Promotional Text and What's New are two different App Store Connect fields with different rules. Promotional Text is a 170-character line at the top of your description that you can change at any time without submitting a new app version or going through App Review, so it is built for time-sensitive marketing. What's New is the release-notes changelog, up to 4,000 characters, tied to a specific version, so editing it means shipping a new version that goes through review, and it appears on the Updates tab when users update. So the field that triggers an update is What's New, not Promotional Text, and neither one is indexed for App Store search, because Apple indexes your app name, subtitle, and keywords field instead.
Short answer
The practical difference is when you can change each field and what it is for. Per Apple's product page guidance, Promotional Text sits at the top of your description and can be updated any time without a new version, which makes it your lever for announcements between releases. What's New, per Apple's App Store Connect help, is version release notes shown on the product page and the Updates tab, so it is tied to submitting a new version. Which triggers an update is What's New, because it is part of a version. Which is indexed for search is neither, since App Store search uses your app name, subtitle, and keywords, not these two display fields.
What is Promotional Text?
Promotional Text is a short marketing field, up to 170 characters, that appears at the very top of your app's description on the product page. Its defining feature is that you can edit it independently of your app binary, so you change it in App Store Connect and it goes live without submitting a new version and without waiting for App Review. That makes it the right place for anything time-sensitive: a limited promotion, a seasonal message, news of a feature that already shipped, or a reason to install today.
Because it updates instantly and freely, Promotional Text is the flexible, evergreen part of your listing copy. You can refresh it as often as you like to reflect a sale, an event, or a change in messaging, and users always see the current version at the top of your description. The one thing it is not is a place to influence search, which is a common misunderstanding covered below. Treat it as fast-moving marketing copy that sits above your more permanent description.
What is What's New?
What's New, sometimes labeled What's New in This Version, is the release notes for a specific version of your app, with room for up to 4,000 characters. It is where you tell users what changed in an update, and it appears on your product page and on the Updates tab where people review pending updates. Because it describes a particular version, it is attached to that version rather than to your listing in general.
That attachment is the key behavioral difference from Promotional Text. You do not edit What's New on a live app in isolation; you set it when you create a new version, and it ships as part of that version's submission. So What's New is inherently tied to the release cycle, which means it goes through the normal review that a new version does. It is your changelog and a chance to re-engage users at update time, not a field you can quietly refresh between releases.
Which one triggers an app update?
What's New is the field tied to an app update, because it is part of submitting a new version, while Promotional Text is not. When you want to change What's New, you create a new version of your app, enter the release notes, and submit that version, which goes through App Review like any release. So changing What's New necessarily involves shipping an update, and users see the new notes when that version goes live on the Updates tab.
Promotional Text works the opposite way. You can change it on your current, live app without creating a new version and without a review cycle, so it does not trigger or require an update at all. This is exactly why the two exist separately: What's New carries version-specific information that belongs with a release, and Promotional Text carries marketing that you may want to change far more often than you ship builds. If you need to update messaging without releasing, Promotional Text is the field; if you are describing an actual release, What's New is.
Which one is indexed for search?
Neither Promotional Text nor What's New is indexed for App Store search, so neither one affects your keyword rankings. Apple's search draws on your app name, your subtitle, and your keywords field, along with in-app purchase names and your developer name, to decide where your app appears for a query. Promotional Text and What's New, like the full description, are display copy that users read on the product page but that the search index does not use for ranking.
This matters because a frequent mistake is stuffing keywords into Promotional Text or What's New hoping to rank for them, which simply does not work on the App Store. It is worth noting this is different from Google Play, where the description does feed search, so ASO habits from Android do not transfer directly. On the App Store, put your ranking terms in the name, subtitle, and keywords field, and use Promotional Text and What's New for persuasion and communication rather than for search.
When to use each
Use Promotional Text for anything you want to say now and change often, since it costs nothing to update and needs no release. A seasonal sale, a limited-time offer, a milestone, or a spotlight on a feature that already exists all belong here, because you can put them up and take them down the moment they are relevant without touching your binary. It is the field that keeps a static listing feeling current between releases.
Use What's New to tell users what actually changed in the version you are shipping. A clear, specific changelog does more than a bare bug fixes line, because the Updates tab is a moment when engaged users are paying attention, so it is worth describing new features and meaningful fixes. The rule of thumb is simple: if the message is about your app in general and you want it live immediately, it is Promotional Text; if it is about what a particular update contains, it is What's New.
Promotional Text versus What's New at a glance
The fields differ on length, timing, and purpose, which the table below lays out.
| Attribute | Promotional Text | What's New |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Up to 170 characters | Up to 4,000 characters |
| Requires a new version? | No | Yes |
| Goes through App Review? | No | Yes, with the version |
| Where it shows | Top of the description | Product page and Updates tab |
| Indexed for search? | No | No |
Read the version row as the deciding factor: What's New is tied to a release, while Promotional Text changes freely between releases.
Common mistakes to avoid
The most common mistake is expecting either field to help your search ranking, and then spending keywords on them instead of on the fields that are indexed. Both are display copy, so keyword stuffing in Promotional Text or What's New wastes the space and can read as spammy to users without moving your rankings at all. Keep your ranking terms in the name, subtitle, and keywords field, and let these two fields do their real jobs.
Two other misses are common. Leaving What's New as a generic bug fixes and improvements gives up a genuine re-engagement moment on the Updates tab, where a specific changelog performs better. And forgetting that Promotional Text is a free, review-free lever means many developers let their top line go stale between releases when they could be highlighting something current. Using each field for its purpose, marketing that changes often versus version notes that ship with a release, avoids all three.
How to edit each field
Editing them is straightforward once you know where each lives. The checklist below walks through it.
| Step | Action | Done? |
|---|---|---|
| Open your app | Go to your app in App Store Connect | [ ] |
| Edit Promotional Text | Update it and save; it goes live without a new version | [ ] |
| Confirm it is live | Check the top of your product page description | [ ] |
| Start a new version | For What's New, create the version you are shipping | [ ] |
| Write What's New | Enter specific release notes for that version | [ ] |
| Submit the version | What's New ships when the version is approved | [ ] |
The step teams skip most is treating Promotional Text as always-editable, since many forget they can refresh it any time without submitting a build.
Where a scan fits
These are marketing and listing fields, so a security tool has no role in your Promotional Text or What's New, and it is worth being clear about that boundary.
A scanner like PTKD.com analyzes your app build for security issues such as exposed keys, over-broad permissions, and risky third-party code, mapped to OWASP MASVS. To be clear about the boundary: PTKD does not edit or optimize your App Store listing copy, which is yours to write and manage in App Store Connect. It is useful for the security side of shipping an app, which is separate from your product page fields.
What to take away
- Promotional Text is a 170-character line at the top of your description that you can change any time without a new version or App Review.
- What's New is the release notes for a specific version, up to 4,000 characters, tied to submitting an update and shown on the Updates tab.
- The field that triggers an update is What's New, because it ships with a version; Promotional Text changes freely between releases.
- Neither field is indexed for App Store search, so keep ranking terms in your name, subtitle, and keywords field, unlike Google Play where the description is indexed.
- Use Promotional Text for marketing that changes often and What's New for real changelogs, and a security tool like PTKD.com is for your build, not your listing copy.
