Every app store text field has a hard character limit, and hitting submit with even one field over the line means a validation error — or worse, silently truncated metadata in some locales. This reference lists every character limit on the Apple App Store and Google Play as of 2026, what each field is actually indexed for, and the practical rules for writing inside the limits.
Bookmark this page: limits change rarely, but when they do (Google cut titles from 50 to 30 characters in 2021), we update this reference. If you'd rather never think about limits again, AI metadata generation produces every field pre-fitted to its limit, and our free character counter tool checks any text against every store field instantly.
Apple App Store Character Limits (2026)
All limits below are enforced by App Store Connect at submission. Limits are per locale — each of your localizations gets the full allowance.
| Field | Limit | Indexed for search? |
|---|---|---|
| App Name (Title) | 30 characters | Yes — strongest signal |
| Subtitle | 30 characters | Yes |
| Keywords field | 100 characters | Yes (hidden from users) |
| Description | 4,000 characters | No |
| Promotional Text | 170 characters | No |
| What's New (release notes) | 4,000 characters | No |
| In-App Purchase display name | 30 characters | Yes — IAPs surface in search |
| In-App Purchase description | 45 characters | No |
The number that matters most: Apple gives you exactly 160 indexed characters — 30 in the title, 30 in the subtitle, and 100 in the keywords field.[1] Your entire iOS keyword strategy lives inside those 160 characters, which is why wasting even one of them on a duplicate word hurts.
Google Play Character Limits (2026)
| Field | Limit | Indexed for search? |
|---|---|---|
| App Title | 30 characters | Yes — strongest signal |
| Short Description | 80 characters | Yes |
| Full Description | 4,000 characters | Yes |
| Release Notes | 500 characters | No |
| Developer Name | 50 characters | Yes (weak signal) |
Google's title has matched Apple's 30 characters since 2021, but the indexing model is completely different: Google Play reads roughly 4,110 characters of indexed text across title, short description, and full description — about 25 times the indexed space Apple offers.[2]
Why Do the Same Limits Behave So Differently on Each Store?
The same 30-character title carries different weight on each platform because of what surrounds it. On iOS, the title pairs with a 30-character subtitle and a hidden 100-character keyword field — three small, high-precision slots. On Google Play, the title pairs with an 80-character short description and a fully indexed 4,000-character description, so keyword coverage happens in long-form text.[2]
Practical consequence: on iOS you choose keywords like a sniper; on Google Play you write naturally and let semantic coverage do the work. Repeating a keyword 15 times in a Play description doesn't help — Google's NLP models weigh natural usage, and keyword stuffing reads as spam to both the algorithm and the human deciding whether to install.
How Do You Write a Title That Fits 30 Characters?
The proven pattern is Brand: functional phrase — "Notio: AI Meeting Notes" (23 characters) beats both a bare brand name and a stuffed string of keywords. The functional half should contain your single highest-volume keyword, because the title is the strongest ranking field on both stores.
Three rules that save painful resubmissions:
- Count in characters, not words — spaces and punctuation count. "Fitness & Health Tracker" is 24 characters including the ampersand and spaces.
- Avoid special symbols — Apple rejects emoji and decorative Unicode in names and subtitles outright, and both stores treat symbol-heavy titles as spam signals.
- Localize the functional half — keep the brand, translate the keyword phrase. A title that fits in English may overflow in German, where compound words run long.
We cover placement strategy, real examples, and A/B data in our dedicated title optimization guide.
The 100-Character Keywords Field: Rules That Actually Matter
Apple's hidden keyword field is where most indie developers waste characters. The rules:
- Separate with commas, no spaces: "journal,diary,mood,tracker" — a space after each comma costs you characters that add nothing.
- Never repeat title or subtitle words: Apple confirmed duplicated terms add zero ranking value; every repeated word is wasted inventory.
- Skip your category name: Apple indexes your primary category automatically.
- Singular vs plural — pick one: Apple's matching handles most plural variants; covering both "habit" and "habits" doubles the cost for marginal gain.
- Use every character: a 63-character keyword field leaves 37 characters of free ranking inventory on the table.
Description Limits: 4,000 Characters, Two Different Jobs
Both stores cap descriptions at 4,000 characters, but the field's job differs completely. On Google Play the description is a ranking document — your keyword coverage, semantic terms, and feature vocabulary all feed the index. On iOS the description is pure conversion copy: Apple doesn't index it, so write it for the human who has already found you.[1]
Structure that works within the limit: a two-line hook (the only part visible before "more"), scannable feature blocks with short headers, social proof, and a closing call to action. Our guide on writing descriptions that convert breaks down the full template, and the Google Play specifics live in our short vs full description comparison.
