App Store keyword field: a worked before and after

Most first keyword fields break the same four rules: spaces after commas, words already in the app name, repeats, and more than 100 bytes. Here is one realistic field, fixed step by step with the numbers shown, so you can check your own the same way.

The app

An invented example, Tidepool Habits, subtitle Calm weekly habit tracker, category Health & Fitness. The developer's first keyword field, typed as a normal sentence list:

habit tracker, daily routine, check-in, reminders, widgets, streaks, csv export, Tidepool, habits, calm, weekly, tracker

That is 120 bytes. App Store Connect's keywords field takes "up to 100 bytes of content" (Apple, App Store Connect reference, fetched 16 Oct 2026), so it will not save. Fixing it by chopping off the end would lose "export" and keep four wasted words. Fix it by rule instead.

Step by step

1. Remove every word already in the name, subtitle or category. Apple says the app "is searchable by app name and company name, so you shouldn't duplicate these values in the keyword list". Gone: tidepool, habits, habit, calm, weekly, tracker (the plural habits and the singular habit count as one word).
2. Split phrases into single words. Apple combines words from your name, subtitle and keywords itself, so "daily routine" costs the same as "daily,routine" and the comma form saves a byte.
3. Delete every space after a comma. A space is a byte you cannot spare. Eight spaces in this field were eight wasted bytes.
4. Keep your order, best words first, so if space runs out the weakest words are the ones that go.

The result

daily,routine,check-in,reminders,widgets,streaks,csv,export

59 bytes, with 41 left. It dropped only habit and tracker from the candidate list, because those two are already indexed from the name and subtitle. The other candidates already carried none of the name's words, so they all stayed.

What to do with the 41 spare bytes

Add more single words that are true of your app and that people would type, such as a feature you have not named yet or the job it does. Do not add other apps' names or company names, which Apple does not allow as keywords, and do not add words you cannot honestly claim. Then run the whole field again through the keyword field packer to confirm it is under 100 bytes. Non-Latin and accented letters take two or more bytes each, so a field in another language holds fewer words.

Check it yourself

You can reproduce the 59 bytes in any text editor that shows a byte count, or paste the three inputs and the candidate words into the packer; it prints the same field and lists what it dropped and why. The rest of the listing has its own limits: name 30, subtitle 30, promotional text 170 and description 4000 on iOS; title 30, short description 80 and full description 4000 on Google Play. The listing limits checker counts all of them and flags common rule problems. Apple and Google can change limits, so trust the console's own counter if it disagrees.

Limits of this example

It shows how to avoid wasted bytes, not which keywords will rank: the packer has no search-volume data, and the example app and candidate list are invented. Keyword and subtitle changes only go live with a new app version.

If you would rather have a full first draft of every field for both stores, written from your own facts with the gaps left as marked blanks, see the $9 listing text writer.