Kickstart

Press & Featuring

Every Press & Featuring post from the Kickstart blog, condensed to its key points – skim the bullets, and read the full article when you want the detail.

How to get featured on the App Store: nominations, timing, and what editors want

  • The Nominations form: App Store Connect gives you a free, direct route to Apple’s editorial team – choose App Launch, App Enhancements, or New Content under Featuring in the sidebar.
  • Set realistic expectations: Michael Flarup estimates the best features today bring tens of thousands of downloads rather than millions, so treat featuring as an amplifier for an app that’s already strong.
  • Lead with your story: Editors are journalists who need material, so open with why you built the app and who your team is – not your feature list.
  • Know the published criteria: Apple’s “getting featured” page lists what editors look for – user experience, UI design, innovation, uniqueness, accessibility, localization, and your product page – and none of that work is wasted.
  • Submit weeks in advance: Apple asks for at least three weeks of notice, but always aim for more, particularly when targeting editorial moments like OS launches and seasonal collections by name.
  • Build human connections: WWDR folks are active on social media and at Apple’s developer events, and thanking engineers for what you built with their APIs opens doors where a direct ask for featuring never works.
Read the full article →

How to make an app press kit journalists actually open

  • One page, zero excuses: put the kit at yourapp.com/press on your own domain – not Google Drive, not Dropbox, and not an email attachment – so a writer can cover your app without emailing you a single question.
  • Seven boring facts: lead with a fact sheet of app name, one-sentence pitch, price in real numbers (not “freemium”), platforms, release date, developer, and store link – missing or vague pricing is the single most common gap.
  • Raw screenshots, not adverts: publications can’t run framed App Store shots as editorial images, so provide 6–12 full-resolution PNGs with realistic demo data, your 1024×1024 icon, and a single zip of everything.
  • Three sizes of copy: a quotable one-sentence pitch, a single paragraph, and a fuller write-up, plus feature bullets written as standalone sentences because they often get lifted straight into articles.
  • Prove you’re real: a two-sentence bio, links to your best coverage (skip the section entirely if you have none), and a real name and email at top and bottom – never a contact form.
  • Two to four weeks early: have the kit live and linked in a pitch before release rather than on launch day, and never move the URL – journalists bookmark it, and a 404 costs you the follow-up article too.
Read the full article →