes go out with an app version. Change one field at a time, note the release date, and check your rankings a few days later. If you change everything at once you will not know what worked. MetricNudge's Keywords tool shows each tracked phrase's rank over time, so a before-and-after comparison takes a minute.
Try it on your own app
MetricNudge tracks your keyword rankings in every storefront, shows your app's analytics, and writes a plain-words plan of what to do next. The free plan needs no card.