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Apple Rolling Out Tags in App Store to Help Refine Popular Search Results

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With the App Store now home to nearly two million apps, Apple appears to be testing a new feature to make search results more contextual.

app-store-search-tags.jpg

As noted in the MacRumors forums and on Twitter, some iPhone users in recent weeks have started to see tags in the App Store after searching for a popular term like "photos" or "wallpaper." After searching for "photos," for example, some of the tags that can be selected include "collage" or "editor" or "storage."

After tapping on a tag, the search results are curated accordingly. If a user searches for "photos" and then taps "collage," for example, the search results will be narrowed down to apps that can be used to make photo collages. In some cases, a second tag can be selected to narrow down the search results even further, as shown above.

As of now, it appears that the tags are only visible to a small number of users. Many users that see the tags are running the iOS 14.5 beta, but a few have claimed to see them on iOS 14.4.2, so it is possible that the tags could be a server-side change that will eventually be expanded to more users on multiple iOS versions.

Apple's website says 70% of App Store visitors use search to find apps, so the search tags should benefit many users. In 2016, Apple introduced Search Ads, allowing developers to pay Apple to have their app listing shown at the top of the search results based on the app's relevance to the user's search query, among other factors.

iOS 14.5 has been in beta testing since February 1, with the seventh beta seeded this week. Apple said the software update will be released in "early spring," and in a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the update will be released in "just a few weeks."

Article Link: Apple Rolling Out Tags in App Store to Help Refine Popular Search Results
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/08/app-store-search-tags/
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Apple is feeling the pressure and finally conceding. In addition to the search algorithm (which they have been asked to reveal by a European regulator) we have two other wins: 1) the Appeals Process for developers, 2) the lowering of the fee for small developers.

To many here Apple is never in the wrong, and anyone suing or asking for changes is harshly attacked, but this is the result of those who confronted them and at the end we all benefit.

The Appeals Process is important because before you would just receive a general, broadly-worded message from Apple saying that they removed your App (your hard work, your income, probably) without any formal way to resolve it. Now we have a way to appeal and this came from the fight of these developers and rational regulators.
 
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Do search tags really work? I feel like on every site I see using them, whoever posts the item (video, product, whatever) applies tags so overly liberally to catch the most hits that it completely ruins the usefulness of tags.
 
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I think this deserves a finally. Such a simple thing to implement that has been needed since a few months after the App Store launched and began to explode with content. The obvious problem is people tagging the hell out of their apps. Hopefully there is a way to mitigate this by limiting the number something.
 
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GeoStructural said:
Apple is feeling the pressure and finally conceding. In addition to the search algorithm (which they have been asked to reveal by a European regulator) we have two other wins: 1) the Appeals Process for developers, 2) the lowering of the fee for small developers.

To many here Apple is never in the wrong, and anyone suing or asking for changes is harshly attacked, but this is the result of those who confronted them and at the end we all benefit.

The Appeals Process is important because before you would just receive a general, broadly-worded message from Apple saying that they removed your App (your hard work, your income, probably) without any formal way to resolve it. Now we have a way to appeal and this came from the fight of these developers and rational regulators.
Click to expand...
That’s the beauty of the free market. A business makes its rules and if the customers don’t like it either the business must change or accept the fallout. Now go ask the EU government for specific documents and you’ll be lucky if they take the time to tell you to go f yourself. Government will never change, especially ones that rule over disarmed civilians, unless it wants to.

macduke said:
I think this deserves a finally. Such a simple thing to implement that has been needed since a few months after the App Store launched and began to explode with content. The obvious problem is people tagging the hell out of their apps. Hopefully there is a way to mitigate this by limiting the number something.
Click to expand...
They’ve always been there, they were just keywords and your couldn’t see them. Like others have said give it time and tags will become so polluted that they’ll be just as useless as the keywords.
 
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MacRumors said:


With the App Store now home to nearly two million apps, Apple appears to be testing a new feature to make search results more contextual.

app-store-search-tags.jpg

As noted in the MacRumors forums and on Twitter, some iPhone users in recent weeks have started to see tags in the App Store after searching for a popular term like "photos" or "wallpaper." After searching for "photos," for example, some of the tags that can be selected include "collage" or "editor" or "storage."

After tapping on a tag, the search results are curated accordingly. If a user searches for "photos" and then taps "collage," for example, the search results will be narrowed down to apps that can be used to make photo collages. In some cases, a second tag can be selected to narrow down the search results even further, as shown above.

As of now, it appears that the tags are only visible to a small number of users in the United States. Many users that see the tags are running the iOS 14.5 beta, but one user claimed to see them on iOS 14.4.2, so it is possible that the tags could be a server-side change that will eventually be expanded to more users on multiple iOS versions.

Apple's website says 70% of App Store visitors use search to find apps, so the search tags should benefit many users. In 2016, Apple introduced Search Ads, allowing developers to pay Apple to have their app listing shown at the top of the search results based on the app's relevance to the user's search query, among other factors.

iOS 14.5 has been in beta testing since February 1, with the seventh beta seeded this week. Apple said the software update will be released in "early spring," and in a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the updates will be released in "just a few weeks."

Article Link: Apple Rolling Out Tags in App Store to Help Refine Popular Search Results
Click to expand...
alexandr said:
but are they air tags?..
Click to expand...
You beat me to it ... This IS your AirTags, the Air is the App Store in the cloud with less letters
 
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GeoStructural said:
Apple is feeling the pressure and finally conceding. In addition to the search algorithm (which they have been asked to reveal by a European regulator) we have two other wins: 1) the Appeals Process for developers, 2) the lowering of the fee for small developers.

To many here Apple is never in the wrong, and anyone suing or asking for changes is harshly attacked, but this is the result of those who confronted them and at the end we all benefit.

The Appeals Process is important because before you would just receive a general, broadly-worded message from Apple saying that they removed your App (your hard work, your income, probably) without any formal way to resolve it. Now we have a way to appeal and this came from the fight of these developers and rational regulators.
Click to expand...
That’s the beauty of a free market. A company has to respond to customer demands or it will eventually go away. Unfortunately you are pretty much stuck with the government you have. Try to demand the EU provide whatever documents you want. You’ll be laughed out of the room.
macduke said:
I think this deserves a finally. Such a simple thing to implement that has been needed since a few months after the App Store launched and began to explode with content. The obvious problem is people tagging the hell out of their apps. Hopefully there is a way to mitigate this by limiting the number something.
Click to expand...
Tags were always there in the form of keywords. It won’t be long before scam developers figure out how to abuse tags next.
 
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Apple should really hire an employee or two from Google. Google made us think that searching is a very simple thing, but seeing how horrible search results are from many services online makes you appreciate it.

I don't know what Google engineers know that others don't. Not only they serve what you wanted, sometimes you input a wrong query and they serve you the one that you really meant. idk how they do that.
 
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