App Store Marketing
App Store Marketing covers the full app growth stack - ASO, Apple Search Ads, Google App Campaigns, paid social, DSPs, retention, CRM, creatives and app UX optimisation.
Daily thought from Tom, the ASM editor-in-chief... Healthcare apps keep discovering the same truth: once care goes app-led, ‘launch’ is just when the responsibility starts. Tiny win: map three lifecycle states you can detect cleanly (results ready, renewal window, inactivity) and sanity-check your consent banner, because broken ad_storage plumbing turns real-world outcomes into “missing” conversions.
Start here: core guides
View all guides
Start here: What is App Store Marketing?
What it is, what’s changed, and the levers that still matter.
ASO Guide 2026
Positioning → metadata → creative → iteration cadence (a repeatable system).
Apple Search Ads Guide
Structure, bidding, creative, and incrementality - without hype.
ASO checklist
A simple weekly routine to keep listings compounding.
App marketing tools
A curated toolbox for research, creative, and measurement.
UK retail Apple Ads: the App Store search wars (whitepaper + key takeaways)
A quick, skimmable summary of ConsultMyApp’s UK retail Apple Ads whitepaper, with the charts, the ‘intent not category’ lesson, and a simple workflow you can steal.
Latest
- Google Play Terms update (effective July 29, 2026): background data language + subscription charge window
- Google Play (US): your listing can appear in third-party store catalogs (and you must opt out if you don’t want it)
- Email open tracking in Europe: why the pixel now needs consent (Courier)
- App Store Marketing Weekly – Week 29 (2026)
- App Store Connect age ratings now ask about social media capabilities (Apple Developer News)
- The quiet app advantage for publishers: super users, anonymous audiences, and the measurement gap (Pugpig)
News feed
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App Store Marketing Weekly – Week 29 (2026)
This week’s theme: your store listing is becoming a travelling artifact. If it can show up in more places, vague claims and stale creatives turn into support tickets, not just ‘conversion issues’.
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Google Play Terms update (effective July 29, 2026): background data language + subscription charge window
Google’s updated Play Terms (July 29, 2026 version) tightens the language around background data usage and clarifies a 48-hour subscription charge window. It’s not a growth ‘feature’, but it can drive support tickets and renewal expectation mismatches.
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Google Play (US): your listing can appear in third-party store catalogs (and you must opt out if you don’t want it)
Google Play says US app and game listings (name, icon, description, screenshots, video) may be shared with enrolled third-party US Android app stores starting July 22, 2026. The download still completes through Google Play, but your catalog footprint just got wider.
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Email open tracking in Europe: why the pixel now needs consent (Courier)
France (CNIL) and Italy (Garante) are treating open-tracking pixels like cookies. Practical implication: keep sending emails, but only fire the pixel when the recipient has opted in.
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App Store Connect age ratings now ask about social media capabilities (Apple Developer News)
A summary of Apple’s new age-rating questions for ‘social media capabilities’, how it affects the Time Allowances Social Media category, and what teams should do before September submissions.
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The quiet app advantage for publishers: super users, anonymous audiences, and the measurement gap (Pugpig)
A summary of Pugpig’s 2026 Media App Report themes: engagement is up, rich formats create ‘super users’, but anonymous usage and weak measurement block monetisation and retention work.
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Google Play Terms: subscriptions can be charged 48 hours early (and Google finally spells out background data)
Android Authority highlights Google Play’s updated Terms of Service (effective July 29, 2026), including a new ‘System Services’ section, clearer background mobile data language, and a change that allows subscription renewals to be charged up to 48 hours before the next billing period.
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Google Play: age verification bills turn into product work (Play Age Signals API, Texas SB 2420)
Google Play outlines how Texas’ SB 2420 and similar laws change developer obligations, introducing the Play Age Signals API (beta) plus new Play Console workflows for ‘significant changes’ and parental approval status.
More stories
- Win-back campaigns, but on the web: a practical way to recover churned subscribers (RevenueCat)
- Apple Developer: Hello Developer (July 2026) is a quiet reminder to refresh your dev + design ops
- App Store Marketing Weekly – Week 28 (2026)
- 4 CRM shifts in 2026: incrementality, zero-party data journeys, and loyalty that changes behaviour
- A quick reality check on App Store privacy labels and ATT: the numbers are still huge (42matters)
See more
- VAR vs own goal: why short, event-led keywords break App Store search (ConsultMyApp)
- UK CMA consults on ‘steering’ rules: letting developers link to off-platform payments (and what ‘fair fees’ could mean)
- App Store Marketing Weekly – Week 27 (2026)
- A grounded way to read a noisy category: gambling apps in the UK App Store (ConsultMyApp)
- Predictive customer analytics: turning churn risk and propensity into usable lifecycle triggers
- Braze: WWDC 2026 makes ‘app opens’ a worse engagement metric
- Mixpanel’s three AI surfaces map to three work styles (Mixpanel)
On the grapevine
Small notes and community chatter worth keeping an eye on (curated and capped).
- Starting July 22, 2026: your US Play listing may be shared with third-party Android app stores Google Play Console Help Primary source. This is the “portable listing” moment. Tiny win: read your first screenshot and first two description lines as if they will be shown in someone else’s store UI. Remove any claim you can’t back up, and make your official support link unmissable.
- Hello Developer (July 2026): new on-site search tool + updated design kits (Figma/Sketch) Apple Developer (Hello Developer) Primary source. Not a “growth” story, but it reduces release chaos. Tiny win: pin the Hello Developer edition link + your top 5 Apple docs into your ship checklist so people stop hunting for canonical pages mid-launch.
- App Store Connect age ratings now include social media capability questions (July 2026) Apple Developer News Primary source. This is a form change with real product implications: you need a clear definition of what counts as “feed-like” UGC in your app, and what “disabled for under 13” truly means in UX.
- Play Terms update (effective July 29, 2026): clearer background data language, 48-hour subscription charge window Google Play (Terms of Service) Primary source. Not a dev feature, but it can drive real support volume. Tiny win: add a short “charged early” macro and sanity-check any renewal reminder timing that assumes T-24h.
- US age verification bills: Play Age Signals API + “significant change” workflow (July 2026) Google Play Console Help Primary source. This turns “kids compliance” into product plumbing. Tiny win: define what counts as a “significant change” for your app, then add a supervised-user branch in your UX and support macros.
See more
- CMA consults on ‘steering’ rules for Apple and Google (UK payments link-out, June 30, 2026) GOV.UK / CMA Primary source. If steering becomes practical, payments becomes a UX + trust + measurement problem, not just a policy line. Tiny win: write a UK-only scenario plan for link-out, receipts, and support macros.
- Expanded billing choice and lower fees on Google Play (June 2026) Android Developers Blog Primary-ish source. The important bit is the fee split (service fee vs billing fee) and how choice screens become a real conversion surface.
- Google simplifies Analytics and Ads consent rules (June 2026): ad_storage becomes the switch Search Engine Land Not app-specific, but it is a real “measurement footgun” moment. Tiny win: audit Consent Mode (ad_storage) on your landing pages now, and set an alert for sudden conversion dips that smell like tracking, not performance.