The Biggest App Store Algorithm Change is Here - This is What You Need to Know

ASO Guides

Ariel

6 minute read Today

Apple made one of the most significant changes to the App Store's search algorithm last week, sending some apps flying up the ranks while others tanked.

Over the last few days, I've analyzed thousands of keywords manually, using Appfigures tools, and also with custom AI I made, and I have good reason to believe I know what Apple changed, why it's having such a big impact, and most importantly — what you need to do right now so your app benefits.

What's Going On?

Apple is now extracting text from your screenshot captions with OCR and treating that text as part of your keyword metadata.

That's right. Screenshots are no longer just for conversion. They now influence discovery.

In the past, only your app's name, subtitle, and keyword list counted toward search rankings. But that's no longer the case. Apple now reads some^* of the visible text in your screenshots and uses those keywords to rank your apps.

What I Know So Far

Captions in Screenshots Matter Now

You need active keywords in your screenshots to rank. Not because Apple is promoting apps that do that or penalizing apps that don't, but rather because many apps already have those and they're getting a boost automatically.

If your ranks increased drastically in the last week, you probably have keywords in your screenshots that align with the rest of your metadata (like I've said in recent live streams). The algo update is now seeing those.

If your ranks dropped a lot in the last week, it's likely that you don't, or that the keywords you have in your captions aren't aligned with the rest of your metadata.

Tip: Use the Keyword Performance and Ranked Keywords reports to get a better understanding of which keywords rose, which dropped, and which keywords the algorithm is ranking you in and you don't even know about.

Keywords in Captions Strengthen Core Keywords — and Introduce New Ones

From what I've seen so far, keywords that appear in screenshots don't compete with keywords from the name, subtitle, or keyword list. Apple expects you to repeat keywords in the screenshots.

You still shouldn't duplicate keywords between all of the traditional metadata fields, but should use the important ones in your screenshots to strengthen them.

But there's more! I've come across many apps that rank for keywords that only appear in their screenshots. It doesn't seem to be as strong of a signal alone, so I would recommend continuing to think of all of your app's metadata as a single set and use the screenshots to introduce more keywords that merge with the main ones.

For example, if your app's name contains the keyword "Photo editor", caption one of your screenshots "AI Photo Editor" (which has a popularity score of 55) to reinforce "photo editor" and introduce "ai" into the set.

Caption Placement Matters, Too!

This part is speculation, but after building a little OCR AI agent to help me research, I realized just how hard it is to read text from images, especially when there's app UI involved. The output becomes a mess and it's really hard to get useful information out of the raw OCR results.

Apple has much better OCR and algorithms than my little prototype, but I can see why they wouldn't read the entire screenshot but rather the areas more likely to have a caption - the top and bottom.

I don't have a good way to prove this just yet, but I recommend placing your captions at the top of your screenshots to make sure your app is as OCR-ready as it can be.

What About App Preview Videos?

There's a possibility that Apple's also reading captions from App Preview Videos, but I don't think that's happening right now.

What About Descriptions?

I haven't found any indication that app descriptions are being indexed. Historically, Apple stayed away from the description, and that seems to be the case still.

What You Need to Do Right Now

I hope you're already using captions in your screenshots, but if you're not, you need to do that right now.

There are two things you must do to benefit from this change and prevent your keyword ranks from tanking: 1. replace passive keywords with active ones, and 2. Make your screenshots OCR-ready so Apple can actually read them.

Here's how:

Eliminate Passive Keywords

If you're still using captions like “Easy to Use” or “All-in-one,” stop.

Now that Apple's reading keywords from captions, every character counts. Instead of fluff, use captions that match real keywords users are searching for.

For example, "Track Sleep Patterns" is a very active caption and gives you "track sleep", "sleep patterns", and "track sleep patterns", keywords people are looking for. However, "Wake Up Refreshed" isn't because no one's searching for that.

I recommend starting with the keywords already in your app's name and subtitle to reinforce those, then adding long-tail variations.

Make Your Screenshots Algorithm-Ready

This part is the most important: If Apple can't read your text, it won't matter what it says.

Follow these 7 tips to make sure your screenshots are readable by both people and the algorithm:

1. Use High-Contrast Text - Avoid light text on light background or dark text on a background. OCR algorithms have a hard time isolating text that lacks contrast. Also, avoid placing text over busy app UI or soft gradients, which could mask your caption.

   Here's an extreme example:

   

2. Choose OCR-Legible Fonts - Make sure to choose fonts that aren't too thin, overly condensed, or stylized fonts that machines struggle with.

3. Ensure Text Size is Sufficient - Ensure the font size is large enough for a human eye to read it. If you can't read it on a phone, neither can Apple's OCR. If you don't have enough space to grow your font size reduce the number of words in the caption.

4. Avoid Layered or Shadowed Text - Subtle shadow is okay, but glowing neon outlines and fuzzy blurred shadows reduce OCR accuracy.

5. Place Key Phrases in the Safe OCR Zones - Apple is likely scanning the top and bottom thirds portions of the screenshot and not the entire image to reduce the potential for noise. I'm not 100% sure of this, but to be safe I recommend placing captions at the top of your screenshots.

6. Focus Each Screenshot on One Keyword Theme - One screenshot = one clear keyword or phrase. Don't stuff too many ideas into one caption. The same advice I give for app names.

   ❌ Bad: "Fast, Private, and Easy"

   ✅ Good: "Fast Photo Edits", "Private Storage", "Easy to Use"

7. Don't Repeat the Same Caption - So far, it looks like repeating keywords within screenshots doesn't help any more than mentioning them once. I'm still exploring this, but knowing Apple's stance on repetition, I recommend not repeating keywords.

How to Get the Right Screenshot Captions Fast(er)

If your keyword ranks are dropping, or if you want to take advantage of this change, there's a very easy way to figure out what to do.

Look at what top-ranking apps in your category are doing. It could be direct competitors, similar apps, or even adjacent ones:

1. Head into Keyword Inspector and search for a relevant keyword. By now apps who have the proper captions are already ranking high.
2. Click on the top results, one at a time, to see their screenshot in the App Intelligence panel.
3. Track what they include in their captions, where they are, and how it relates to the app.

Alternatively, you can bring multiple apps from Keyword Inspector into the Competitors Report and view their screenshots side by side in the Creatives tab to get insights even faster.

This change is massive, and it's not something you want to ignore or guess your way through.