App Store In-App Events: Event Card Artwork, Metadata & ASO Strategy

Why In-App Events are a screenshot-adjacent ASO lever

In-App Events let you promote timely content—a challenge, a new season, a live session, a major update—directly on the App Store. They appear as event cards with an image or video, a name, and a short description. Tapping opens an event details page with a longer description and an option to get notified when the event starts.

For ASO, the important detail is where events appear. According to Apple's In-App Events page, events show on your product page, can be discovered through search, and can be featured editorially. In search results, Apple notes that the event card appears alongside your app for users who already have your app, while people who haven't downloaded it see your screenshots. So events are a re-engagement surface for existing users and a discovery surface through event search and featuring—without replacing your screenshots for new users.

The specs you need

Metadata limits

Media specs

From Apple's In-App Event media specifications:

Note the orientation: card media is landscape, details media is portrait. You will need two crops of every visual.

Scheduling and volume limits

• An event can last up to 31 days and be promoted up to 14 days before it starts.
• You can have up to 15 approved events in App Store Connect and up to 10 published at once.
• Events are submitted for review independently of app versions, so you don't need a new build for each event.
• You can limit events to specific regions and set dates per region.

Picking the right badge

Each event carries a badge above its name. Apple defines these:

• Challenge — users work toward a goal before the event ends.
• Competition — users compete against each other for rankings or rewards.
• Live Event — real-time experiences everyone shares simultaneously.
• Major Update — significant new features or content (not bug fixes or UI tweaks).
• New Season — new content building on existing content, like a battle pass or themed season.
• Premiere — new content or media debuting for the first time.
• Special Event — limited-time events that don't fit the other badges.

Because the badge already says what type of event it is, Apple advises against repeating that in the name. "Spring Step Challenge Event" wastes characters; "Spring Step Streak" plus the Challenge badge says the same thing.

Designing event card artwork

Event media follows different rules from screenshots. Apple's guidance includes:

• Avoid text and logos in the media, especially your event name or app name—those are already shown in the card.
• Don't add borders or gradients. The App Store applies its own crops and gradients for consistency.
• Keep visual continuity between the card and details page with shared colors or illustration style.
• Use only content you created or have rights to.
• Consider video; it autoplays and loops, so design a seamless loop.

A practical design workflow

1. Start from a large master. Build artwork at 3840×2160 for the card and 2160×3840 for the details page, or design one oversized illustration and crop both.
2. Keep the subject centered. Since the App Store overlays text and gradients, put the key visual in the middle and keep the lower third relatively calm.
3. Preview in App Store Connect. It shows how your media looks on the card and details page so you can confirm nothing important is obscured.
4. Export cleanly. Use our resize tool for exact dimensions and compress or format converter to keep files manageable before upload.

If your event highlights a feature screen, crop to the meaningful UI rather than dropping a full phone mockup into a 16:9 frame—a tiny device on a wide background reads poorly at card size.

Writing event metadata that passes review

Apple's guidance for event metadata is specific:

• Name the actual event, not a call to action. "June Leaderboard Climb," not "Watch the livestream."
• Use proper capitalization and punctuation—no ALL CAPS, no "!!!".
• No unverifiable claims like "the best" or "#1."
• No specific prices; they vary by region and including them leads to rejection.
• Stay specific to the event, not general app promotion.

Examples

Using events as part of your ASO calendar

Events work best when they're part of a planned rhythm rather than one-offs:

• Map events to real content drops. If you ship monthly features, a Major Update event each month is reasonable—when the update is genuinely significant.
• Tie to seasons and holidays. Coordinate with your holiday screenshot refresh calendar so the product page, promotional text, and event all line up.
• Mirror events in promotional text. Promotional text can be updated without a new version—see our subtitle and promotional text guide.
• Use deep links. Each event needs a deep link that takes users directly to the event content in your app. A deep link to your home screen wastes the intent.
• Measure. App Store Connect provides event analytics such as impressions, opens, and notification requests. Compare across event types to learn what your audience responds to.

For non-games, good event ideas include: a 30-day fitness challenge, a live Q&A or workshop, a new template pack, a year-in-review feature, or a back-to-school planning season.

Checklist

• Event content is real, time-bound, and specific
• Badge matches Apple's definition
• Name ≤ 30 characters, title case, not a CTA
• Short ≤ 50 and long ≤ 120 characters, sentence case
• No prices, no "#1/best," no all caps
• Card media 16:9 and details media 9:16 at or above minimums
• No text, logos, borders, or gradients in media
• Deep link opens the event content directly
• Regional dates set correctly

Bottom line

In-App Events give you a second, time-sensitive creative surface on the App Store. Treat event artwork like a mini campaign: two clean crops, no baked-in text, metadata that names the actual event, and a calendar that ties events to real content and seasonal product page updates.