How to Get Featured on the App Store (A 2026 Playbook)
A Today-tab feature is still the single biggest organic lever on iOS. Here's how apps with no connections actually land one.
Apple's editorial team features roughly one "App of the Day" every 24 hours and rotates several Today stories weekly. There's a real process for getting on their radar, and it's less mysterious than the lore suggests.
Submit via App Store Connect
App Store Connect has a Featuring form under the Business tab. Fill it out. This is your official lane and it's read by the actual editorial team. A well-written pitch with a demo video and screenshots gets reviewed.
What editors look for
- Native platform feel — Widgets, Live Activities, Shortcuts integration.
- Craft — typography, animation, attention to detail.
- Story — why the app exists, who built it, what's genuinely new.
- A clear "hook" — one sentence an editor could pitch internally.
Timing
Submit 4–6 weeks before launch if it's a new app, or 2–3 weeks before a major version. Editors plan far ahead.
What won't work
Cold emails to @apple.com addresses, Twitter DMs to designers who used to work at Apple, and anything that feels transactional.
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