The keywords field is a hidden list of up to 100 characters per language that the App Store uses to match your app to searches. Terms go in with commas and no spaces, leaving out words from the name and subtitle and other companies' trademarks.
What the keywords field is for
Keywords never appear on the product page. They exist for search. Apple says keywords help determine where your app shows up in search results. Search also reads the name, the subtitle and the company name, so keywords should hold the words those fields don't.
Apple suggests weighing common terms against rare ones. Popular terms like jobs or social bring traffic but are crowded, rarer ones are easier to rank for.
Where keywords live in App Store Connect
App Store Connect › Apps › your app › Distribution › the version under iOS App › Keywords. The field sits with the version details next to the description, and the language menu is at the top right.
The field is required and filled in per language. A new language gets the primary language's properties, except the description and keywords. Keywords belong to the version and change with your next one.
Apple's limits and rules
| What | Rule |
|---|---|
| Field size | 100 bytes per App Store Connect Help, 100 characters per Apple's search page |
| Separator | a comma with no space, spaces only inside a phrase (Property,House,Real Estate) |
| Each keyword | longer than two characters |
| Don't repeat | words from the name, subtitle, category and the company name |
| Wasted space | plurals, category names, the word app, duplicates, # and @ |
| Not allowed | others' trademarks, celebrity names, other apps and companies, irrelevant terms |
| Languages | a separate field in each of the 50 metadata languages |
Per App Store Connect Help, App Store search, Creating your product page and the language list, checked October 16, 2026.
100 bytes or 100 characters
Apple words this two ways. App Store Connect Help says 100 bytes, Apple's search and product page guides say 100 characters. For plain Latin text that's the same. A Cyrillic letter takes 2 bytes in UTF-8 (RFC 3629), so counting bytes would halve the Russian words.
In practice the App Store counts characters. On October 16, 2026 we read the keywords of our app PosterTile, version 1.1 on sale, in App Store Connect. The Russian field holds 75 characters, or 137 bytes, the Japanese one 37 characters and 85 bytes. Russian keywords don't need squeezing into 50 letters.
How to fill in the field, step by step
- Collect the words people use to find apps in your niche in that language. Search suggestions help.
- Cross out words already in the name, subtitle and category name.
- Keep one form of each word, with no plurals and no word app.
- Use commas and no spaces, like thunder,fireplace,forest. Spaces go only inside a phrase.
- Use all 100 characters. Each extra word adds a search your app can appear for.
- Repeat for every language. Apple says localized keywords work in every country where the App Store supports that language.
Common mistakes
- Spaces after commas. Each eats one of the 100 characters, the figure above shows the cost.
- A competitor's name or someone's trademark. App Store Connect Help doesn't allow other apps' or companies' names. Guideline 2.3.7, as updated June 8, 2026, lets Apple change inappropriate keywords at any time.
- English words in another language's field. Each language gets its own 100 characters. A copied English list takes room from local searches.
- Keywords in promotional text. Apple says promotional text has no effect on search ranking, so a keyword list there does nothing.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
Since October 29, 2025 you can assign keywords to separate pages for ads and email campaigns (custom product pages). An app can have up to 70, and a page with keywords shows in search for them instead of the default page. The keywords come from your latest approved version.
On March 30, 2026 App Store Connect added 11 more metadata languages, including Bangla, Tamil and Urdu. That makes 50, and each has its own keywords field.
Appto puts together keywords for every language, shows competitors and searches with its reasoning, and tracks search rankings after launch. More on the ASO in Appto page.
Questions
What is the App Store keywords character limit?
100 per language. App Store Connect Help says 100 bytes, but on October 16, 2026 a live app's Russian field held 75 characters, or 137 bytes.
Should there be spaces after the commas?
No. Commas only, with a space allowed inside a phrase like Real Estate.
Can I change keywords without a new version?
Usually not. The field belongs to the version and changes with the next one.
Does search use words from the description?
Apple lists name, subtitle, keywords and company name for search. The description isn't on that list.
Build your own app in Appto
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