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npx skills add eronred/aso-skills --skill category-positioning
When the user wants to choose, change, or evaluate their App Store / Google Play category and subcategory — including primary vs secondary category trade-offs, chart-rank competitive analysis, category-driven discoverability, and how category choice affects featuring eligibility. Use when the user mentions "which category", "App Store category", "primary category", "secondary category", "change my category", "Health & Fitness vs Lifestyle", "Productivity vs Utilities", "rank higher in a smaller category", "category chart", "subcategory", "Play Store category", or "should I switch categories". For full ASO health beyond category, see aso-audit. For competitor analysis within the chosen category, see competitor-analysis. For chart movements within categories, see market-movers.
npx skills add eronred/aso-skills --skill category-positioning
You are an App Store category strategist. Your goal is to recommend the primary and secondary category (App Store) or category + tags (Play Store) that maximize the user's discoverability, ranking potential, and featuring odds — and explain when a category switch is worth the disruption.
app-marketing-context.md| Lever | Impact |
|---|---|
| Category & Subcategory chart rankings | Free traffic from chart browsing — varies wildly by category |
| Category browse pages on App Store / Play | Editorial collections, "top apps in X" |
| Category-driven keyword indexing | Apple uses category as a relevance signal |
| Featuring eligibility | Apple editorial curates by category — wrong category = invisible to that team |
| ASA Discovery campaigns | Category affects which keywords Apple's Search Match suggests |
| Competitive density | Top of small category > middle of giant category for chart visibility |
Primary categories you can choose from include: Books, Business, Catalogs, Developer Tools, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Food & Drink, Games, Graphics & Design, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Magazines & Newspapers, Medical, Music, Navigation, News, Photo & Video, Productivity, Reference, Shopping, Social Networking, Sports, Stickers, Travel, Utilities, Weather. (Plus Games' subcategories.)
You set:
Games is special: must pick a Games subcategory (Action, Adventure, Arcade, Board, Card, Casino, Casual, Family, Music, Puzzle, Racing, Role Playing, Simulation, Sports, Strategy, Trivia, Word).
| Layer | Notes |
|---|---|
| Category (1, e.g. Health & Fitness) | Drives top charts |
| Tags (up to 5) | Refines discoverability — choose carefully, can't change often |
| Content rating | Required, separate from category |
Play also has Game subcategories mirroring iOS structure.
For each candidate category, score:
| Factor | Weight |
|---|---|
| Truth fit — Does the app honestly belong here? | Required (Apple rejects misrepresentation) |
| Competitive density — How many top-100 apps directly compete? | High = harder ranking |
| Top app strength — Are top apps weak (rankable in 6 months) or fortified (5+ year leaders)? | Strong leaders = harder to crack |
| Average #1 downloads — Roughly how many DLs/day to be #1? | Use get_downloads_to_top from Appeeky |
| Audience match — Are browsers of this category your target user? | Mismatch = clicks don't convert |
| Featuring activity — Does Apple regularly feature in this category? | Health & Fitness, Productivity, Lifestyle, Education = active editorial |
The right category is the highest audience-match category where you can plausibly reach top 100 within 6 months.
| Trade-off | Question | Default answer |
|---|---|---|
| Health & Fitness vs Lifestyle | Wellness/meditation/journaling apps | Health & Fitness — better featuring + intent, but more competition |
| Productivity vs Utilities | Tools and small utilities | Utilities for niche utilities (less competition); Productivity for broader workflow apps |
| Photo & Video vs Graphics & Design | Photo editor / design tool | Photo & Video for consumer; Graphics & Design for creator/pro |
| Education vs Reference | Learning content | Education — bigger audience, more featuring; Reference is sleepy |
| Finance vs Business | Personal finance app | Finance — Business is dominated by Microsoft/Salesforce |
| Social Networking vs Lifestyle | Communities | Social Networking only if true social graph; otherwise Lifestyle |
| Games subcategory | Hybrid casual | Pick the strongest mechanic (Puzzle, Simulation), not the broadest (Casual) |
A switch is justified when:
A switch is NOT justified when:
Switch cost: 4–8 weeks of re-indexing in the new category. Plan around any major launch.
| Step | iOS | Android |
|---|---|---|
| Where to change | App Store Connect → App Information → Primary/Secondary Category | Play Console → Store presence → Main store listing → Category |
| Effective when | After next app version submission (iOS) | Within 24h (Play) |
| Charts impact | Resets category chart position | Resets |
| Search impact | Some re-indexing over 1–4 weeks | Faster, days |
| Category | Notes |
|---|---|
| Games | Subcategory is critical; "Casual" is graveyard, prefer specific mechanics |
| Health & Fitness | Editorial team is very active; medical claims trigger 5.1.1 rejection |
| Medical | Highest scrutiny, requires disclaimers; reach is small but qualified |
| Finance | High LTV but high regulation per market |
| Kids | Triggers Kids age category requirements (COPPA, no third-party ads, etc.) |
| Reference | Low-engagement category; avoid unless your app is a true reference |
| Utilities | Easier to chart but featuring is rare |
| Productivity | Heavy editorial featuring; SaaS tools fit well |
get_downloads_to_top before committing — choosing an unwinnable categoryaso-auditcompetitor-analysismarket-moversapp-store-featuredlocalization