One Maine Enhanced 9-1-1 Update Form Will Need To Be Filled Out For The Above Edit: Fill & Download for Free

What pieces of hardware are you referring to? Let’s look at every major arms sale since 2008.AircraftThe F-16C/D Block 70? That uses the most modern radar fitted to the F-16, the AN/APG-83, which is being retrofitted to much of the US legacy fleet (F-16s and F-18s). It uses the same engine and cockpit avionics as those operated by the US. The existing F-16A/B MLUs? Those were decent back when they were bought. Those same F-16A/B MLUs are now having their radars, electronic warfare (EW) modules, cockpit avionics, communication and datalink systems, and weapon carrying provisions upgraded to a similar standard, known as the F-16V.[1] The upgrade program is called the 凤展专案, or Phoenix Project (rough translation). The Block 70 (BLK 70) is literally the latest production model F-16 used by first rate militaries, including the US, South Korea, and Singapore.[2]While the PLAAF is slowly upgrading its J-10, J-11, J-16, and possibly its Su-35 fleet with its first generation of AESA radars, the backbone of the ROCAF is being upgraded with something close to the tenth AESA radar (I’ve personally lost count) developed by Northrup Grumman that has advanced search and track, electronic attack, and synthetic aperture radar modes. Developed from technology incorporated in the AN/APG-77v1 (F-22 radar) and AN/APG-81 (F-35 radar)[3], the AN/APG-83’s development relied on solid experience in designing various low probability intercept (LPI) and electronic attack methods, giving the F-16V and F-16C/D BLK 70 a likely detection advantage over most of the PLAAF legacy fleet.In addition, the F-16 sale comes with high off bore sight (HOBS) missiles like the AIM-9X (elaborated on in the “Missiles” section) and a helmet mounted cueing system, either the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System II (JHMCS II) or the Scorpion. Neither the helmets nor the missile are “cheap” or “out of date.” The JHMCS II is fielded on American F-16s, F-15s and F-18s, the JHMCS II is currently under development to supplement or replace the JHMCS I on those same platforms, and the USAF F-16s and A-10s use the Scorpion. The Scorpion was tested on the F-22, the premiere air supremacy fighter of the US, much to the appeasement of F-22 pilots.[4]It seems though that the likely procurement will be the JHMCS II since these are currently being tested on both the F-16V and Block 70.[5] This allows ROCAF pilots in close range “dogfights” to simply turn their head to face a target within 90 degrees offset from the direction the nose is pointed at to lock an enemy aircraft with a HOBS missile. As long as the target is within the flight envelope of the missile, and HOBS missiles have greatly reduced turning radii, the missile can then fly out and destroy the target without the launch aircraft having to point its nose at the target. This puts both the new and upgraded F-16s on parity with the PLAAF legacy fighters in close range dogfights as the latter have begin receiving similar upgrades.The differences between the F-16V and the F-16C/D BLK 70 are small. The BLK 70 comes with the General Electric F-110 (variant unspecified) engine which has at least a 17% advantage over the F100-PW-220 used by the F-16Vs. The Block 70 comes with conformal fuel tanks, which extends the range of the aircraft without having to use external fuel tanks (EFTs or drop tanks) which massively contribute to drag and take up pylon slots. ROCAF F-16s currently use two drop tanks for standard configurations, with an option for a third drop tank to be fitted under the fuselage. The BLK 70 with just two EFTs has more range than the F-16V with three, and the center line pylon can instead by used to carry an ECM pod like the AN/ALQ-184, which provides some defense against radar guided missiles. The Block 70 will also come with a new missile rack capable of carrying three AIM-120 missiles instead of just one. A standard configuration for an F-16V uses 4 AIM-120s and 2 AIM-9X missiles. The equivalent on the F-16 Block 70 will have 8 AIM-120s and 2 AIM-9X missiles. The F-16Vs use the AN/ALQ-213 EW management system with the AN/ALQ-184(v) or AN/ALQ-131A (with DFRM) ECM pod while the Block 70 aircraft will be equipped with the AN/ALQ-256A(v) integrated EW, an upgraded AN/ALQ-211(v)4.[6] [7] Lastly, the BLK 70s will likely use the newer AN/ALR-69A(v), the newest radar warning receiver developed for the F-16 which is being standardized across the US F-16C/D fleet. The F-16Vs still use the AN/ALR-56M.The first F16V took flight in 2018 and the upgrade program will be completed in 2023 while the F-16C/D Block 70 will begin deliveries in 2023 and be completed by 2026.The UH-60M Blackhawk? These are utility helicopters purchased in 2010 to supplement or replace the UH-1 in most roles.[8] Utility aircraft don’t really get obsolete with the exception of aging airframes and to a small extent the avionics and engines used. Unlike combat aircraft, there isn’t much in the way of competing technology here. Are there helicopters that can carry more people or supplies? Sure, but those would just be bigger helicopters, and the ROC operates those as well including the CH-47D and EC-225; for a helicopter of the same size, the only parameter that really changes between helicopter types is avionics and engine power. The UH-60M has modern avionics and new engines. The avionics can be easily upgraded with new software and hardware, as has been done in the past with this helicopter. The same applies to its engines. It’s the same variant of the Blackhawk used by the US, and has shown to be flexible in its accommodation of upgrades over its service history should the ROC seek further improvements in the future.The E-2K? It’s an airborne warning and control system (AWACS). It provides early warning against airborne and surface threats. In 2008, the ROCAF inventory of E-2T (E-2C Group II with specific modifications for the ROC) Hawkeyes were upgraded to the Hawkeye 2000 standards. At the time, this was the most advanced variant of the E-2 in service with all E-2 operators either using the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 or the baseline E-2C. The E-2K uses the AN/APS-145 which can track over 2000 targets and direct the interception of at least 40 targets simultaneously while sporting jamming resistance. This is more than adequate for the ROC’s purposes and superior to the reported capabilities of the KJ-2000 used by the PLAAF.[9] It’s still in service with other militaries around the world, and as the upgrades to the F-16 fleet and purchase of the T-5 trainers and F-16 Block 70s are completed, it’s likely that the E-2Ks will upgraded to the E-2D as some others have done.Edit: Taiwan has recently signed a deal to upgrade the E-2Ks to the E-2D variant which replaces the previous phased array antenna that could only be electronically steered with an AESA radar. The new radar is far more powerful, is harder to jam, has higher target fidelity, and comes with various support system upgrades such as a datalink capable of providing midcourse guidance to long range missiles like the AIM-120.The AH-64E Apache Guardian? It’s the latest variant of the AH-64E in service with any country, just as it was in 2008 when ordered. This might sound like the Apache is out of data to anyone not familiar with it, but aside from communication, sensor, and cockpit display information, attack helicopter upgrades come slowly as they are basically just as lethal as they were decades before and will continue to be for decades to come. Their primary targets are at a very lopsided disadvantage. It has four stub wing pylons that can accommodate up to 16 hellfire missiles (more on them in the Missiles section) or 72 hydra 70 rockets. The standard configuration is 8 hellfires and 38 hydra rockets. It also has two wingtip stations that can each accommodate 2 Stinger missiles. The hellfire missiles are more than sufficient against even the most modern PLA tanks and the rockets are meant to be used against soft targets like infantry or lightly armoured vehicles; the Stingers are self defense weapon against enemy aircarft that get too close. The Apache also has an M230 30mm chain gun chambered in 30x113mm for which two types of live ammunition are available. The M789 high explosive dual purpose (HEDP) round has a shaped charge with a fragmentation sleeve around the explosive liner. The shaped charge can penetrate an inch of RHA and the fragmentation sleeve sends out shrapnel around the point of impact to increase the lethality radius against infantry and light vehicles and equipment.