Play Store vs App Store ASO: Key Differences Every Developer Should Know

If you ship your app on both iOS and Android, you have probably written one set of metadata and copied it across both platforms with minor adjustments. Maybe you shortened the title to fit Apple's limit, maybe you pasted the same description into both stores. This is the default approach, and it is fundamentally wrong.

Apple's App Store and Google Play have different algorithms, different metadata structures, different ranking signals, and different optimization levers. A strategy that works on one platform can be actively counterproductive on the other. This guide breaks down every meaningful difference so you can build a platform-specific ASO strategy that actually performs.

Why You Cannot Copy-Paste Your ASO Strategy Across Platforms

The core problem is that Apple and Google index different things. On iOS, Apple ignores your description for search ranking purposes. On Android, Google treats the description as a primary keyword source. This single difference alone means your description needs to serve fundamentally different purposes on each platform.

But it goes deeper. Apple gives you a hidden 100-character keyword field; Google gives you nothing equivalent. Apple lets you reset your star rating with each version; Google shows a cumulative lifetime average. Apple's A/B testing tool cannot test text; Google's can. Apple provides limited search analytics; Google gives you detailed keyword-level data.

Each of these differences changes how you should write, structure, and iterate on your store listing. Developers who recognize this and build separate strategies for each platform consistently outperform those who use a one-size-fits-all approach.

The extra effort is not as large as it sounds. The core keyword research is shared -- you are still targeting the same users with the same needs. What changes is how you deploy those keywords across each platform's specific metadata fields and how you measure results.

Metadata Differences Side-by-Side

Title Limits

Both platforms allow 30 characters for the app title. That is where the similarity ends.

On iOS, the title is one of three ranking inputs alongside the subtitle and keyword field. Because Apple gives you those additional fields for keywords, your iOS title can lean more heavily toward branding. An iOS title like "Notion - Notes & Docs" uses the brand name prominently because the subtitle and keyword field handle additional keyword coverage.

On Android, the title carries more keyword weight relative to other fields because there is no keyword field. Your Android title needs to be more keyword-dense. A title like "Notion: Notes, Tasks & Docs" packs in more search terms because the title is one of fewer metadata fields Google indexes heavily.

The practical implication: if you have a strong brand, your iOS title can be brand-forward. On Android, lean toward including your highest-value keyword in the title even if it means de-emphasizing the brand slightly.

Subtitle vs. Short Description

Apple's subtitle is 30 characters. Google's short description is 80 characters. This is not a minor difference -- it is a 2.6x multiplier in available space.

The iOS subtitle appears directly below the title in search results and on the product page. It needs to be concise and high-impact because every character is visible and expensive. Treat it like a second title: one keyword phrase that complements the title.

Google's short description appears on the product page (and sometimes in search results) with over twice the space. You can fit a full sentence with multiple keywords. We cover how to make the most of those 80 characters in our Google Play short description optimization guide. A short description like "Organize notes, manage tasks, and collaborate on documents with your team" contains six keyword-rich terms in a natural sentence. Trying to fit all of that into Apple's 30-character subtitle would be impossible.

Use the short description's extra space strategically. Do not pad it with filler -- pack it with your second-tier keywords woven into a compelling sentence. This is both a ranking field and a conversion field, so it needs to read well to users while including search terms.

Keyword Field vs. No Keyword Field

This is the starkest structural difference between the two platforms.

iOS gives you a 100-character hidden keyword field. Users never see it. Apple indexes every term for search ranking. This dedicated field means you can target keywords that would sound awkward in your visible metadata. Competitor names, misspellings, abbreviations, technical terms -- they all fit in the keyword field without affecting how your listing reads.

Google Play has no keyword field at all. Every keyword you want to rank for must appear somewhere in your visible metadata: title, short description, or full description. This means Android ASO requires more careful writing -- you need to embed keywords naturally into prose that also convinces users to download.

