Apple Rolling Out Tags in App Store to Help Refine Popular Search Results

With the App Store now home to nearly two million apps, Apple appears to be testing a new feature to make search results more contextual.

app store search tags
As noted in the MacRumors forums and on Twitter, some iPhone users in recent weeks have started to see tags in the App Store after searching for a popular term like "photos" or "wallpaper." After searching for "photos," for example, some of the tags that can be selected include "collage" or "editor" or "storage."

After tapping on a tag, the search results are curated accordingly. If a user searches for "photos" and then taps "collage," for example, the search results will be narrowed down to apps that can be used to make photo collages. In some cases, a second tag can be selected to narrow down the search results even further, as shown above.

As of now, it appears that the tags are only visible to a small number of users. Many users that see the tags are running the iOS 14.5 beta, but a few have claimed to see them on iOS 14.4.2, so it is possible that the tags could be a server-side change that will eventually be expanded to more users on multiple iOS versions.

Apple's website says 70% of App Store visitors use search to find apps, so the search tags should benefit many users. In 2016, Apple introduced Search Ads, allowing developers to pay Apple to have their app listing shown at the top of the search results based on the app's relevance to the user's search query, among other factors.

iOS 14.5 has been in beta testing since February 1, with the seventh beta seeded this week. Apple said the software update will be released in "early spring," and in a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the update will be released in "just a few weeks."

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Top Rated Comments

alexandr Avatar
55 months ago
but are they air tags?..
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cheesehead Dave Avatar
55 months ago
"Apple Rolling Out Tags..."

YAY!!!

"... in App Store to Help Refine Popular Search Results"

BOO!!!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
55 months ago
I think this deserves a finally. Such a simple thing to implement that has been needed since a few months after the App Store launched and began to explode with content. The obvious problem is people tagging the hell out of their apps. Hopefully there is a way to mitigate this by limiting the number something.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
duanepatrick Avatar
55 months ago
Same sentiment...Thought it was air tags for a sec :)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexandr Avatar
55 months ago

You beat me to it ... This IS your AirTags, the Air is the App Store in the cloud with less letters
this is what you've all been waiting for! :))
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexandr Avatar
55 months ago

MacRumors is just trying to tell us something.
or are they?)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)