[10]There is also the M799 high explosive incendiary (HEI) round which is basically the largest amount of explosive and incendiary filler that could filled in a shell of those dimensions with the thinnest metallic sleeve possible.The AH-64E has the AN/APG-78 Longbow millimeter wave fire control radar sits above the rotor hub and can be used to detect targets and provide targeting information to the Apache’s weapons. Via the IDM-401 modem, Apaches can share sensor data with each other.[11]This means that a single Apache can hover with its radar exposed above a ridgeline or some other obstruction to gather targeting data. The rest of the helicopter is concealed and safe from enemy ground fire. At the same time, the radar might trigger the electronic warfare suites of enemy platforms which provide the direction from which the radar emissions are coming from. Enemy weapons would be slewed in that direction and with separate platforms they can triangulate the position of the AH-64E that is painting them with its longbow radar. However, with the AH-64E concealed, it is relatively safe to continue to paint the targets. Other Apaches running EMCON (meaning they are not emitted radar or radio signals) can then pop up at separate locations and fire their missiles using the targeting data supplied by the one actively emitting Apache without the enemy seeing them coming. The AN/APG-78 is also due for an upgrade soon that would, among other things, double its range.[12]It is possible that the ROC would purchase these upgraded radars in the future.The Apache also comes with the AN/APR-48 Radio Frequency Interferometer which acts as a radar warning receiver with 360 degree coverage and is placed below the Longbow radar. It also has the modern target acquisition designation sight/pilot night vision system (MTADS/PNVS) which acts as an electro-optical and forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, laser designator and range finder. In the image above, the top sensor is the PNVS while the bottom module is the MTADS. The MTADS allows the gunner to visually identify targets with a colour, high zoom camera or an infrared camera. The laser range finder can be used to provide targeting information and the laser designator provides guidance to laser guided missiles like most variants of the hellfire missile. The PNVS uses an infrared camera to provide visibility to the pilot for low light level flight.The PNVS, MTADS, and the M230 can be slaved to the crew’s helmets which have helmet mounted displays. The pilot simply looks at a target within the gimbal limits of the gun and sensors and the computers point the gun and sensors in the same direction, allowing the gunner to easily engage or view targets with the MTADS and gun and the pilot to get an easy look around the front of the aircraft simply turning their heads. The MTADS can upload targeting information to the missiles, so the Apache can also engage targets within the field of view of the missiles’ seekers relatively easily as well.Compared to previous iterations of the Apache, the AH-64E has an updated glass cockpit, an improved AN/APG-78, new datalinks and communication protocols, improved engines, and new composite rotors that increase the flight performance of the Apache. The datalinks allow the US Army’s AH-64E to control several UAVs in their inventory, and it’s possible in the future the ROC will seek to integrate compatibility with their own UAVs.[13]Missiles (and Glide Bombs)The MIM-104F Patriot PAC-3? They were initially purchased in 2001 and several PAC-2 systems were upgraded later on. This is the same missile system used by half of NATO, is combat proven, and is being actively upgraded. It currently uses a very powerful PESA radar, much like S-300 variants, which allows it to use complicated frequency hopping patterns to enhance LPI characteristics. The PAC-3 offers ballistic missile defense coverage within a radius of around 20km from the launcher against short range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) and medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs), and greater but unspecified coverage against air breathing threats. The missiles are designed to be precise enough to have hit to kill capabilities, insuring the destruction of a reentry vehicle from an SRBM or MRBM, using a Ka band AESA seeker and 180 small attitude control motors. The missile has dozens of tungsten rods which fan out from a small warhead being detonated just before impact. Each of these rods slams into the target length wise, ensuring that the airframe of an air breathing target is shredded and increasing the effective cross section against ballistic missile threats.The ROC is one of 14 countries funding Raytheon to upgraded the Patriot Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) system which will further enhance electronic counter-counter measures (ECCM, i.e. jamming resistance), target identification and discrimination (i.e. decoy resistant), identification friend of foe (IFF), datalink and networking, among other things.[14]Since the US is a partner in the IAMD upgrade effort, we can expect to see some of the latest developments in the US Patriot battery be incorporated by the international partners to this program. This includes planned radar, command and control module, and software upgrades derived from MEADS and the new LTAMDS radar. I’ve elaborated on these upgrades in another post about the US systems on their own: Why do we always have up to date information on Russian SAMs, and I'm not even aware of the name of the USA SAM system? While these upgrades are so far planned for just the US version, they satisfy the requirements of the IAMD effort, would allow for greater commonality and interoperability between partner nations, reduce the cost of development off of the US’ shoulders, and Raytheon is fully expecting the LTAMDS radar to enter the international market.[15]Regardless of what upgrades are chosen for the IAMD program, the ROC will benefit from the significant upgrades all the same.The AGM-84H SLAM-ER purchased mid-2020? While not new, it certainly isn’t outdated or obsolete. It has a range of 170 miles, which allows it to outrange the majority of PLA air defenses. In the terminal phase, it uses imaging infrared and DSMAC for guidance, which practically makes the SLAM-ER jamming proof and very resistant to counter measures, especially when its targets are large strategic targets like ships, buildings, or missile batteries. It’s a very precise missile, with the smallest CEP of any surface strike missile in the US Navy arsenal.