How to promote your iPhone app when everyone can build one

The App Store is filling up faster than ever

Sensor Tower counted about 235,800 new App Store submissions in the first quarter of 2026, 84% more than a year earlier, after a 2025 that already came close to 600,000 (AppleInsider, April 2026). Much of the jump is credited to vibe coding — building an app by describing it to an AI that writes the code.

For a developer this means more competitors in every niche, more look-alike apps next to yours in search, and fewer people willing to try an unknown app on faith.

How people choose apps now

When ten apps promise the same thing, the description stops deciding. People go for what they can try properly, what others already use, and what someone they trust pointed them to.

A paywall on the first screen, or a three-day trial of features nobody has understood yet, is where most of them leave. The apps that win in crowded categories let people get real value first and ask for money once the app has earned a place on the home screen.

A launch plan without an ad budget

1. 1
   Make one thing obviously better. Pick the job your app does best and say it in the first line of the store page and the first screen of the app.
2. 2
   Fix the store basics. A name that says what the app does, a subtitle with the words people actually search for, screenshots that show the result rather than the settings.
3. 3
   Let people use the full app long enough to form a habit. A free year of premium through App Store offer codes turns a curious visitor into a user; a three-day trial rarely does.
4. 4
   Ask for a rating after a moment of success, not on the first launch — and never pay for reviews.
5. 5
   Be where people look for apps to try: AppHunt, deal communities such as Reddit’s r/AppHookup (read the rules first), and a launch day on Product Hunt.
6. 6
   Write one useful page about the problem your app solves. People search for problems — how to block distracting apps, how to edit a PDF on iPhone — far more often than for app names.

Why a free year beats a discount

A discount still asks for money before someone knows whether the app fits their life. A free year asks for nothing, so far more people say yes, and a year is long enough for the app to become a habit.

You stay in control: you decide how many codes to give and when they expire, Apple counts the redemptions, and with an auto-renewing subscription the people who keep the app continue at your regular price after the free year unless they cancel.

Where AppHunt fits

AppHunt is built for exactly this. Listing is free; the one condition is a code that gives our users your premium version for a year — or a one-time purchase for good — in every App Store region.

Your app gets its own offer page, a place in the promo code list on the website and in the AppHunt app for iPhone, and a chance to lead one of our “best free apps” lists, the pages people find when they search for the best free app of a kind. The people who come to AppHunt are there to find apps to try, so every code reaches someone ready to install. List your app.