Hajra Naz
Apple is taking a new step toward making app discovery easier by introducing AI-generated tags, now live in the iOS 26 developer beta.
These tags are only visible in the beta version for now. They haven’t launched on the public App Store yet. But they give a glimpse of what’s coming. As with any big App Store update, people are curious. Many want to know how this change might affect search rankings and app visibility.
Recently, Appfigures, an app data firm, shared an interesting analysis. They suggested that Apple could be using text from app screenshots to impact search results.
Until now, search results were shaped by an app’s name, subtitle, and keyword list. The theory was that Apple was pulling visible text from screenshots using optical character recognition (OCR).
Read More: Latest iOS Update: All the New Features Coming to Apple Apps
However, Apple clarified during its WWDC 2025 event that the system goes beyond OCR. Instead, it uses AI to extract meaningful context from an app’s entire metadata to improve how apps are categorized and discovered, such as
- Description
- Category
- Screenshots.
This AI-driven approach assigns tags to better reflect what the app offers. Developers won’t need to stuff keywords into screenshots or descriptions to boost visibility. Apple also emphasized that developers will have some control over which AI-generated tags are applied to their apps. Additionally, humans will review all tags before they are published, ensuring quality and accuracy.
While these AI tags aren’t yet affecting the public search algorithm, that could change soon. Once they roll out globally, developers will need to understand which tags best align with their app’s purpose to help improve discoverability in the App Store.