[16]While missiles like the AGM-158 have longer range and greater payloads, and missiles like the Kh-31 are faster, to have all of the above would require a massive and expensive missile compared to the AGM-84, which is still perfectly adequate for its role.Unlike air to air missiles or strategic air defense missiles which have to keep up with advances in range, ECM, target profile, coverage, and target speeds, the ability for a surface target to defeat an air to ground missile advances rather slowly. Kinematically defeating a missile for a ship or truck is basically impossible, the missile and its launch platform can dip beneath the radar horizon to avoid surface based air defenses, and spoofing guidance systems when the target is so massive is so difficult that few people put much effort in aside from generic decoy and masking systems. With such mobile launch platforms, the difference in launch range past 150 miles is frankly negligible. To call the AGM-84H out of date would be to call the overwhelming majority of air to ground munitions used world wide obsolete even though they are capable of performing their task just fine. There is a reason the PLA’s mainstay is the YJ-83 which isn’t remarkable in any regard as an anti ship missile. Unless a weapon struggles to perform its task, I do not see any point in using that term.The AGM-154C JSOW purchased in 2017? This is the latest variant of the AGM-154, which is also used by the US Navy and USAF. It offers a cost effective, medium range air to ground capability. Launched at high altitude, the JSOW has a 70 nautical mile range. With GPS and inertial mid course guidance and imaging infrared terminal guidance, the weapon is very accurate and delivers a 1000lb BROACH warhead capable of defeating both soft targets and hardened targets like aircraft bunkers. F-16s flying from Hualien can climb to high altitude, dart towards the Taiwan Straight, release their ordinance, and dive down beneath the radar horizon again.In what way is this weapon obsolete? It’s capable enough that the US intends to continue to use this weapon for decades to come. It has great range for a glide bomb, has a low IR signature on account of it being a glide bomb which means it likely will not trigger IR and UV based missile launch detectors as easily as a missile would, has a small radar cross section which decreases radar detection range, and delivers a rather large versatile warhead.I do have my criticism of the JSOW purchase, but not on any grounds of obsolescence. The role it fills doesn’t really exist in ROCAF doctrine. It offers the ability to strike strategic targets once longer range air defenses have been eliminated, and the launch platform can do this with impunity from medium to short range defenses. However, such a scenario simply doesn’t exist against the numerically superior PLA, which would restrict the F-16s carrying the JSOW well to the east of the Taiwan Straight’s median line, which basically places the entirety of the mainland outside of striking distance for the JSOW. Still though, in the event that hostilities break out without a full scale invasion preceding by a massive military build up, the JSOW could be used as part of a retaliatory strike against a small to medium scale attack by cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.The AGM-88B HARM purchased in 2018? This is the only missile on this list that I think is deserving of being called “out of date.” The AGM-88B is an anti radiation missile and has a range of just 80 miles. F-16s carrying the AGM-88B can fly in below the radar horizon and pop up to shoot the AGM-88B, before ducking down, and unlike the AGM-154, since the HARM has its own rocket motor, the F-16 does not need to climb for as long before launching the weapon. That said, the F-16s would be vulnerable as PLAAF fighters will undoubtedly be present, and datalinks could allow over the horizon SAM launches. The range of 80 miles puts the launch aircraft uncomfortably close. The B variant only has passive home on radiation, and as soon as the enemy radar is turned off, the missile is dumb and likely won’t hit the target. This was done to great effect in combat, even by static defenses. Later variants of the AGM-88 had the precision to hit the last known position of a radar even after it turned off, and eventually had active terminal seekers that can destroy vehicle still in the vicinity if the enemy antenna is mobile.All of the numerous, modern PLA air defense systems are mobile and are able to set up or tear down and relocate in very short intervals of time. This strategy has already been implemented with less mobile systems in the past, where Yugoslav SA-6 batteries were almost entirely untouched despite the considerable NATO effort to destroy them after achieving air supremacy.Perhaps the ROCAF does not expect the PLA to ever turn off and relocate their radars since this presents a window of opportunity for threats to slip through. In Yugoslavia, this was acceptable to the SAM operators since NATO had complete air supremacy anyways and the SAMs were only good for harassment and interference, with the odd kill against mostly UAVs. With the PLA having the stronger side, they might not risk turning off their radars, even with overlapping coverage, for risk of allowing a cruise missile to pass through and cause an embarrassing amount of damage. Regardless, the missile has severe limitations in ROCAF usage and should be upgraded to the longer range, more capable AGM-88E, AGM-88F, or preferably (but unlikely for some time) the AGM-88G.The AGM-114 Hellfire? The ROC operates three variants of the Hellfire: the AGM-114C, AGM-114K, and the AGM-114L. The AGM-114C and AGM-114K are both semi active laser guided missiles. The C variant has a single high explosive anti tank (HEAT) warhead which uses a cone or bell shaped metal linear surrounded by explosives to create a jet of superplastic metal when the explosives are detonated. The jet travels at hypersonic speeds and can bore its way through armour. The AGM-114K has a tandem charge, utilizing two HEAT warheads to defeat vehicles protected by ERA blocks (elaborated on below in the description of the FGM-148 Javelin). The K variant also has a digit guidance section that is programmable, allowing the operator to select an attack pattern, including top attack modes. The K variant’s seeker is less susceptible to IRCM and can reacquire a lock after losing it, decreasing the chances of a missile failing to track to its target. The K3 subvariant used by the ROC adds a less sensitive warhead for handling safety and a fragmentation sleeve around the warhead to increase the lethality radius against soft targets. The AGM-114L is similar to the AGM-114K except that it uses a millimeter wave radar seeker, meaning once fired it autonomously guides itself to the target without the Apache needing to keep itself exposed to guide the missile.[17]An AH-64E can select and engage up to 16 vehicles, with one AGM-114L for each, and then pull away immediately after launching all the missiles. The ROC Army has several hundred AGM-114Cs that are mostly expended in training exercises now, several hundred AGM-114K3s purchased with the AH-1W Super Cobras, and a thousand AGM-114Ls purchased in the same deal that bought the AH-64E. The latter two variants are more than powerful enough to penetrate the thin roof armour of PLA tanks, even if they are protected by additional armour addons.The AIM-9X Block II Requested as part of both the upgrade package and the new F-16 purchase? The AIM-9X Block II missile is the newest variant of the Sidewinder that is currently being produced to replace older model AIM-9X and AIM-9M missiles in the USAF and USN inventory. It’s the same missile being added to the F-22 and F-35 in their latest upgrades. It has a gimballed focal plane array serving as an imaging infrared seeker (IIR). The gimbal has a maximum offset of 90 degrees. This allows the missile to acquire targets that are heavily offset from the direction the plane is pointed at, an incredibly useful ability in close range dogfights. The imaging infrared seeker can distinguish the heat signature of a plane from flares with a high degree of fidelity, giving it increased IRCM resistance.The Block II variant has some minor upgrades like safety features. It also has a new proximity fuse, improved range, and lock on after launch capability (LOAL).[18]Since there is no mention of a new motor, the increased range likely comes from a new trajectory calculating algorithm that allows the missile to more optimally leverage its mechanical energy to engage targets that are further away. This was likely done to synergize with the LOAL capability that allows the missile to fly in the direction of a target indicated by some onboard or offboard sensor (with a compatible datalink) such as the radar before the missile detects the target itself, before acquiring the target with its IIR seeker. This can be used to engage targets further away than what the IIR seeker can see initially or attack targets behind the launch aircraft that are detected by other platforms.