The strategic difference is significant. On iOS, keyword targeting and conversion copywriting are partially decoupled -- the keyword field handles discovery while the description handles persuasion. On Android, these two goals must coexist in the same text. Your Android description needs to rank and convert simultaneously.

Description Indexing: The Biggest Difference

This is the single most important distinction between iOS and Android ASO, and it affects nearly every optimization decision.

Apple does not index the app description for search rankings. Your iOS description could contain every keyword in the English language and it would not help you rank for a single additional term. The description is purely a conversion tool on iOS -- it convinces users to download after they land on your page, but it does not bring them there.

Google indexes the full 4,000-character description for search rankings. Every word in your Google Play description contributes to your keyword profile. A keyword mentioned in the description can help you rank for that term in search results.

What this means in practice:

iOS description strategy: Write for conversion. Use persuasive copy, feature highlights, social proof, and calls to action. Our guide on writing a description that converts covers this in detail. Do not worry about keyword density or repetition. The description's job is to convince a visitor to tap "Get," not to attract new visitors.

Android description strategy: Write for both ranking and conversion. Include your target keywords 3-5 times naturally throughout the description. Front-load important keywords in the first 1-2 paragraphs. Structure the description so it reads naturally while hitting keyword targets. This is harder than it sounds -- keyword-stuffed descriptions repel users even if they rank well.

A common mistake is writing an iOS-optimized description (pure conversion copy with no keyword consideration) and pasting it into Google Play. That description might convert well but will miss ranking opportunities because it was not written with keyword density in mind.

Ranking Factor Differences

Apple: Keyword Field Heavy, Downloads Dominant

Apple's ranking algorithm relies on a relatively narrow set of signals:

Primary ranking factors:

• Title keywords (strongest text signal)
• Subtitle keywords (strong text signal)
• Keyword field terms (strong text signal)
• Download velocity (strongest overall signal)
• Ratings and review volume (moderate signal)

Secondary factors:

• Update recency (weak signal)
• In-app purchase names (minor signal)
• Developer name (minor signal)

The concentration of text signals in just three fields (title, subtitle, keyword field) makes iOS ASO relatively focused. Optimize those 160 characters well, drive downloads, and maintain good ratings. That is the iOS playbook.

Download velocity -- the rate of new installs over a short time period -- is Apple's dominant ranking signal. An app that gets 1,000 downloads today will rank higher tomorrow than an app that gets 100 downloads per day for 10 days, even though both accumulate the same total. This is why launch bursts and promotional campaigns have outsized effects on iOS rankings.

Google: Description Heavy, Backlinks and Engagement Matter

Google's ranking algorithm considers a broader set of signals, reflecting its web search heritage:

Primary ranking factors:

• Title keywords (strongest text signal)
• Short description keywords (strong text signal)
• Description keywords (moderate text signal, but large field)
• Download count and velocity (strong signal)
• Ratings and review quality (strong signal)

Secondary factors:

• Backlinks to Play Store listing (moderate signal)
• User engagement metrics: retention, session length, crash rate (moderate signal)
• Update frequency (moderate signal)
• Uninstall rate (negative signal)
• Developer reputation and history (weak signal)

The inclusion of backlinks is notable. Google treats links to your Play Store listing similarly to how it treats links for web SEO. Apps with more external links from reputable websites tend to rank better. This gives Android developers an additional optimization lever that does not exist on iOS.

User engagement metrics also play a larger role on Google Play. Apps with high retention, long session times, and low crash rates receive ranking benefits. This means app quality directly influences discoverability on Android in a way that is less pronounced on iOS.

For indie developers, the priority on Google Play should be: optimize the description for keywords, maintain a high rating, keep the app stable and frequently updated, and build backlinks where possible.

Visual Asset Differences

Screenshot Counts and Layouts

Apple allows up to 10 screenshots and requires a minimum of 1. Screenshots appear prominently in search results -- for most queries, users see a horizontal scrollable row of screenshots without tapping into the listing. This makes screenshots a critical conversion factor on iOS. If your screenshots do not communicate value at a glance, users scroll past.

