Aso Audit

ASO Audit

Analyze App Store and Google Play listings against ASO best practices. Fetches live listing data, scores metadata, visuals, and ratings, then produces a prioritized action plan.

When to Use

• User shares an App Store or Google Play URL
• User asks to audit or optimize an app listing
• User wants to compare their app against competitors
• User asks about app store ranking, visibility, or download conversion

Before Auditing

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Phase 1 — Identify Store & Fetch

Detect store type from URL

Apple:  apps.apple.com/{country}/app/{name}/id{digits}
Google: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id={package}

If the user gives an app name instead of a URL, search the web for: site:apps.apple.com "{app name}" or site:play.google.com "{app name}"

Fetch the listing

Use WebFetch to retrieve the listing page. Extract every available field:

> ⚠️ App Store / Play listing pages are client-side JS-rendered (and Apple/Google > WAF-block datacenter IPs), so a raw WebFetch often returns a near-empty shell or 403. > When fields come back missing/empty or you get a 403, fall through to /chrome — > ~/tools/fcdp/fcdp open then ~/tools/fcdp/fcdp js "" — > which drives real Chrome and runs the page's JS, so the rendered title/subtitle/ > screenshots/ratings are actually present. (full pattern: carmack/references/browser-automation.md)

Apple App Store fields:

• App name (title) — 30 char limit
• Subtitle — 30 char limit
• Description (long) — not indexed for search, but matters for conversion
• Promotional text — 170 chars, updatable without new release
• Category (primary + secondary)
• Screenshots (count, order, caption text)
• Preview video (presence, duration)
• Rating (average + count)
• Recent reviews (visible ones)
• Price / in-app purchases
• Developer name
• Last updated date
• Version history notes
• Age rating
• Size
• Languages / localizations listed
• In-app events (if any visible)

Google Play fields:

• App name (title) — 30 char limit
• Short description — 80 char limit
• Full description — 4,000 char limit, IS indexed for search
• Category + tags
• Feature graphic (presence)
• Screenshots (count, order)
• Preview video (presence)
• Rating (average + count)
• Recent reviews (visible ones)
• Price / in-app purchases
• Developer name
• Last updated date
• What's new text
• Downloads range
• Content rating
• Data safety section
• Languages listed

If WebFetch returns incomplete data (stores render client-side), note gaps and work with what's available. Ask the user to paste missing fields if critical.

Visual asset assessment

WebFetch cannot extract screenshot images or caption text. Take a screenshot of the listing page to get visual data:

1. Navigate to the listing URL and capture a full-page screenshot
2. Assess the screenshot for: icon quality, screenshot count, caption text,

messaging quality, preview video presence, feature graphic (Google Play)

1. If browser tools are unavailable, ask the user to share a screenshot of the

listing page

Promotional text (Apple): This 170-char field appears above the description but is often indistinguishable from it in scraped HTML. If you cannot confirm its presence, note this and recommend the user check App Store Connect.

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Phase 1.5 — Assess Brand Maturity

Before scoring, classify the app into one of three tiers. This determines how you interpret "textbook ASO" deviations — a deliberate brand choice by a household name is not the same as a missed opportunity by an unknown app.

Tier definitions

| Tier | Signals | Examples | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- | | Dominant | Household name, 1M+ ratings, top-10 in category, near-universal brand recognition. Users search by brand name, not generic keywords. | Instagram, Uber, Spotify, WhatsApp, Netflix | | Established | Well-known in their category, 100K+ ratings, strong organic installs, recognized brand but not universally known. | Strava, Notion, Duolingo, Cash App, Calm | | Challenger | Building awareness, 1.09% or ANR >0.47% = reduced visibility

• Promotional Content: submit 14 days early for featuring. Apps see 2x explore acquisitions
• Custom Store Listings: up to 50 (can target churned users, specific countries, ad campaigns)
• Store Listing Experiments: test up to 3 variants, run 7+ days, 1 experiment at a time
• See references/google-play-specs.md for full specs and policy details

What Apple Indexes vs What Google Indexes

| Field | Apple Indexed? | Google Indexed? | | --------------------- | ---------------- | ---------------------- | | Title | Yes | Yes (strongest signal) | | Subtitle / Short desc | Yes | Yes | | Keyword field | Yes (hidden) | Does not exist | | Long description | No | Yes (heavily) | | Screenshot captions | Yes (since 2025) | No | | In-app events | Yes | N/A (LiveOps instead) | | Developer name | No | Partial | | IAP names | Yes | Yes |

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Common Issues Checklist

Flag these if found. Items marked (tier-dependent) should be evaluated against the app's brand maturity tier — they may be deliberate choices for Dominant apps.

Always flag (all tiers):

• [ ] Rating below 4.0
• [ ] Last update > 3 months ago
• [ ] Google Play description has no keyword strategy (under 1% density)
• [ ] Google Play missing feature graphic
• [ ] Apple keyword field likely has repeated words (inferred from title+subtitle)
• [ ] Category mismatch — app would face less competition in a different category
• [ ] Fewer than 5 screenshots

Flag for Challenger/Established only (not mistakes for Dominant apps):

• [ ] Title wastes characters on brand name only (no keywords) (Dominant: brand IS the keyword)
• [ ] Subtitle/short description duplicates title keywords
• [ ] Description first 3 lines are generic (Dominant: may be brand-voice choice)
• [ ] No preview video (Dominant: may be rational if product is hard to demo)
• [ ] Screenshots are just UI dumps with no messaging/captions (Dominant: lifestyle/brand shots may convert better)
• [ ] Only 1-2 localizations (score relative to actual market, not absolute count)
• [ ] No in-app events or promotional content (Dominant utility apps may not need discovery help)

Flag for all tiers but note context:

• [ ] No developer responses to negative reviews (note volume — responding at 10M+ reviews is a different challenge than at 1K)
• [ ] Generic "What's New" text (acceptable at weekly+ release cadence for Established/Dominant)

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Task-Specific Questions

1. What is the App Store or Google Play URL?
2. Is this your app or a competitor's?
3. What category does the app compete in?
4. Do you have competitor URLs to compare against?
5. Are you focused on search visibility, conversion rate, or both?
6. Do you have access to App Store Connect or Google Play Console data?

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Related Skills

• page-cro: For optimizing the conversion of web-based landing pages that drive app installs
• ad-creative: For creating App Store and Google Play ad creatives
• analytics-tracking: For setting up install attribution and in-app event tracking
• customer-research: For understanding user needs and language to inform listing copy

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: barkleesanders
• Source: barkleesanders/claude-code-starter
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.