App Store Tags: what Apple's AI labels mean and how to influence them.
Apple now reads your metadata with a language model and decides what your app is about. You can remove a tag. You can't write one. The only lever is what you give it to read.
Tags are ASO meeting GEO on Apple's side: a model reads your listing and decides what you are. If the listing is vague, so are the tags.
What Apple announced
At WWDC 2025 Apple introduced App Store Tags, labels that highlight specific features and functions of an app. Apple said the tags would be generated by its large language models from sources such as the app's metadata, and reviewed by people before being applied. Developers can see their tags in App Store Connect and deselect ones they don't want shown; they cannot write their own.
What is still unclear
- Rollout. TechCrunch found tags in the iOS 26 developer beta in June 2025 but not yet on the public store or in search. Gummicube reported in August 2025 that the rollout was gradual and management access was still arriving.
- Placement and tapping. Reports differ on whether tags appear on product pages or only in search, and whether tapping one opens a curated collection.
- Ranking. We have found no reliable evidence on whether tags affect App Store search ranking.
We couldn't find 2026 reporting that settles these points. Look at the App Information page in App Store Connect for your own app; that is the only authoritative view of your tags.
How to influence them
If a model generates tags from metadata, the metadata is the lever. The same rules we use for Ask Play apply:
- Name features plainly. "Offline maps", "split bills", "sleep sounds". Marketing names ("SmartFlow") don't map to tags.
- Use the same words in every field. Subtitle, description, screenshot captions and promotional text should agree.
- Lead with your core use case. The first lines of the description and the first screenshots carry the most weight for people, and likely for models.
- Remove wrong tags promptly. A tag that attracts the wrong users will hurt conversion and ratings.
- Watch for new surfaces. Tags and Apple's Personalized Collections both reward clear, feature-level metadata.
Don't game it
Apple's guideline 2.3.7 asks for keywords that accurately describe the app and warns against packing metadata with trademarked terms, popular app names or irrelevant phrases. A model trained to label apps is unlikely to be fooled for long, and a review team stands behind it.
Questions people ask
What are App Store Tags?
Labels describing an app's features, announced by Apple at WWDC 2025, generated by Apple's language models from sources including your metadata and reviewed by people.
Can I add my own App Store Tags?
No. You can view the tags Apple assigned in App Store Connect and deselect ones you don't want shown, but you can't write new ones.
Do App Store Tags affect search ranking?
Apple hasn't said, and we have found no reliable evidence either way. Write clear, feature-level metadata so the tags are accurate whatever their role.
Want this mapped onto your product?
See how our ASO work runs, or send your store link and a founder will reply personally.