[19] The Block II Sidewinder is superior to the R-73 and R-73 derivatives used by the PLA in terms of HOBS capability and range.The M142 HIMARS? It’s a mobile rocket artillery system with a modern artillery computer computer and is compatible with various rockets. It provides some flexibility, as it is compatible with less accurate rockets that disperse anti tank munitions that can be fired onto a beach filled with disembarking PLA armour, very precise GPS guided rockets that can strike within a few meters of a given target to destroy key disembarked equipment, and the MGM-140 ATACMS, an SRBM.It can carry 6 rockets, or 1 MGM-140. Note that the launch cannister is externally identical for each, so that surveillance equipment cannot distinguish between a truck carrying 6 rockets or a single ATACMS. The purchase thus far has only included the latest variant of the MGM-140, also known as the MGM-168.[20] It uses GPS and INS guidance to strike stationary targets with extreme precision, delivering a 500lb warhead at over Mach 3. With a range of 190 miles, it can strike command and control infrastructure, missile batteries and staging grounds on the mainland. For massed rocket artillery barrages, the ROC army will rely on its own Thunderbolt 2000 MLRS. Once again, this is the latest variant of a capable, modern weapon system that poses a threat to PLA units with its range and speed. While the S-300 and its Chinese derivatives are capable of intercepting SRBMs (albeit with less effective proximity fused warheads instead of hit to kill warheads), the ATACMS could be used as part of a saturation attack where MGM-168s are fired in conjunction with air launched cruise missiles like the SLAM-ER and indigenously developed Wan Chien, ground launched cruise missiles like the indigenously developed Cloud Peak and HF-2E missiles, and drones, which could overwhelm their defenses as they face attack from multiple directions. The latter would be used for BDA, target acquisition for a second barrage, and as suicide weapons.The US is currently developing the ATACMS to have anti ship capability and produce a new variant that is slimmer, faster, and longer ranged (possibly using different fuel mixes and staggered stages) on top of the mobile target capability which the ROC could possibly purchase to upgrade their HIMARS batteries in the future.The RIM-66K SM-2 Block III purchased in 2017? It’s the same variant of the SM-2 used by South Korea, Japan, and Spain. It has an improved semi active radar seeker compared to the base model SM-2, improved range, and has a secondary infrared seeker to help with terminal guidance with heavy jamming present or if the target has a small radar cross section. It’s a perfectly adequate medium range SAM, both in the past and present.The multiple FGM-148 Javelin purchases? Another instance of a missile with countermeasures that are very slow to develop. The Javelin is a man portable anti tank guided missile with a top attack mode. This means that the missile can fly a top down trajectory against a target, hitting the thin roof of enemy tanks. This also skirts most active protection systems as well. Infrared dazzlers like those found on the Type 99 are limited to mostly operating in the horizontal plane, which allows the Javelin to attack them unhindered.The Type 99 MBT takes its inspiration from the T-72. From the frontal profile, the Type 99 will have its thickest armour on the turret front and upper hull plate. The Javelin against the Type 99 will strike either the thin turret roof, engine deck, or the upper plate. If it strikes the latter, the line of sight armour will be thin and barely provide any protection from that angle as it is intended to be struck from the front, not from above, as the former would result in an extreme angle of incidence. The second photo above shows the Type 99 with ERA blocks.At its core, ERA is just two plates of metal sandwiching a layer of explosives. One plate is bolted to the tank, the other faces outward. When struck by a HEAT warhead’s shaped charge’s jet or a kinetic energy (KE) penetrator, the explosive layer is detonated, forcing the twin plates apart. Due to the angle of the ERA block with respect to the incoming projectile, as the outer plate moves outward, the point of contact with the projectile changes. This feeds fresh material from the outer plate into the penetrator, disrupting the jet from shaped charges and yawing or snapping KE rods, as well as simply increasing the effective thickness of material the projectile must penetrate.The Javelin has a tandem warhead, with a precursor HEAT warhead to detonate the ERA block and a main HEAT warhead behind it to defeat the main armour underneath. The Type 99 likely uses either the Russian Relikt or some indigenously developed counterpart, which is more resistant to such designs by having ERA blocks that are not triggered by the precursor charge by being too thick for the precursor to penetrate. However, since the Javelin would be coming down from above, the angle of incidence would be small, and it is unlikely that the ERA block would do much to the main warheads jet of metal if it isn’t detonated by the precursor charge. Add the fact that the upper hull plate is no where near as effective at this angle of impact, and there is a good chance that the Javelin will be able to defeat the armour and cripple the tank. It is just as lethal when the purchases were made as it is now.The FIM-92F Stinger? It’s no wonder weapon but it’s still perfectly adequate for its role as a man portable surface to air missile. It utilizes a seeker that homes in on both the IR and UV signature of a target, reducing its susceptibility to flares. It can be shoulder fired by a handheld launcher or from a tripod mounted dual missile system which has a large supply of gas coolant for the gunner’s sight and can be cued by external sensors. It is still a very credible threat for helicopters and slow, low flying close air support aircraft like the PLAAF JH-7A. The Stinger has been upgraded several times, but with minor differences between them. The FIM-92F is the latest production variant, while an upgrade retroactively fitted to previous Stinger varnats, the FIM-92J, improves the fuze and several components for minor performance increases. This is another case where the lethality or effectiveness of some piece of hardware is not in active competition between equipment fielded by potential opponents. Helicopters and low flying jets by in large are just as vulnerable to MANPADS as they were decades ago.The UGM-84L Harpoon Block II purchased in 2008? The ROC as of that purchase has every variant of the Harpoon Block II. The UGM-84L is used by the ROC Navy on its two diesel electric submarines. The RGM-84L was purchased back in the early 2000s for the ROC Navy, probably intended for the license produced OHPs or the Kidd class destroyers, but all ROC surface craft currently use indigenously designed anti ship missiles. The ROC Air Force uses the AGM-84L on its F-16s. It’s a subsonic anti ship missile with a 200kg blast-fragmentation warhead with a 77 mile range. It uses an active radar seeker for the terminal phase and the Block II has improved resistance to jamming. The outdated claim for this one is partially true for today, but there wasn’t such a massive capability gap back when they were purchased; it’s not exactly fair to criticize the purchase of an adequate weapon for being less suited to its role a decade and a half later. The Block II Harpoon is not even some obscure, primitive version of the Harpoon; the only version widely fielded that is more capable is the Harpoon II+ which has an improved GPS and can be retargeted midflight. That said, the ROC would be pressing the missile into a role for which it was not designed for nor optimal for: defeating capital warships equipped with advanced area air defense capabilities.When the Harpoon was first designed by the US, it’s intended target was the Soviet fleet where the majority of targets consisted of small missile carrying corvettes, frigates, and the occasional large platform but which were not expected to form cohesive, concentric air defense layers like those centered around US carrier battle groups (CBGs). As time progressed, Eastern navies began deploying larger, faster, longer range anti ship missiles for penetrating CBGs and their Aegis equipped escorts. Western navies either stagnated as the threat of the Soviet Union evaporated or produced smaller, more fuel efficient, stealthier, and smarter missiles like the US AGM-158C, Norwegian NSM, Turkish SOM, or French Sea Venom. Other western efforts include fielding their own supersonic anti ship cruise missiles like the British Perseus, or smaller, experimental designs like the anti air capable German IDAS. Right now, the ROC would be using the Harpoon to attack troop transports protected by advanced Chinese destroyers or the destroyers themselves. This would better left to a more modern design, or at the very least a cruise missile with a very long range to engage the enemy ships at a safe distance for the launching aircraft or ship, which the Harpoon II does not have.The UGM-84L is adequate as it is since the submarines can sneak in closer without as high a risk; the lop sided nature of submarines engaging surface combatants remains the same to this day. The ROC Navy use the longer range HF-2 and HF-3 missiles, both of which have resistance to countermeasures to their respective seekers (IR and radar respectively), have longer range, and the latter is supersonic with a much bigger damage potential. The ROC Air Force is stuck with the AGM-84L for the moment, though. There is also talk of using truck based Harpoons since existing truck mounted launchers are more compact and thus easier to relocate than the equivalent launch vehicles for the HF-2 and HF-3.Naval SystemsThe Osprey Class minesweepers? Mines haven’t changed much in the past several decades. Improved fuses, modularity, deployment methods, and sensors and trigger mechanisms, but frankly they aren’t that much harder to locate and destroy than they were when these ships were first constructed in the 90s. The Avenger class still operated by the US Navy pretty much use the same sensor suite as the Osprey class.The Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates? Fair enough. I’ll elaborate more in the closing remarks.The Mk-54 torpedo purchased in 2017? It takes the guidance section of the Mk-50, a torpedo meant to hunt down deep diving, very fast submarines like the Soviet Alfa class, and marries it with the cheaper, slightly slower, less deep diving Mk-46. They are perfectly adequate for use against PLAN submarines, which would be constrained to the shallow waters surrounding Taiwan and are not as fast as the intended targets of the Mk-50. The Mk-54 can be deployed by surface ship mounted torpedo tubes, helicopters, or the P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.The Mk-48 Mod 6 AT purchased in 2017? The Mk-48 was originally designed with the same goal as the Mk-50, but as a heavy weapon meant for US submarines. Like most if not all heavy torpedoes developed since that time, the Mk-48 in use against surface targets will detonate under the hull, creating a region void of water which snaps the keel of the ship. The Mk-48 and its British analogue, the Spearfish, we renowned for their high speed and range. The Mk-48 has a phased array sonar with both active and passive modes. The Mod 6 AT (export variant of Mod 6 which uses components from both subvariants of the Mod 6) has improved propulsion and guidance components. With the limited detection range against submarines running quiet, lack in advances of submarine speed or depth, and the general vulnerability of large surface ships to submarine attacks regardless of minor or even major torpedo capability differences, there hasn’t been much in the way of torpedo development, so the differences between the latest Mod 7 used by the US, Canada, and Australia and the Mod 6 AT purchased by the ROC is mainly resistance to countermeasures, although surface ships (the primary target of ROC submarines) are not going to have much in the way of torpedo protection using acoustic decoys which are more effective for masking submarines. Even then, torpedo countermeasures are more a case of a desperate last ditch defense rather than a reliable counteraction. The Mk-48 does outrange its Soviet and now Russian counterparts, which the PLAN uses or derived its own torpedoes from. With the Mk-48, the two ROC Navy combat capable submarines just became a much more credible threat. More will likely be purchased as the indigenously developed submarines are produced.Ground Combat VehiclesThe M1A2T Abrams tanks? That puts the ROC Army in the same league as other modern militaries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the PLA for quality of tank. The M1A2T is an export variant of the M1A2C (the most modern variant of the Abrams in service with the US) for the ROC. The M1A2C differs in the armour package. The M1A2C uses the NGAD armour package which is the most effective to be produced by the US as of yet. While adding significant weight, it upgraded the turret front and lower glacis plate, likely making them impervious to frontal fire from the most capable anti tank munitions.The diagram above shows the location of composite and steel armour on the original M1 Abrams variant. While the composite armour has been improved with different materials since then, the layout of steel vs composite has not changed much.In Desert Storm, M1A1HA with the HAP-1 armour package took friendly fire from other Abrams firing M829A1 APFSDS ammunition which failed to penetrate the frontal hull armour on one occasion. The side hull armour and rear were penetrated by M829A1 rounds on other occasions, although no tank can expect to survive an MBT’s APFSDS round striking the side hull.[21]Tankers are expected to orientate their frontal armour towards the enemy for this reason, hence why the data of value is the impact to the frontal hull. This was the same ammunition that cut through the frontal armour of Iraqi Lion of Babylon tanks (T-72M1 armour equivalent) which were also equipped with composite armour and were a massive leap ahead in armour performance compared to all steel armoured tanks like the M60A3 Patton and early Chieftain variants. The export armour package (EAP) likely used by the M1A2T replaces the DU mesh in HAP-2 with tungsten carbide (according to a tanker that served at the Aberdeen testing grounds).[22] Composite armour arrays are not designed to be plug and play with different components and the US is more experienced with designing DU armour components so it stands to reason that the EAP is not as capable as HAP-2. Given the added thickness of the armour over the HAP-1 and the remainder of the composite array likely remaining unchanged, I’m speculating that the EAP is between the HAP-1 and HAP-2 in performance, which means it is still more than adequately protected from HEAT warheads from the front, and can could possibly survive frontal hits from PLA tanks depending on the quality of the PLA APFSDS rounds. This is backed by test footage of the M1A1 and M1 being subjected to large caliber round impacts and TOW missiles to the front without being destroyed in catastrophic explosions.[23] Even if the Abrams catches fire, it has an automatic fire suppression system using halon gas and a separated ammo compartment with blast panels to reduce the risk of ammunition cook off from killing the crew.The purchase comes with associated electronic equipment and the CROWS-LP, a remotely operated weapons station for the tank commander with a .50 caliber machine gun. There will also be several tank recovery and supply trucks purchased as well. Perhaps most interesting is the ammunition ordered, since this largely determines what threats the M1A2T can deal with. The live ammunition types are 828 M830A1 HEAT-MP rounds, 828 insensitive munition high explosive (IM HE) rounds, 7862 KE-W A1 armour piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds, and 1966 [M1028] cannister rounds;[24] there were various training ammunition types and machine gun ammo as well, but those aren’t of significance here. The M830A1 rounds are the same HEAT rounds used by US tanks, and is capable of defeating an unspecified amount of armour. It would be enough to defeat the most heavily steel armored tank, but would struggle with the composite applique armour inserts and ERA blocks present on PLA tanks. With a programmable fuse, it’s primary function is to deal with softer targets like APCs and concrete structures, as well as an anti helicopter munition with its proximity fuse option.