Apple last week announced a new application “App Store Connect”‘ which replaces its poorly received iTunes Connect (For app & iTunes Store providers), providing app developers and their teams with a mechanism to interact with and assist users, as well as gain insights into their app’s performance.  

Create a Product Page for your App 

Teams can create product pages for their apps with customised content, such as the app’s name and screenshots previewing its use.

The blog post detailing the release via Apple’s developer site states: “You can enter your app name, subtitle, keywords, description, and more, in up to 28 languages. Upload up to ten screenshots and three optional app previews for each supported language, and choose the order you’d like them to appear.”

Gain Insights into App Performance 

With business intelligence becoming even more important in providing quantitative metrics for application enhancements as depicted in the surge of demand for Data Scientists, App Analytics is likely to be received well by teams who can measure how well marketing campaigns have performed, quantify user engagement and better understand the financial aspects of the application, such as sales through in-app financial reporting.

Users will also be able to “get next-day sales and unit data in Sales and Trends, and view details on completed payments in Payments and Financial Reports.” 

Respond to Reviews Straight from your iOS Device 

Teams can respond to reviews straight from their iOS devices, even receiving notifications directly.

This could facilitate a more streamlined user experience for customers in relation to review feedback, as teams can potentially respond more promptly to queries or concerns from users. Additionally, promo codes, or other such contextualised downloads of the app (temporary free downloads) can all be done in-app.

With the old iTunes connect getting a poor 2.2 star average rating on the app store, based on over 85 reviews, Perhaps Apple will be able to improve the experience of the teams building apps using their platform with the release and ultimately entice more developers to its platform.