App Store Subtitle: 30 Characters, Examples and Tips

Quick answer: The App Store subtitle is the 30-character line under your app name in search results and on your product page. Use it to state your app's main benefit in plain words and to add one or two keywords that aren't already in your app name or keywords field. Apple counts it for search relevance, and you can only change it when you submit a new app version.

Apple describes the subtitle as a concise summary of your app that appears below its name throughout the App Store. In practice that means three places that matter most: the search results list, your product page header, and any App Store surface that shows your app with its name.

The key facts:

• Length: up to 30 characters, spaces and punctuation included.
• Localization: you write a separate subtitle for every App Store localization you support.
• Editing: the subtitle sits in App Information and changes go live with a new version submission, not instantly.
• Rules: it falls under App Review Guideline 2.3.7, so no prices, no references to other apps and no unverifiable claims.

Here is how the subtitle compares to the other text fields on your product page:

Google Play has no subtitle field. Its closest equivalent is the 80-character short description, covered in our guide to the Google Play short description.

Apple's search documentation says results are based on text relevance, meaning matches for your app's title, subtitle, keywords and primary category, plus user behavior such as downloads, ratings and reviews. So the subtitle does two jobs at once: it is indexed text, and it is the first sentence most searchers read about your app.

That double role shapes how you write it:

• Spend your keyword budget once. Apple advises against repeating words from your app name, subtitle or category in the keywords field. If "planner" is in your subtitle, delete it from the keywords field and use those characters for something new. Our keywords field guide covers that split in detail.
• Pick keywords you can actually win. A broad term like "fitness" is crowded. A specific phrase like "home workouts" or "running plans" describes your app better and may be easier to rank for. See how App Store search ranking works for the signals Apple names.
• Never sacrifice readability. A subtitle that reads like a keyword list ("Budget, Money, Bills, Saving") can hurt the tap-through you need from search results, and Apple can reject metadata that looks like it's gaming the system.

The goal is a phrase a person would say out loud that happens to contain your best keyword.

1. List what makes the app worth downloading. Write down the top three outcomes a user gets, in their words: "plan meals for the week," "track every bill," "fall asleep faster."
2. Choose one priority keyword that isn't in your name. If your name is a brand word, the subtitle is your most visible place for a descriptive keyword. If your name already says "Budget," the subtitle should add a different term.
3. Draft 8 to 10 versions and count characters. Spaces, ampersands and commas all count. An ampersand saves three characters compared to "and."
4. Read each draft beside your icon and first screenshot. The name, subtitle and first screenshots appear together in search, so they should tell one story. Our guide to your first App Store screenshot shows how to align them.
5. Check it against the rules. Remove prices ("Free," "50% off"), claims you can't prove ("#1," "Best"), other app names and anything that doesn't describe what your app does.

These subtitles are written for hypothetical apps. Each fits in 30 characters and pairs a benefit with a searchable phrase.

Notice what these have in common: a descriptive keyword phrase, no repetition of the app name and no claims the store could question.

Patterns you can reuse

• Job & job: "Budget Planner & Bill Tracker"
• Tool for audience: "Running Plans for Beginners"
• Outcome from input: "Recipes From What You Have"
• Feature plus differentiator: "Offline Hiking Maps & GPS"
• Verb-led for games: "Build, Battle and Rule"

Every localization gets its own 30 characters, so translate the meaning and the keyword, not the words. "Budget Planner & Bill Tracker" might become a phrase built around the term people in that market actually search for, which may not be the literal translation.

Practical rules:

• Research keywords per market before translating; a direct translation can miss the common local term.
• Expect longer text in languages like German and French. Shorten with ampersands or drop the second phrase rather than cramming.
• Keep the subtitle consistent with localized screenshot headlines so the page feels native.

Our App Store localization guide walks through which markets to start with.

Product Page Optimization tests icons, screenshots and app previews, and custom product pages vary screenshots, previews and promotional text. Neither lets you test a different subtitle, so subtitle changes are sequential: you ship a new version, then compare.

A simple process:

1. Note your current impressions, product page views and conversion rate in App Store Connect Analytics for a stable period.
2. Ship the new subtitle with a regular app update and change nothing else in your metadata.
3. Compare a similar period afterward, keeping seasonality and marketing pushes in mind.
4. Keep a change log so you know which subtitle ran when.

For the bigger picture of how the subtitle fits with your name, keywords and visuals, read our App Store Optimization guide.