Guide

How to nominate your app for App Store featuring

Jul 19, 2026 Prepare a strong App Store nomination: story, timing, marketing materials, related in-app events, and how Helm helps you manage drafts and upcoming pitches.

App Store featuring is editorial, not a paid placement you can guarantee. A clear nomination still matters: it is how you tell Apple what is new, why it is timely, and who it is for. This guide covers how to prepare a strong pitch and how Helm nominations keep drafts organized on Mac.

What featuring teams look for

Patterns that show up again and again:

A crisp customer story, not a feature laundry list
Timeliness (launch, cultural moment, season, platform debut)
High-quality visuals that match what ships
Inclusive, well-localized experiences when relevant
Evidence the app is stable and cared for

Read the baseline terms in the App Store Nominations glossary.

Pick a story, not every changelog bullet

Your nomination should answer:

What changed for the customer?
Why now?
Why should someone who never heard of you care?

Example angles: a major redesign that improves accessibility, a new mode for a specific profession, a content partnership with a real end date, or a meaningful expansion into new markets with full localization.

If everything is “also improved,” nothing is memorable.

Timing

Nominate ahead of the moment. Editorial calendars fill up. Tie the pitch to:

A version that will be live or locked for review
An in-app event already scheduled
A cultural or seasonal hook that will not slip

Do not nominate a half-built feature hoping the date will work itself out.

Materials to prepare

Headline and description in plain language
Screenshots or film that show the story without tiny text
Press kit links if you have them
Related in-app events when the featuring moment is event-shaped
Regions and languages ready on day one
Support plan if traffic spikes

Helm lets you browse draft, upcoming, and past nominations, prepare marketing materials, and link in-app events so the pitch and the storefront stay aligned.

Writing the pitch

Keep paragraphs short. Lead with the user outcome. Mention craft and platform fit where honest (SwiftUI, accessibility work, Apple technologies) without turning the nomination into an API résumé.

Avoid:

Superlatives you cannot defend
Comparisons that dunk on competitors by name
Spoilers that depend on NDAs you have not cleared
Placeholders like “TBD screenshots”

How Helm helps

Nominations in Helm are a Mac workflow for creating and tracking pitches next to the rest of your release work. Instead of digging through App Store Connect only when you remember, you can keep drafts beside the version and events they describe.

Pair nominations with a solid store listing, current screenshots, and accessibility nutrition labels so editorial does not bounce off an unfinished product page.

After you submit a nomination

Featuring is selective. Silence is common. Keep shipping. If you are featured, be ready:

Servers and support coverage
Marketing posts that match the editorial framing
Localized listing quality in featured territories
A follow-up build plan if the story drives a wave of new reviews

Treat a declined or unanswered nomination as research, not failure. Ask what was weak: timing, visuals, story clarity, or product readiness. Improve those inputs for the next meaningful moment instead of renominating the same pitch weekly.