What About Release Notes, Promotional Text, and Special Characters?
Three fields with traps worth knowing:
- What's New (iOS, 4,000 chars) and Release Notes (Android, 500 chars): the character limits are generous, but Apple's API rejects certain special characters — we regularly see emoji-heavy changelogs bounce with an "invalid characters" error when submitted through App Store Connect's API, even though some emojis work in the web UI. Keep changelogs to plain text and punctuation if you automate publishing.
- Promotional Text (iOS, 170 chars): the only App Store field you can edit without submitting a new version. Use it for time-sensitive messages — sales, seasonal events, feature launches.
- Line separators: invisible Unicode line/paragraph separators (often pasted from Google Docs or Word) fail validation on both stores while looking identical to normal line breaks. If a field "within the limit" keeps failing, invisible characters are the usual suspect.
Do Character Limits Change for Other Languages?
The limits are identical in every locale — 30 characters is 30 characters in Japanese, German, or Arabic. What changes is how much meaning fits. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean pack far more meaning per character (a 30-character Japanese title can say what needs 60 characters of English), while German and Finnish compound words routinely overflow fields that fit comfortably in English.[3]
This is why direct translation breaks metadata: a translator optimizing for meaning will blow through limits, and a translator optimizing for limits will drop keywords. AI metadata translation solves both at once — it translates with local keyword research while enforcing each field's exact limit in each language.
Quick Reference: Every Limit on One Table
| Field | Apple App Store | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| Title | 30 | 30 |
| Subtitle / Short Description | 30 | 80 |
| Keywords field | 100 | — |
| Description | 4,000 (not indexed) | 4,000 (indexed) |
| Promotional Text | 170 | — |
| Release Notes | 4,000 | 500 |
| Total indexed characters | 160 | ~4,110 |
Beyond Text: Screenshot, Video, and URL Limits
Character limits get the attention, but the visual and link fields have counts and constraints of their own:
- Screenshots (iOS): up to 10 per device size per locale. Apple requires the 6.9" iPhone and 13" iPad Pro sizes for new submissions; everything else scales down from those masters. Full size specs live in our screenshot size guide.
- Screenshots (Google Play): 2 to 8 per device type, plus the 1024×500 feature graphic that doubles as your video thumbnail.
- App Previews (iOS): up to 3 videos per locale, each 15–30 seconds. Play promo videos are a single YouTube link with no hard duration cap — but watch-through drops sharply after 30 seconds.
- Screenshot caption text: no formal character limit, but Apple indexes it for search in 2026, so treat captions as keyword inventory. Practically, 5–8 words per caption stays readable at thumbnail size.
- URLs (support, marketing, privacy policy): must be valid, reachable URLs — Apple validates them at review, and an unreachable privacy policy URL is one of the most common avoidable rejection reasons.
Remember the reverse constraint too: screenshots are images, so any text inside them survives the character rules entirely — which is exactly why caption indexing changed screenshot strategy this year (see our screenshot text indexing analysis).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the character limit for an App Store title in 2026?
30 characters on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. Apple has used 30 since iOS 11 (2017); Google reduced its limit from 50 to 30 in 2021. Spaces, punctuation, and symbols all count toward the limit.
Does the App Store description count toward keyword rankings?
No. Apple does not index the description field for search — only the title (30 chars), subtitle (30 chars), and hidden keywords field (100 chars) affect iOS keyword rankings. Google Play is the opposite: the full 4,000-character description is indexed and is a primary ranking surface.
How many characters does Apple index for search in total?
160 characters per locale: 30 from the app name, 30 from the subtitle, and 100 from the keywords field. In-app purchase display names (30 characters each) can also surface in search results.
Are character limits the same in every language?
Yes — every locale gets the same limits. But information density differs: CJK languages express more per character, while German compounds often overflow. Each localization should be written to its own limit, not translated from English and trimmed.
What happens if my metadata exceeds a character limit?
App Store Connect and the Google Play Console reject the submission with a validation error before anything goes live. The sneakier failure is invisible special characters (line separators, some emoji via Apple's API) causing rejections on text that looks within the limit.
Key Takeaways
- Titles: 30 characters everywhere. Brand + functional keyword phrase wins.
- iOS gives you 160 indexed characters total; Google Play indexes ~4,110. Write accordingly.
- Never duplicate words between the iOS title, subtitle, and keywords field.
- iOS descriptions are conversion copy (not indexed); Play descriptions are ranking documents.
- Watch for invisible characters and emojis — the API is stricter than the web UI.
Working inside five different limits across 40 languages is exactly the kind of constraint work machines do better than people. AppDrift generates every field pre-fitted to its limit — and validates before anything hits the stores, so the reference above becomes trivia instead of a checklist.