It said to developers at WWDC 2024 this week that app developers will have a new route through which their applications can be noticed and promoted. Apple said that with an update arriving in September to be released with iOS 18, developers would be able to flag new content or features added to their app, ahead of its release, so that Apple's Editorial team may deem it a feature-worthy candidate for promotion on the App Store.

The Editorial team of the App Store creates stories today about apps and their developers, rounds up interesting collections of apps to promote, and fills out related sections in the App Store. Until recently, however, there was no formally announced process to notify the editorial staff when a published update might place an app in contention for any of the many recognitions that the App Store offers. Actually, Apple is going to feature "Featuring Nominations," where a developer will be able to directly provide plans to the company. That particular feature will be managed through the App Store Connect application whereby developers are already managing their applications, installs, and sales.

Developers will be able to make their nominations either individually from a new Nominations dashboard in App Store Connect or uploading a spreadsheet that contains all of their nominations at once. Apple advises using a memorable name for the nomination, which will help editors to understand what the new content or feature of their app is focused on. Developers can alert editors on three types of updates: new content, app improvements/new app release.

Wow. Apple rolls out "Featuring nominations" right into App Store Connect #WWDC24

Along with a name for the update, developers would provide a text description that explains any relevant details about the update and the expected publish date. Developers will also provide another field called "Helpful Details", where they can provide further information for editors to review the submission — perhaps the developer's story on how they built the app or efforts regarding some other key factor, like accessibility or inclusivity features of the app.

Related to this change, App Store Connect will also send a push notification if the Editorial team decides to feature your app on the App Store. Here, if users click on the notification, they'll be taken to a new page, featuring new Promote Your App marketing assets with which to share the news on social media.

Apple will also provide marketing assets for other major milestones in the life of an app, like its launch or when a new feature or new version becomes available.

Those features were announced in a session alongside other news about updates to TestFlight, Apple's pre-launch app testing platform, which is getting a new look-and-feel.

New designs for TestFlight and App Store Connect

TestFlight is getting a redesign! This new design will feature panels for beta descriptions, developer info, categories, and build expiration dates. And test invites will now display build screenshots like in the App.pic.twitter.com/KcP9J2Ea1K

Among the changes is setting criteria to filter, which makes the testing process even more useful for developers. For instance, a developer might limit their TestFlight build to only those devices who not only have an iPhone but also a Vision Pro-or even only to devices running some chosen iOS version. That way, when you have a link to that public TestFlight, only those testers who apply to this specific set of criteria will be able to install the beta build of the app.

For example, Apple is giving developers the ability to create deep links straight to specific product pages for their app — those pages they might have built to showcase an app's specific features to a particular audience or perhaps to market special deals. These custom links will be available when advertising the app through Apple Search Ads as well as on any other platforms, such as social media websites.

Apple's iOS 18 would likely hit consumers toward the fall of the end of this year.