WWDC 2026: Apple Showcases New Developer Tools for Improved App Store Discovery and Marketing

Apple showcased new tools for app developers and publishers as part of its Software Development Kit (SDK) on Monday, during the keynote presentation of the ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2026. The Cupertino-based tech giant unveiled new ways developers can market their apps and games, improve the discovery and engagement for their software, and new ways to offer subscriptions with StoreKit 2, while also updating its App Review process. During the keynote presentation, the company also unveiled its new Time Allowances feature, which will be rolled out with the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 updates. Apple is now allowing developers to integrate this within their platforms.

Apple's App Store Connect Gets New Tools for Developers

During the keynote presentation, the Tim Cook-led company showcased its new tools for app developers that are being added to the App Store Connect. Now, app publishers can present their apps and games on the App Store with creative assets, rich images, and videos, appearing on the product page headers and search results, apart from the “standard” screenshots and page previews.

The new creatives also work with custom product pages and product page optimisation. Meanwhile, App Store Connect now supports product page previews, allowing app developers to see how it looks on iPhone and iPad models in different languages, Dark Mode, portrait, and landscape, before making them live for the users.

Apple says that its new Asset Library lets developers “move faster across marketing workflows” by bringing all the creative assets in one place in the App Store Connect. App publishers can also repurpose these images, preview videos, and screenshots for other product pages and in-app events, eliminating the need for the creative assets to be re-uploaded. These creatives can be uploaded by developers independently for App Review.

Meanwhile, for users, the company plans to soon bring new Personalised Collections based on their interests. Apple is also bringing App Notes, which will provide a description of why a specific app is being recommended. Such recommendations will appear on Apps, Games, and the App Store Search tab, depending on a user's app usage and downloads. The new features will start rolling out this week in English in the US, and Apple plans to release them in additional languages and regions soon.

The iPhone-maker is also introducing “Featuring Nominations” for game developers, which allows them to propose plans for an in-game offer or a limited-time discount to the App Store editorial team. Additionally, Apple's StoreKit 2 will now let developers offer subscriptions to groups of users and organisations within their app, with the help of two configuration options. Similarly, developers can create suites to provide subscription packages to users.

Allowing developers to enhance their engagement with the users of their apps, Apple has started rolling out the Retention Messaging tool, which lets them create tailored messages for users during subscription cancellation.

Claimed to simplify the app development and submission process, the Cupertino-based tech giant will no longer require Intel support for apps and games on the Mac App Store. Now, publishers do not have to maintain multiple builds of their platforms, as they can directly ship “Apple Silicon-only binaries”. Lastly, developers can now integrate the new Time Allowance feature into their platforms, which has been introduced as a new parental control tool.