Apple launches AI-generated tags in App Store beta to improve app discovery and streamline user search experience through intelligent categorization
The developer beta build of iOS 26 now includes Apple’s intentions to enhance the discoverability of App Store content through AI annotation techniques.
Nevertheless, the tags have not yet been visible on the public App Store and are not utilized to instruct the App Store Search algorithm on the public store.
Of course, there is always speculation regarding the potential impact of changes on an app’s search ranking in anticipation of any forthcoming App Store update.
For instance, a recent analysis conducted by Appfigures, an app intelligence provider, indicates that an application’s ranking is influenced by metadata extracted from its images.
The organization postulated that Apple was extracting text from screenshot captions. It was previously stated that the app’s search ranking was determined solely by its name, subtitle, and keyword list.
The conclusion that photographs influence app discoverability is accurate, as Apple’s announcement at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 25) indicates. However, the method by which Apple extracts this data is based on AI, not OCR techniques, as Appfigures had suspected.
Apple disclosed at its annual developer conference that photographs and other metadata would be implemented to enhance the discoverability of an application.
The company stated that it employs AI techniques to extricate information that would otherwise be concealed within an app’s description, category information, screenshots, or other metadata.
This implies that developers should not be required to include keywords in the photographs or take other actions to influence the tags.
This enables Apple to designate a tag for the app to improve its categorization. The company stated that developers could determine which AI-assigned identifiers would be associated with their applications.
Additionally, Apple guaranteed developers that the identifiers would undergo human review before implementation.
It will be crucial for developers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of tags and to identify those that will facilitate the discovery of their app when global App Store users see the tags.
