Release notes

Release notes describe what changed in a new version of your app. On the App Store they appear as What's New, with up to 4,000 characters per localization, and they are required for every version after the first. On Google Play they appear in the What's new section of the listing and are limited to 500 characters per language, as of November 2026.

Many teams write "Bug fixes and performance improvements" every time, which wastes a free channel. Users who read release notes are often your most engaged, and a clear note about a new feature or a fixed bug builds trust and can prompt a better rating. Be specific, lead with the most valuable change and use plain words rather than internal ticket language.

Release notes are also a research source. Read in sequence, a competitor's notes reveal its roadmap, release cadence, pricing experiments and the problems it is fighting. A sudden run of fixes for crashes or login issues often lines up with a ratings drop.

AppMetis keeps version changelogs for about 1.82M apps, so you can read a rival's release history in one place. The guide on how to track competitor app releases shows what to look for.