Connecting App Store Connect for your iOS keyword field

Connecting App Store Connect imports your iOS keywords field into Applyra, read only, one market at a time. That field is the 100-character comma-separated list you fill in App Store Connect and nobody else can see, and Apple indexes it, so it is one of the three fields that decide what you rank for. Google Play has no equivalent field, so this is an App Store feature only.

You can also just type the field in. The connection exists to save you the typing and to keep it correct after every release.

How to connect: Issuer ID, Key ID and the .p8 file

Start from the App Store keywords card on an iOS app page, or from the App Store Connect section of your account settings. The dialog asks for three things, and tells you where each one lives:

1. In App Store Connect, open Users and Access, then Integrations, then App Store Connect API.
2. Generate a Team key with the App Manager role, and download the .p8 file. Apple shows it once.
3. Copy the Issuer ID from the top of that page, and the Key ID from the key's own row.

Applyra verifies the credentials before saving anything. Started from an app page, it then reads the live version of that app and stores the keywords for the market you are on, and the field is badged Verified. Started from account settings, it saves the connection only: each app then imports its field with the Sync button on its own page, market by market.

The key itself is stored encrypted, and it is never used for anything but reading. You can revoke it from App Store Connect whenever you want, and Disconnect in your account settings deletes the copy Applyra holds.

What it reads from App Store Connect

Applyra asks Apple for the app matching the bundle ID of the app you track, which is also the ownership proof: a key that cannot reach that app is refused with a clear message rather than falling back to anything else. From the live version, it reads the keywords of the localization matching the market's language.

When Apple has no localization for that market, it serves your default language there, and Applyra says so and offers to copy the default language's keywords into that market. You accept, or you type something else.

Staying in sync

When a new version of a connected app is detected, Applyra re-reads the field on its own. If it cannot, the field is flagged and the card on the app page warns you that it may be out of date, with a button to re-sync. A field that predates your latest version is never passed off as current, so the ASO Health score always tells you which version of your targeting it graded.

The connection card in your account settings shows a live status: Active, Invalid key, Agreement required when Apple is waiting for a signature on your side, Insufficient role when the key is too restricted, or Can't verify when App Store Connect cannot be reached. Each one names what to do.

The manual route: paste the keywords field by hand

On any iOS app page, the same card takes the field typed by hand, with a live character count against the 100-character limit. It is then badged Manual rather than Verified, which is the only difference in how it is used: both feed the score the same way. Copy it exactly as it appears in App Store Connect, commas and all, or the audit grades words you never targeted. The limits for every other field are in metadata fields, and the free character counter checks a draft field against them.

What changes once the field is known

Once the field is known, ASO Health grades the words you actually targeted rather than the two fields everyone can see, the audit names the words in it nobody searches for, and the Store listing tab described in the app page tab by tab shows the field alongside the rest of your metadata.