Submitting watchOS Apps to the App Store

watchOS 5 and Apple Watch Series 4 will soon be in the hands of customers around the world. Update your watchOS apps and product pages, and submit today.

Build with the watchOS 5 SDK.

Update to Xcode 10, which includes the watchOS 5 SDK, and build your apps. Starting March 2019, all new watchOS apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must be built with the watchOS 5 SDK and support Apple Watch Series 4.

Optimize Your App

With watchOS 5, you can deliver more engaging user experiences using interactive notifications, access to the Siri watch face, audio controls, and more. And with Apple Watch Series 4, your apps can take advantage of the expanded display to show even more information and detail at a glance. Enriched complications on the new Infograph and Inforgraph Modular watch faces, let you create vivid, full-color complications.

Designing for Apple Watch Series 4

Get your product page ready.

App Name and Description

Your iPhone app and your watchOS app share one name and one description. The phrase “Apple Watch” cannot be included in your app name, but can be included in the description.

Apple Watch should always be written in English, even when it appears within text of another language. Always write Apple Watch as two words with an uppercase A and an uppercase W. For more information, see the Marketing Resources and Identity Guidelines

Keywords

Keywords are limited to 100 characters, and are shared between your iPhone app and watchOS app. Maximize the number of words that fit in this character limit by avoiding terms such as watch and app. Do not use the phrase Apple Watch. For more information on writing effective keywords, read the App Store Product page.

App Icon

Your watchOS app icon should be visually similar to your iOS app icon to show users that they are connected. The file you upload will be a square version of your icon at 1024 x 1024 pixels. While this image is large for scaling purposes, your icon is usually seen at small sizes. Make sure that this image gracefully scales down to smaller sizes.

The system will resize your icon for the App Store and apply a circular mask. Do not upload a circular icon. Keep the design simple and note that elements on the outer edges will be obscured by the circular mask. Avoid using black in the background of your icon to keep it from blending in to the black Apple Watch home screen.

Before uploading your icon in App Store Connect, get more details on designing icons for Apple Watch from the Human Interface Guidelines.

Screenshots

You can upload up to 10 screenshots of your watchOS app in addition to 10 iPhone app screenshots. watchOS app screenshots used on the App Store are 368 x 448 pixels (44 mm) or 312 x 390 pixels (42 mm). Use the full space for the screenshot — do not frame the screenshot in an Apple Watch. Also avoid placing your watchOS app within your iPhone app screenshots.

Two screenshots are initially visible in the screenshot carousel. We recommend using these to focus on the most important features of your app. You can also order your watchOS app screenshots to demonstrate a sequence of interaction.

App Previews

Your app preview may only use footage of your iPhone app, and footage must stay within the app. Do not change your preview to show your watchOS app.

Learn more about app previews

Test and submit your app.

Before submitting your app for review in App Store Connect, make sure that it adheres to the review guidelines, functions properly, and is ready to be released to customers.

Review Guidelines

All apps submitted to the App Store are reviewed based on a set of technical, content, and design criteria. Make sure to review the guidelines before submitting your app for review in App Store Connect.

Read the App Store Review Guidelines

Beta Testing with TestFlight

Get valuable feedback with beta testing to make sure your app is ready for release. Upload your apps to App Store Connect and use TestFlight to test them on Apple Watch. You can even invite external testers.

Learn more about TestFlight

Version and Build Number

Make sure the version and build numbers for your iPhone app and watchOS app are the same in the binary you upload.