With every app update, developers need to provide information about what’s new in their updated app version. This post covers some technical basics for proving releases notes to users and where they do find them in the App Store.
Updated Recently section
When users open their App Store app on their device and tap on their profile picture at the top-right corner, they find a section called “Updated Recently” which lists all the app updates from their currently installed apps. Here, the beginning of the provided release notes is shown.
Physical space is available, depending on the device’s screen width, but information in this view is cut off after two lines whereas the end of the second line shows a “more” action which extends the cell in which the information sits.
Previous interaction models expanded the cell when tapping anywhere on the text view but for some reason Apple changed it so that only the “more” button triggers this behavior.
When extended, the full release notes with the latest version number and the app update size are shown.
App Store product page
Another area is the What’s New section on the Product Page which also shows the version number and time when the app was updated. Although the app update size is not shown here, users get one additional line of information and a button to show the Version History to dive deeper into what has been going on with an app over time.
Formatting
Essential to how customers perceive provided information is how to design release notes in an easy-to-digest way and know what Apple does with it.
Taking the appearances mentioned before, the App Store removes consecutive line breaks (blank lines) in previews (aka when the “more” button is shown) and, overall, does not allow any form of rich text or HTML formatting, leaving developers with 4000 characters plain text to design with.
Information between releases
If a user checks the latest status in the App Store product page, there is a possibility to promote certain information without relying on an app update because this piece of text (max. 170 characters) can be changed anytime without requiring an app update: Promotional Text.
Promotional text lets you inform your App Store visitors of any current app features without requiring an updated submission. This text will appear above your description in the App Store for customers with devices running iOS 11 or later. This property can’t be longer than 170 characters.
Let’s take an example:
Currently, opening PUBG Mobile in the US App Store shows the following snippet in the description section:
All-new Graffiti Prank
Find Intel, Win Chicken Dinners
Get Groovy with Pranks
Get Your Prank On
When checking this against the iTunes Search API when creating a lookup request for PUBG Mobile’s corresponding ID, the previously mentioned snippet is not part of the response.
Promotional Text can also be localized, see PUBG Mobile’s entry in the Austrian App Store.