App Store Promotional Text vs Description: Where Each Appears and What to Write

Promotional text is the short note above your description. It holds up to 170 characters and ships without a new version, while description holds up to 4000 characters and ships with a new one. Use the first for timely news and the second for stable value, and put keywords in neither, as of November 2026.

This guide is for iOS developers who own their App Store Connect listing. It compares the two fields side by side, states each Apple limit with its source, and shows what to write in each.

What is each field, and where does it appear?

Promotional Text is a short message at the top of your description. Apple shows it above the description on devices with iOS 11 or later, so readers see it before they expand the full text (Apple's product page). Use it for current news such as a new feature, a season event, or a limited sale.

Description is the main body of your product page. It details features and functionality, appears on the product page and at install time, and feeds web search results after release (Apple's platform version information). Write it as plain text with line breaks where you need them. Apple does not support HTML in this field.

The first sentence of your description carries the most weight for readers. Most shoppers read it without tapping to expand, so state what the app does and why it matters in that sentence (Apple's product page).

What are the limits and rules side by side?

Apple phrases the version rule plainly. You can update promotional text at any time without a new version, and you update description when you submit a new version (Apple's product page). The reference adds that description is required and localizable, and that promotional text informs visitors without an updated submission (Apple's platform version information).

Example with a made-up app, counted with Python before publishing. A tide app named Harbor could set this promotional text:

New in 4.2: offline tide charts and storm alerts. Limited launch sale ends Sunday.

That line uses 82 of the 170 characters. Its description could then open with a stable sentence that stays true across versions:

Harbor tracks tides, currents, and storms for coastal trips, with offline charts and alerts you can read at a glance.

That sentence uses 117 of the 4000 characters. The counts leave room for a short feature list below it.

Two more Apple rules shape both fields. Do not add unnecessary keywords to description to chase search results. Do not list specific prices in description, since the store already shows pricing and your text can be wrong across regions (Apple's product page). If you mention an award, Apple recommends placing it at the end of description or in promotional text (Apple's product page).

Does promotional text or description affect search?

Promotional Text does not affect search ranking. Apple states that it does not affect ranking and that you should not use it to display keywords (Apple's product page). Apple's search page repeats the point in its keyword guidance (Apple's search page).

Apple says search results rest on text relevance plus user behavior. Text relevance covers matches in app name, Subtitle, Keywords, and primary category. Behavior covers downloads, ratings, reviews, and related signals (Apple's search page).

Two things remain unknown because Apple does not document them. Apple publishes no weighting across the relevancy fields, so no source supports claims such as subtitle counts twice as much as keywords. Apple also does not state whether description text feeds search indexing, so treat description as a reader-facing field and do not write it for ranking. Where Apple stays silent, this guide stays silent too.

For context, the adjacent indexed fields carry their own tight limits. Name holds 2 to 30 characters and Subtitle holds up to 30 characters (Apple's app information reference). The Keywords field holds short terms under its own separate rules. This article does not cover that field in depth.

What should you write in each?

Follow these steps when you edit the two fields in App Store Connect.

1. Put one timely message in Promotional Text. Name the change, the version it belongs to, and the end date when the offer ends.
2. Keep it under 170 characters and read it on a phone width. Cut filler words before you cut facts.
3. Open Description with one sentence that states what the app does and for whom. Assume many readers stop there.
4. Add a concise paragraph plus a short list of main features. Describe outcomes for the reader, not internal code names.
5. Place any award mention at the end of description or in promotional text, not in the opening.
6. Remove keyword lists, rival names, and price lines from both fields. Keep each term relevant to your own app.

Check each edited value twice: once for length and once for meaning. A short field with the wrong date confuses more readers than a long field with the right detail.

What this doesn't cover

This guide covers only the App Store. Google Play follows different rules and is out of scope here.

It does not teach keyword-field tactics such as commas, plurals, or localization trade-offs. That field deserves its own guide with its own Apple sources.

It does not explain how Apple ranks results beyond the factors Apple names. Weighting, keyword weighting, and description indexing are undocumented, so no honest guide can promise a ranking effect from either field.

It does not cover screenshots, app previews, ratings and reviews, analytics, custom product pages, or App Review rejections beyond the keyword-misuse note above. Each of those topics needs its own Apple-first treatment.