App not appearing in App Store search for over 6 weeks — including branded searches for its own name

Question

Created Feb ’26

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I'm hoping someone from Apple engineering can help, as support tickets and callbacks have not resolved this issue. The problem: My app "Brutal Time - Typographic Clock" does not appear in App Store search results at all — not even when searching for its exact name "Brutal Time." This has been ongoing for over six weeks. Additionally, the app does not appear in Apple Search Ads when I try to set up a campaign — suggesting this is a backend indexing issue, not a ranking issue.

Timeline: Dec 17, 2025: App launched, initially searchable Dec 31, 2025: Transitioned to freemium model, became invisible in search. Jan 5, 2026: Fixed the issue, submitted update (v2.02), approved same day Jan 14, 2026: Submitted metadata update (v2.03) to improve discoverability, approved same day Feb 8, 2026: Tried removing from sale and re-adding to force re-index — no effect Feb 10, 2026: Still not appearing in any search results

What I've tried:

Submitted multiple support tickets (most recent: Case #102797235758)
Each ticket generates an automated reply stating Apple will respond within 2 business days — they never have
Requested and received callbacks multiple times, was told it would be escalated to US engineering team. But no follow-up, no resolution, no explanation
Removed from sale and re-added to attempt to force re-indexing — didn't work
App shows "Ready for Distribution" in App Store Connect
Direct link works fine: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/brutal-time-typographic-clock/id6756289461

Response from Apple Support: "The behavior you observed is expected. App Store charts and search results change regularly and we don't guarantee app placement." This response misses the point entirely. I'm not asking about rankings — I'm asking why the app is completely invisible in search, including for its own branded name. This is not an isolated issue. Other developers have reported the same problem with the same non-response from Apple:

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/803937 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/73981 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/74110

Has anyone found a resolution? Is there any way to trigger a proper re-index, or escalate to someone who can actually investigate?

Answer 1

YukiNakano OP

2w

Adding another data point — same symptoms, same lack of resolution. Sharing here in case the pattern helps Apple eventually acknowledge this as a systemic issue.

App: ZenTerm (App ID 6760935103, Bundle ID com.zenterm.mobile) Released: 2026-03-31 (45 days ago) Status: Ready for Sale (1.3.2 live) Developer: Individual

Symptoms (matches Brutal Time exactly)

App Store search for the exact name "zenterm" → zero results, 45+ days running
iTunes Search API (https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=zenterm&country=jp) returns my app correctly
Direct App Store URL https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/zenterm/id6760935103 works fine
Apple Search Ads campaign creation flow cannot find my app either — neither by name search nor by pasting the canonical App Store URL
v1.3.2 (released 2026-05-06, with all third-party trademarks proactively removed from keywords) has now been live for 9 days — no change in search visibility

Apple Support response so far

DateActionResult

2026-04-11	First written inquiry	Templated reply: "we don't guarantee app placement"
2026-04-14	Second written inquiry (clarifying it's an indexing issue, not ranking)	Ignored for 24 days
2026-05-08	Phone call to Apple Support	Agent: "we cannot provide any answer on this case"
2026-05-08	Third written inquiry (with Apple Search Ads evidence + Apple's own help doc cross-reference)	Ignored for 7 days as of today, despite Apple's stated SLA of "within 2 business days" on the contact form

Apple's own documentation strongly suggests a silent flag

Per Apple Search Ads help "If your app does not appear as a promotion option," the listed causes are:

Account not linked to ASC — N/A
App registered <24h ago — N/A (38 days)
App cannot be promoted (policy violation / guideline violation / placement unavailable) — ★ only remaining candidate
Special characters in app name — N/A (pure ASCII)
32-bit / app bundle — N/A
France / China specific — N/A

So Apple's own documentation strongly implies a policy-violation flag is silently active on the app, but Apple refuses to disclose what it is despite three inquiries.

Self-remediation already attempted

I proactively removed all third-party trademarks (Claude, Codex, Copilot, Mac mini, Raspberry Pi) from keywords in version 1.3.2 (released 2026-05-06), per public guidance that trademark keywords are the most common silent-suppression trigger. The Apple Search Ads check above was performed after this remediation went live.

Questions to the thread

For OP and others affected:

Has DTS Technical Support Incident yielded any actionable response, or is it always rejected as out of scope?
Has anyone observed a delayed reindex (weeks/months) eventually fixing this without intervention?
Has anyone tried switching the developer account from Individual to Organization and seen recovery?
Does anyone have a documented contact path that bypasses the standard support template?

Happy to share screenshots or additional diagnostic data if it helps validate this is a recurring infrastructure-level bug.