Google Play allows up to 8 screenshots and requires a minimum of 2. Screenshots appear on the product page but are less prominent in search results, where the feature graphic and short description take priority. On Google Play, the feature graphic is often the first visual element users encounter.

iOS strategy: Design screenshots as a story. Users see 2-3 at a glance in search results. The first screenshot should communicate your app's core value proposition immediately. Use captions on every screenshot.

Android strategy: Screenshots matter for product page conversion but are secondary to the feature graphic for first impressions. Still optimize them, but allocate more design effort to the feature graphic.

Video Handling

Apple supports app preview videos up to 30 seconds that autoplay (muted) in search results. This is powerful but demanding -- a bad video actively hurts conversion. Apple has strict guidelines: no hands or device mockups, specific resolution requirements per device, and the video must show actual app footage.

Google Play supports a single promo video linked from YouTube. It does not autoplay in search results; users must tap to play. This makes video less impactful for first impressions on Android but still valuable for product page conversion. The YouTube hosting means you can use any video format and include marketing elements like voiceover and motion graphics.

For indie developers with limited resources: prioritize screenshots on both platforms. Only invest in video if you have the production quality to match or exceed your competitors' videos. A mediocre video is worse than no video on iOS, where it autoplays and directly competes with your screenshots for attention.

Feature Graphic (Android Only)

The feature graphic is a 1024x500 pixel banner that appears at the top of your Google Play listing and in various promotional placements. Apple has no equivalent asset.

This is Android's highest-visibility visual element. It appears before screenshots on the product page and is used in editorial features, recommendations, and category browsing. A strong feature graphic can significantly boost conversion rates.

Design guidelines for feature graphics: keep text large and minimal (it is often viewed at small sizes), use a compelling visual that communicates the app's purpose, include the app icon for brand recognition, and avoid screenshots (save those for the screenshot carousel below).

Many indie developers neglect the feature graphic or use a generic banner. This is a missed opportunity. On Google Play, the feature graphic is as important as your first screenshot is on iOS.

Review and Rating Impact Differences

Apple and Google treat ratings differently in ways that affect both ranking and strategy.

Apple lets developers reset their star rating with each new version. When you submit an update, you can choose to carry forward your existing rating or start fresh. This means a bad launch rating is not permanent -- ship a fix, reset the rating, and start accumulating fresh reviews. The downside is that resetting also erases positive ratings, so it is a tradeoff.

Google shows a cumulative lifetime rating that cannot be reset. Your 1.0 rating from 2019 still counts. Google does weight recent reviews more heavily in the displayed average, but the cumulative nature means building (or recovering) a rating takes longer. Google also highlights reviewer concerns in summary badges, surfacing common complaints to potential users.

Both platforms use ratings as a ranking signal, but the recovery strategies differ:

iOS: If your rating drops, ship an update, reset, and focus on prompting satisfied users to review. Use Apple's in-app review prompt API (SKStoreReviewController) strategically -- after positive user moments, not randomly.

Android: If your rating drops, you need to actively respond to negative reviews and ship improvements. Google's developer reply feature lets you address concerns publicly, which can lead reviewers to update their rating. Focus on responding to every 1-star and 2-star review with a genuine fix timeline.

Update Frequency Impact

Google Play rewards consistent updates more explicitly than Apple does. Apps that update regularly signal active maintenance and ongoing quality to Google's algorithm. An Android app that has not been updated in 6 months will gradually lose ranking ground to actively maintained competitors, all else being equal.

Apple's algorithm is less directly influenced by update frequency. While fresh updates can trigger a short-term visibility boost, Apple does not penalize infrequent updates as aggressively. That said, both platforms' users check the "Last Updated" date -- an app last updated two years ago raises concerns regardless of platform.

For cross-platform developers: maintain a regular update cadence on Android (at minimum monthly), even if updates are minor. On iOS, update when you have meaningful changes rather than shipping empty updates, since each update is an opportunity to reset (or not reset) your rating.

