App Store Promotional Text: Using Your 170 Characters

Promotional text is a 170-character field that shows up at the top of the description on your App Store product page. It's the only marketing text you can change at any time without submitting a new version. The trade-off: Apple states plainly that it has no effect on your ranking. It's there to convince people, not to get you found.

Use it for what's new with your app: a limited-time offer, a feature on the way, a time of year. Anything stable goes elsewhere: your core promise in the subtitle, the details in the description, your search terms in the keywords field.

I publish my own iOS apps, including Solys and TradaZen, with product pages in 38 languages. This guide is based on the App Store Connect help pages, reread on October 15, 2026, and on a trap I fell into while updating Solys.

App Store promotional text: what Apple says

Three official pages are enough to pin down this field.

• The limit is 170 characters. The help page Platform version information says it appears above the description and informs visitors "without requiring an updated submission."
• You can edit it whenever you want. Apple's page on the product page confirms this and suggests using it to announce limited-time sales or upcoming features.
• It isn't indexed. The page on App Store search says it doesn't affect ranking and shouldn't be used to display keywords.

The field is optional. It also exists on every custom product page, with its own text for each page and each language.

Every product page field: limit, indexing, editing

This is the table missing from every guide I've read on the topic. It sorts each field by three questions: its limit, its role in search, and whether you can change it once the version is live without creating a new one.

Field	Limit	Indexed	Without a new version
Name	30 characters	Yes	No
Subtitle	30 characters	Yes	No
Keywords	100 bytes	Yes	No
Primary category	Apple's list	Yes	No
Promotional Text	170 characters	No	Yes
Description	4,000 characters	Web only	No
What's New	4,000 characters	Not mentioned	No
Screenshots	10 per size	Not mentioned	No
App previews	3 per size	Not mentioned	No
Support URL	Not specified	Not mentioned	No
Privacy Policy URL	Not specified	Not mentioned	No
Copyright	Not specified	Not mentioned	Yes
Privacy labels	Not applicable	Not mentioned	Yes

How to read this table:

• "Yes" in the Indexed column matches the four elements Apple lists for text relevance: name, subtitle, keywords and primary category. For the description, the help pages say it's used by web search engines once the app is out. Apple also generates app tags with language models based on your metadata, so the description isn't useless, but it doesn't rank you.
• The keywords limit is in bytes. In UTF-8, an accented letter takes two, a Chinese character three.
• The last column follows Apple's official table of properties you can edit at any time, completed with the product page guide for promotional text, description and subtitle. For the name, the help page on app information says it can only change afterward with a new version. Keywords and screenshots aren't in that table: on your main product page, they change with the version.

A new version requires a new build, uploaded with its version number. With Expo, a remote update (EAS Update) never touches the product page. While your version is in preparation or rejected, though, its metadata stays editable.

Picking the words that matter for search is covered in App Store keywords, and image dimensions in App Store screenshot sizes.

Subtitle, description, What's New: who does what

Each field has a job, and promotional text doesn't replace any of the others.

The subtitle sums up the app in 30 characters, under its name, everywhere on the App Store. Search reads it. Apple recommends evolving it from version to version to find the wording that gets the most engagement.

The description goes into the features. Its first sentence matters most: it's the only one people read without tapping "more." Apple advises against putting specific prices there, since they can be wrong depending on the country. And for information that changes often, Apple itself points you to promotional text.

What's New says what changes in this version. The field doesn't exist for the first version, then it becomes required.

Promotional text is read before the description. Think of it as a shop window: it says what's true this week.

When to change your promotional text

Four moments work well:

1. A limited-time offer: launch price, discount on the annual subscription, extended trial. Remove the mention the day the offer ends.
2. A feature that's coming or just shipped. Apple mentions upcoming features. Announce what's really shipping soon, never a vague promise.
3. A time of year that fits your use case: back to school for an alarm app, January for a fitness app.
4. An award. Apple recommends putting an award at the end of the description or in the promotional text.