[25]The IM-HE is more specifically geared towards destroying concrete structures or exposed infantry with a contact detonation or delayed detonation fuse for its pure high explosive warhead.[26]The successor to the Vietnam era Beehive round, the M1028 shoots out several thousand tungsten balls to either clear out infantry from concealment out to 500m or to punch holes into walls.[27]The round that everyone will be talking about when discussing potential clashes between M1A2Ts and Type 99s or Type 96s will be the APFSDS rounds. Composite armour is more effective against HEAT than it is against kinetic energy penetrators. Modern tanks use APFSDS rounds, high velocity darts with no warheads, to defeat the heavy armour of other tanks. These are subcalibre rounds, which require a sabot to fit into the barrel of the tank cannon. The kinetic energy of the dart and the spall and shrapnel generated can obliterate a tank’s interior if it penetrates. The M1A2T order specified the KE-W A1, but this would be a sub-optimal choice. With a mass of 4kg and a muzzle velocity of 1740 meters per second, it has comparable momentum and kinetic energy to the M829A1.[28] However, since it doesn’t use depleted uranium (DU) which is brittle and self sharpening, it will likely underperform compared to the M829A1.[29]The M829A1 is also probably insufficient for the PLA’s main battle tanks as they have been subject to upgrades to their armour packages in recent years, significantly increasing the efficacy of the ERA blocks on the hull and composite armour found on the turret front. The ERA blocks likely take after their Russian counterparts and are designed to significantly reduce the effectiveness of Cold War era APFSDS ammunition like the M829A1, which the KE-W A1 does not match up to. In testing with Kontakt-5 ERA, the M829A2 (with more penetration than the M829A1) failed to penetrate a T-90’s composite turret front at least 12% of the time for every range tested.[30] To stand a reasonable chance, the KE-W A2 should be pursued instead at minimum, as it at the very least surpasses the M829A1 in momentum and kinetic energy by a country mile, although it isn’t purposely designed to defeat advanced ERA like the M829A3 is. The KE-W A1 will be sufficient for engaging APCs, IFVs, older generation tanks like the original model Type 96, and for penetrating the side armour of the Type 99 if an opportunity presents itself.Being a down armoured M1A2C, it still has the same advanced optics, fire control mechanisms, gun, compatibility with various addons, and other minor improvements as the M1A2C used by the US Army; this includes an under armour auxillary power unit that can power the turret and electronics while the tank is stationary or idle, saving fuel. Pictured above is the Trophy active protection system, able to shoot down incoming RPGs and missiles. Such a system could be purchased in the future to increase the resilience of the M1A2T against PLA ATGMs fired by aircraft, UAVs, infantry, or armoured vehicles. Also included above are ERA blocks from the TUSK II. These can add a single or tandem set of ERA blocks over the side of the hull to improve protection against HEAT warheads from ATGMs. Other features of the TUSK II include cage armour over the hull rear to defend against RPGs, and and infantry phone so that infantry operating alongside the tank can communicate with the crew directly. Against the Type 99 in an urban setting and operating with infantry support, the M1A2T with these upgrades if purchased in the future would offer a difficult fight for PLA armour and mechanized infantry.Note in the bottom right you can see the magnification levels go up to 50x. For comparison, the T-14 Armata, the newest Russian tank, has zoom levels of 4x and 12x.[31]It provides a massive edge in target detection and identification over most tanks in the world. Overall, the M1A2T is not an outdated tank by any means, although there are capabilities that the ROC Army will want to improve upon and or revise from their current order.The AAV? Fair enough. I can’t see many uses for it given its slow speed, thin armour, and minimal firepower.Closing remarksThere has been criticism of the M1A2T thanks to its weight and limited maneuver options in Taiwan. However, much of the same applies to PLA tanks or any modern main battle tank for that matter. The primary focus of the ROC’s tanks would be to offer a mobile, direct fire support platform that can quickly relocate between firing positions and have the capacity to destroy the heaviest PLA armour. It doesn’t take much to set up several camouflaged firing positions on a forested hill which the tanks can move between to mitigate the risk of being struck by artillery. They could offer the potential to conduct counter attacks against overextended PLA units, especially if the PLAAF is being contested with SAMs and terrain hampers detection and PLA artillery coverage.There has also been criticism of the ROC Navy’s on going efforts to upgrade its frigates and destroyers with the Mk 41 VLS.[32]The reasoning behind this criticism is that the ROC is so heavily outnumbered the Mk 41 would only delay the inevitable and not by much in a full fleet on fleet conflict. It’s believed that the ROC should emphasize asymmetric warfare with small missile boats and mobile land based SAMs and anti ship missile systems. I too believe that this should be the strategy against the PLA. In fact, I believe that instead of using the F-16 Block 70 purchase to increase the size of the ROC Air Force inventory, it should outright replace the Mirage 2000s. However, this does not preclude the use of conventional platforms in roles to conform with that strategy.Instead of being used to confront the PLAN in a fleet on fleet battle, the frigates and destroyers can serve as picket stations and drone carriers, operating a safe distance from the PLA forces to not be swamped by missiles at all angles. Instead, the platforms would provide advanced warning against PLA cruise missile and aerial attacks, using their UAVs to detect PLAN battle groups. Sitting off the northern and southern coasts of Taiwan, they won’t be present in a cross fire in the straight, but are still close enough to launch UAVs that can detect ships crossing the straight and even collect intelligence on PLA SAMs, while being under the coverage of ROC SAMs in return. The ROC has developed suicide drones, including an anti radiation drone with a 300 mile range,[33] which could be used to in saturation attacks with cruise missiles to at least set off PLA defenses, making their positions known to EW suites on other UAVs and manned aircraft, opening them up to attacks. They of course have their own inventory of anti ship missiles as well and any targets they spot will become targets of opportunity for shore based missiles and other platforms.Additionally, while everyone is focused on an all or nothing scenario of an overwhelming PLA invasion, no one seems to be considering the possibility of a conflict that has an escalating series of hostile acts. Perhaps a few hostile encounters between aircraft over the straight, a few missiles fired, interference with Taiwanese commercial traffic, but not an all out D-Day style invasion. In such cases, having a few heavily armed frigates or destroyers bolster the air defenses or number of missile carriers in a particular region could still have some strategic value. Additionally, the ROC’s military might not necessarily be confronting the PLA or any other force in a war time scenario if deployed. A few years ago, there was an incident where a Philippine coast guard vessel in disputed waters killed a Taiwanese fisherman. If the ROC wanted to make a show of force, they can’t send a few missile boats with no ability to defend themselves from the air. The new corvettes have point defenses but nothing to actually hit back at enemy aircraft with. A VLS equipped frigate with new phased array radars would present a proper show of force and be capable of defending ROC citizens fishing in such waters. Sending warships to occupy disputed waters and forcing out foreign vessels would be out of the question, but just having them nearby to intervene if a foreign power does send armed vessels to harass ROC citizens is a capability that it demonstrably needs.While asymmetric defenses are the way to go, that does not mean that conventional equipment should be viewed by their paper stats only. They should be regarded by how they would be implemented and networked with other systems too.Important Notes:It’s unclear if the JHMCS will only be incorporated on the new F-16 Block 70 or if the F-16V will be upgraded with them as well. The upgrade package requested included JHMCS, and we know that the upgrade and the full set of purchased equipment has yet to arrive, but whether or not the US approved the sale of JHMCS is something I have not been able to discern.