An important distinction: on both platforms, you can update some metadata fields without submitting a new binary. On iOS, you can change your keywords, description, promotional text, and screenshots in a metadata-only update. On Android, you can update the description, short description, screenshots, and feature graphic without a new APK. Use these lightweight updates to iterate on ASO without the overhead of a full release.

A/B Testing Differences

Apple's Product Page Optimization (PPO)

Apple introduced Product Page Optimization (PPO) to allow testing alternative icons, screenshots, and app preview videos. You can run up to three treatments against your default listing and Apple will split traffic to measure conversion.

PPO's limitations are significant:

• No text testing. You cannot test alternative titles, subtitles, or descriptions. Only visual assets.
• Minimum traffic required. Apple does not publish exact thresholds, but apps with fewer than 1,000 weekly impressions struggle to reach statistical significance. Most indie apps fall below this threshold.
• Slow results. Apple recommends running tests for at least 7 days, and low-traffic apps may need 30+ days.
• iOS only. PPO does not exist on macOS, tvOS, or other Apple platforms.

For indie developers, PPO is useful if you have enough traffic. Test screenshot variations (different captions, ordering, or design styles) to improve conversion. If your traffic is too low for meaningful results, rely on qualitative feedback and competitor analysis instead.

Google's Store Listing Experiments

Google Play Console offers Store Listing Experiments, which are more powerful than Apple's PPO in several ways:

• Text testing supported. You can test alternative short descriptions and full descriptions, allowing you to optimize the actual copy users read.
• Icon, screenshots, and feature graphic testing. Same visual testing as Apple, plus the feature graphic.
• Lower traffic thresholds. Google's system reaches significance with less traffic than Apple's, making it accessible to smaller apps.
• Global or localized experiments. You can run tests for specific countries or globally.
• Faster iteration. Results typically converge faster due to higher impression volumes on Play Store for many categories.

For cross-platform developers, Google Play is the better testing ground. Run experiments on Android, identify winning copy and visual approaches, then apply those learnings to your iOS listing (even though you cannot A/B test text on iOS). The conversion insights transfer across platforms even if the testing tools do not.

Algorithm Transparency

Google: More Data, More Transparency

Google provides significantly more performance data through the Play Console:

• Search term data: You can see which search queries lead to impressions and installs for your app.
• Conversion rates by traffic source: Understand how search traffic converts versus browse traffic versus referral traffic.
• Benchmark comparisons: Google shows how your listing metrics compare to category averages and peer apps.
• Acquisition reports: Detailed breakdowns of where users come from and how they convert.
• Store listing visitors vs. installers: Funnel analysis from impression to install.

This data makes Android ASO more measurable. You can see which keywords bring traffic, test changes, and measure results with relative precision.

Apple: More Opaque, Less Data

Apple's analytics through App Store Connect are more limited:

• Impressions and product page views: You see aggregate numbers but not which keywords drive them.
• Sources breakdown: Search, Browse, Referral, and Web Referral categories, but no keyword-level detail.
• No search term data: Unlike Google, Apple does not tell you which search queries trigger your impressions. You must use Search Ads (which costs money for actual campaigns) or manual testing to infer keyword performance.
• Conversion rate: Available as a ratio of installs to product page views, but without keyword granularity.

The lack of search term data on iOS is the biggest gap. On Android, you can see "the keyword 'budget tracker' generated 500 impressions and 50 installs last week." On iOS, you see "App Store Search generated 2,000 impressions" with no breakdown of which terms contributed. This makes iOS keyword optimization more reliant on testing, inference, and tools.

For indie developers on a budget, Google Play's transparency advantage is significant. Use the Play Console data to validate keyword hypotheses that you then apply to iOS as well. If "budget planner" drives strong traffic on Android, it is likely a viable keyword on iOS too.