For a dated event, Apple also offers In-App Events: they get their own card, can show up in search results and go through review.

Promotional text doesn't require a new submission, but it's still subject to the metadata rules. In a 2.3.10 rejection posted on Apple's forums, the reviewer asked for the offending mention to be removed from the description, the promotional text and What's New. An "also available on Android" in this field is enough to fall under guideline 2.3.10. A rejection that only targets the product page can be fixed without rebuilding, as explained in App Store review time.

Promotional text examples

These examples are made up for this guide. Each one fits under 170 characters, spaces included.

• New feature, recipe app: "New: your shopping list fills itself from this week's recipes. Check, share, done." (82 characters)
• Limited-time offer, alarm app: "Until November 30, the annual plan is half price. Get up on time all winter, without hitting snooze." (100 characters)
• Season, fitness app: "January starts here: 20 minutes a day, no equipment, with a program that adapts to your level from the first session." (117 characters)
• Concrete benefit, reading journal: "Snap a photo of a quote. Find it three years later, sorted by book and by idea, even offline." (93 characters)

On the other hand, "Recipes, cooking, menu, groceries, easy, quick" is useless: this field isn't indexed, and a list of words convinces no one.

Localization: one text per language, and per version

Each language on your product page has its own promotional text. According to the help page on localization, your French product page is shown to people whose device is set to French, in every country where the App Store offers that language. With no matching language, the App Store shows the closest one, or your primary language.

Direct consequence: a price in euros on your French product page also shows in Canada and Switzerland. For an offer, talk in percentages or "half price," like in the example above.

The trap I hit comes from how App Store Connect stores this field. In the App Store Connect API, promotional text belongs to the version, language by language, like the description and What's New. The name and subtitle belong to the app information.

In August 2026, version 1.1 of Solys went out without any of the eight promotional texts from 1.0. No error, no warning. Since then, I check this field in every language before every release.

My checklist before publishing

• Under 170 characters, in every language.
• True today, in every country that reads that language.
• No stacked keywords, no other platform mentioned.
• An end date noted down if it's an offer.
• The field filled in on the new version, before it goes out.

Since this text has no effect on search, judge it by your product page conversion rate in App Analytics, not by your position. Change one thing at a time, and give it a few weeks: the method is in tracking your app's ranking.

For the rest of your product page

The ASO Kit brings together my keyword method, product page templates (description, What's New, a subscription block compliant with guideline 3.1.2) and the skill that translates your product page into 30 languages and then uploads it to App Store Connect.

Getting ready for your first submission? The free diagnostic sends you my Apple anti-rejection checklist and tells you what's left to do. For the complete method, title, subtitle, keywords and screenshots, read the App Store ASO page.

Frequently asked questions

What is promotional text on the App Store?

It's a 170-character field shown at the top of the description on your product page. It's for announcing what's new with your app: an offer, a new feature, an event. You fill it in App Store Connect, language by language.

Does promotional text help my app's search ranking?

No. Apple says it doesn't affect search ranking and shouldn't be used to display keywords. To get found, work on the name, the subtitle and the keywords field.

Do I need a new version to edit promotional text?

No. Apple says it can be updated at any time, without a new submission. Just make sure it's filled in on your next version: it's tied to each version.

How many characters is promotional text?

170 characters max, spaces included. The subtitle allows 30, the description 4,000 and the keywords field 100 bytes.

Does Apple review promotional text?

It doesn't go through a new submission, but it's still subject to the metadata rules. A mention of another platform or a false promise can be flagged by App Review: a 2.3.10 rejection has already cited this field.

What's the difference between the subtitle and promotional text?

The subtitle is 30 characters, appears under the app name across the whole App Store, counts for search and only changes with a new version. Promotional text is 170 characters, only appears on your product page, doesn't count for search and changes whenever you want.