[34]for the same reason, it is unknown if the AIM-9X Block IIs being delivered are from the finalized upgrade package that are only just arriving now or are part of the new F-16 purchase.I keep referring to the new F-16 as the F-16 Block 70, but you will find publications that use “F-16C/D Block 70/72.” The “C” denotes a single seat variant while the “D” is a two seater for training. The Block 70 uses the GE engine while the Block 72 uses the Pratt and Whittney engine. All F-16s purchased by the ROC will use GE engines, hence why I stuck with “Block 70.″ Also note that the Block 70 is referred to as the F-16C/D or F-16V, depending on the publication. For clarity sake, I used F-16V to denote older models upgraded to the new avionics, and Block 70 to denote the new, off the factory line F-16s.The PLA is very tight lipped about the capabilities and even names of its newest equipment. There is virtually no data on the AESA radar being fitted to the J-10C and J-11D. I am speculating based on the fact that first generation radars are seldom a match for newer ones of equivalent class, the fact that the PRC felt it necessary to purchase the PESA equipped Su-35, and the fact that the term “miniaturized” keeps popping up in Chinese media to guess that these first generation AESA’s are not seen as cutting edge. The latter refers to the fact that the AESA used on the J-11D and J-10C might be derived from a larger radar for another system or an R&D project that was downsized to fit the radome, rather than a purpose built aircraft mounted radar.For the same reason as 3. it is not publically known how many of the PLAAF’s aircraft are older variants or newer variants with upgraded cockpits and radars.The first M1A2T has not yet been delivered, and the final terms of the arms sales have not been publicly made if such a thing has even been agreed upon. It’s likely that most of those items listed in my post can be acquired given that they are far from the top of the line US ammunition types, but at the same time the ROC may choose alternative ammunition upon review, or seek further equipment as well.To clarify my remarks on the OHP frigates, I believe upgrading the existing ones with VLS is a fine idea, but buying more is not. The ROC has limited budget and man power, and more aged frigates will simply require more money to upgrade and maintain; that’s money that can be spent on upgrades to indigenous weapons like the F-CK-1, the production of the TK-3 SAM, the purchase of DFRM jamming pods, and development of the indigenous submarine project.For clarification, the original order specified AH-64D Block IIIs, which have since been redesignated by the US as the AH-64E.[35][36]The only frigates I would endorse removing with or without replacement are the Knox class friates which have been kept on mainly for their ASROC armament. If the OHP and Kidd class are upgraded with a VLS, the ROC can finally ditch the Knox class if it insists on having ASROC capabilities. Right now they are slated to be replaced by the eventual indigenously developed frigate.Footnotes[1] Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) - F-16C/D Block 70 Aircraft and Related Equipment and Support[2] It's Official! Trump Admin Sends Taiwan F-16 Deal To Congress, Here's What's In It (Updated)[3] SABR (Scalable Agile Beam Radar) APG-83 AESA for the F-16 and Legacy Aircraft[4] Check Out This Incredibly Rare Image Of An F-22 Pilot Wearing A Helmet Mounted Display[5] Pilots try out new helmet display in F-16V flight tests[6] Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States - Retrofit of F-16A/B Aircraft[7] Taiwan Starts F-16A/B Aircraft Modernization With Electronic Countermeasures Pods[8] 36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification[9] Kongjing-2000 (KJ-2000)[10] 30mm x 113 Ammunition Suite - MP - M788 TP - M977 TP-T - M789 HEDP[11] Design Examples - North Atlantic Industries[12] Here's The Army's Plan For Making Its Apaches More Capable At Sea And Deadlier Overall[13] Army's helicopter-drone teams to get capability boost in 2019[14] U.S., Patriot Partners to Invest up to $2.3 Billion in Patriot IAMD System - DefPost[15] 425[16] The US Navy -- Fact File: SLAM-ER Missile[17] Hellfire | Missile Threat[18] AIM-9X Sidewinder Missile[19] Raytheon plans to extend Sidewinder capabilities[20] Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) - HIMARS, Support, and Equipment[21] TAB H -- Friendly-fire Incidents[22] Why is the export version of the US Army's M1 Abrams main battle tank often described as far inferior due to the lack of depleted uranium armor and why don't they just use tungsten carbide instead?[23] https://youtu.be/ZlGt7m1392g?t=349[24] Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) - M1A2T Abrams Tanks and Related Equipment and Support[25] Orbital ATK Awarded Contract For M830A1 HEAT MP-T Cartridge - DefPost[26] 120mm IM HE-T™ Insensitive Munition High Explosive-Tracer[27] 120mm M1028 Canister Canister Cartridge[28] 120mm Tank Gun KE Ammunition[29] https://archive.defense.gov/DODCMSShare/briefingslide/94/030314-D-9085M-022.pdf[30] Glenn Girona's answer to Can an M1A2 Abrams penetrate a T90?[31] Танк Т-14 "Армата" или Т-99 "Приоритет"[32] New Missile Launchers Won't Save Taiwan's Navy[33] Taiwan Is Developing “Suicide Drones”[34] 36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification[35] https://www.us-taiwan.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2008_october03_dsca_notices.pdf[36] Army Renames Apache Block III Helicopters

When I launched my first app on the app stores a few years back, I thought the app was so awesome that it would get a lot of downloads.Then I waited, and waited….What happened was, there were just a few downloads everyday.Then I realized that was a whole lot of app store optimization tricks I should have done.In the end, I managed to increase the app downloads by 1478% in a month!I’ve written a mega post (>6000 words) about 35 app store optimization tips to summarize my experience. If you follow them, I’m sure you can greatly increase your app downloads.The best part? You can do them all without spending a penny!Here is an extract of all 35 tips:App Name & KeywordsApp Name FormatApp Name LengthApp Description & KeywordsApp Description – The First Few SentencesApp Description – The Expanded DescriptionApp Description LengthApp IconApp Store Keywords – Getting Keyword IdeasApp Store Keywords – Selecting Your KeywordsApp Store Keyword OptimizationApp ScreenshotsApp Preview VideoApp Store Ratings – The ImpactApp Store Ratings – Getting Five-Star RatingsApp Store Ratings – Reply To ReviewsApp Store Ratings – One-Star ReviewsApp Localization StrategyApp Localization – Best Countries For Your AppApp Localization – Top Countries By RevenueApp Conversion Rates – The ImpactApp Conversion Rates – Page View CRApp Conversion Rates – Download CRApp SizeApp Pricing – Free with In-App PurchasesApp Pricing – Free with AdsApp Pricing – Paid AppsApp Compatibility – iMessageApp Compatibility – Apple WatchApp Compatibility – Family