Practical Strategy for Cross-Platform Developers

If you ship on both platforms, here is a unified workflow that respects platform differences:

Step 1: Shared keyword research. Start with a single keyword research process. Analyze competitors on both platforms, check autocomplete on both stores, and build one master keyword list. The demand side is the same -- users want the same things regardless of platform.

Step 2: Platform-specific deployment. Take your master keyword list and deploy it differently:

• iOS: Put your top keywords in the title and subtitle. Fill the keyword field with the next tier. Use cross-localization for the tier after that. Write a conversion-focused description with no keyword considerations.
• Android: Put your top keywords in the title. Pack the short description with secondary keywords in natural prose. Write a description that weaves keywords throughout while remaining persuasive. Repeat important keywords 3-5 times across the description naturally.

Step 3: Platform-specific measurement. Use Google Play Console search term data to validate which keywords drive traffic. Apply those learnings to iOS keyword selection (even though Apple does not provide the same data). Use Apple Search Ads keyword suggestions to validate iOS indexing.

Step 4: Platform-specific iteration. Run Store Listing Experiments on Android for copy and visual testing. Apply winning insights to iOS. Iterate iOS keywords every 4-6 weeks based on Search Ads data and ranking checks.

This workflow lets you share the research phase while optimizing each platform independently. The total effort is roughly 1.5x what a single-platform approach requires, but the results are substantially better than copy-pasting across platforms.

Character Limit Comparison Table

Keep this table handy when writing metadata. The character limits directly shape what is possible on each platform.

Which Platform to Optimize First

If you have limited time and must choose one platform to focus on, consider these factors:

Optimize iOS first if:

• Your app's audience skews toward iOS (common in the US, Japan, UK, and Scandinavia)
• Your category has lower competition on the App Store
• You have a strong brand name that benefits from iOS's keyword field
• Your app is in a premium or subscription category (iOS users have higher average spend)

Optimize Android first if:

• Your app's audience skews toward Android (common in most of the world outside the US/Japan)
• You want to use Google's search term data to validate keywords before deploying on iOS
• You want to A/B test descriptions and visual assets with Google's experiments
• Your current Play Store listing is significantly underoptimized compared to iOS

The data-driven default: If you genuinely do not know which to prioritize, start with Android. Google's transparency gives you faster feedback loops. Validate your keyword strategy on Play Store where you can see search term data, then apply proven keywords to iOS. This approach lets Google Play serve as your testing ground while you deploy validated strategies to Apple's more opaque ecosystem.

Whichever platform you start with, plan to optimize the other within 2-3 weeks. The marginal effort of maintaining two platform-specific strategies is small once the initial research is done. And the cost of a copy-paste approach -- missed keywords, mismatched descriptions, ignored platform features -- compounds every day your listing sits unoptimized.

StoreLit's ASO audit handles both platforms, analyzing your iOS and Android listings against real competitor data. The tool flags platform-specific issues -- like an iOS description written with keyword density (wasted effort) or an Android listing missing keyword coverage in the description (missed opportunity) -- so you can optimize each platform according to its actual ranking behavior.

Key Takeaways

• Apple and Google have fundamentally different ASO algorithms. A single strategy for both platforms leaves performance on the table.
• The biggest difference: Apple does not index descriptions; Google does. This changes how you write descriptions entirely.
• iOS has a hidden 100-character keyword field; Android has no equivalent. Android keywords must live in visible metadata.
• Google's 80-character short description gives you 2.6x more space than Apple's 30-character subtitle.
• Google provides search term data and A/B testing for text; Apple provides neither.
• Google considers backlinks, engagement metrics, and update frequency more heavily than Apple.
• Apple allows rating resets; Google shows cumulative lifetime ratings.
• Start keyword research as a shared process, then deploy platform-specifically.
• If forced to choose, optimize Android first for the feedback data, then apply learnings to iOS.

The developers who win on both platforms are not the ones who work twice as hard. They are the ones who work differently for each store, leveraging each platform's unique features instead of fighting against its constraints.