SharingApp Compatibility – Game CenterApp UpdatesApple App Store vs. Google PlayPutting It All TogetherHere’s What To Do NextApp Name & KeywordsName your app in a creative and searchable fashion. Not only it is the first piece of the clue telling your potential users what your app is, but it also gets your app in the search results.According to research by MobileDevHQ (now renamed Tune), using keywords in your title can result in up to a 10.3% increase in rankings.Image courtesy of MobileDevHQ via John Rampton on ForbesBoth Google and Apple’s search algorithms scan the app name for keywords when a user performs a keyword search in the app markets. It is a good idea to include a few keywords in your app name as an App Store Optimization practice. It is because both platforms give quite high priorities to apps with app names that contain the search input.But don’t stuff every keyword into your title or your app will look spammy. You need to find a good balance between keywords and branding. But how? Read on![Back]App Name FormatKeep the actual brand name short and sweet. You can then append this short brand name with a few keywords, typically preceded by a dash or a semicolon.App Store Optimization Tips:App Name FormatUse the format “Brand Name – Keywords” or “Brand Name: Keywords” to include relevant keywords in your name.Here are some real examples:Google Maps – Navigation & TransitAmazon App: shop, scan, compare, and read reviewseBay: Buy, Sell, Save! Electronics, Fashion & MorePandora – Free Music & RadioThe Weather Channel: Alerts, Forecast & RadarIt’s also important to use only URL-friendly characters in your title, particularly in the App Store. It is because Apple uses the app name to create your app URL. Also, avoid any special characters in your app name, like the trademark or copyright symbol. They will cause iTunes to refer to your app’s numeric ID to scan for relevant keywords instead of your app name.Did you know?In less than 30 seconds, you can get an App Store Optimization Report of your app here. Just enter your app name, and the report will tell you how to increase your app downloads using app store optimization. And it’s free.[Back]App Name LengthApple limits the app name to a maximum of 50 characters since September 2016. So you have to make good use of every character in your app name.Brand Name: Use 23 characters or less for optimal presentation on every device.Total Length: To make the most of the 50 character limit, use more than 40 characters to cover more relevant app store keywords.[Back]App Description & KeywordsApple App Store: Apple App Store does not search for keywords in the app description, but that does not mean iOS developers can be lazy with it. Read the sections below for more tips about App Description.Google Play Store: you need to be careful with the app description. It is because Google pulls keywords from your description to be your app’s keywords. Incorporate your app store keywords in the description in natural and sensible sentences. Note that keywords in the above-the-fold section (the first few lines) carries more weight than the rest of the description copy in Google’s ranking algorithm, so remember to put your main keywords in this section. And this leads us to the next tip below…[Back]App Description – The First Few SentencesAccording to StoreMaven, only an average of 5% users will click the “read more” button below the short description on Google Play.This number is further down to only 2% on Apple’s App Store.So every character in the short description counts!On mobile, you only have 252 characters for this short description.You don’t want to waste any space here. Make it concise and attention-grabbing. Avoid blank lines and interrupted sentences.Tell users what makes your app unique and why they will love it. Focus on your app’s values, instead of features. And don’t forget to include a call-to-action text to get the users excited![Back]App Description – The Expanded DescriptionHighlight the features of your app here. Use spacing and bulleted lists to make it easy to read. If possible, also list out all the social proofs, awards, and honorable mentions your app has received. Don’t forget to include your app’s social media links too.Also, Google Play Store allows rich formatting and emoji in your app description. Make good use of these to make your description organized and stand out from the crowd.Communicate in the tone of your brand. Use terminology your target audience will appreciate and understand.[Back]App Description LengthWe analyzed the description length of the top 100 apps in Nov 2016. Here are some findings:90% of top 100 apps use more than 589 characters90% of top 100 apps use less than 3385 characters.Though app description length doesn’t have a very big impact compared to other factors, it is still a good idea to keep your length within this range.App Store Optimization Tips:Benchmark with the Top 100 AppsDo you want to know the latest statistics of description length? Just use this App Store Optimzation tool. The tool benchmarks your app with the top 100 apps and tells you how to improve.[Back]App IconA better icon can increase your downloads up to 560%!To design a good icon, keep your design simple and eye-catchy. Do not cram the small space with many items or words. You want people to remember the icon after the first impression. Also, make sure your icon will still look good when it is scaled down to the smallest size required by App Store / Google Play. It should also look good against light and dark background.To get more design inspirations, browse the top-rated apps in your category and Apple/Google’s top picks. Also, make sure your icon is different from your competitor’s to avoid brand confusion. Contrasting colors, different shapes or adding a frame can also help.App Store Optimization Tips:Branded vs Functional IconIf your app has a brand, use the logo to make your brand and your future products recognizable. If your app is a functional app, use one object to describe your app.Branded App Icon – facebookFunctional App Icon – Whatsapp Messager[Back]App Store Keywords – Getting Keyword IdeasTo begin with, try and come up with at least 50 keywords. Here are some great tools that help you with the app store keyword ideas. All you need to do is to provide a keyword. These tools will then give you many keyword ideas to consider. And they are all free!ÜbersuggestOneLook Reverse DictionaryGoogle Keyword PlannerApple Search Ads > Recommended Keywords (only for iOS app developers)You can also use Google Trends to check how popular a keyword is in different countries. This is very useful if you want to launch your app in specific countries.Remember that your keywords must be relevant to your app. Don’t be tempted to use a keyword just because it is popular, but not relevant to your app. You want your app to be found by users who will really download and enjoy your app.App Store Optimization Tips:Time-sensitive KeywordsLet’s illustrate the idea by an example: using “Rio” and its related keywords during the Olympics 2016 would greatly help the exposure of your sports apps. Your app would also have a better chance to get into the app store’s feature lists too.Review KeywordsDid you know the words in your app user reviews are indexed by the app store search engine?That is why review mining is a very good way for getting app store keyword ideas. Your app reviews speak your users’ mind. And the words are highly related to how they would search for your app. Just by looking at your review keywords, you will be surprised to find out the keyword ideas that you have never thought of before.There are some review analysis tools in the market. And this one uses Artificial Intelligence on your user reviews to find out what your users like and don’t like about your app.[Back]App Store Keywords – Selecting Your KeywordsWith your initial set of app store keywords, you have to pick a strategy on how to optimize the right keywords. There are some keyword research tools that help you with this app store keyword optimization process. They provide the difficulties (or chances) and traffic of your keywords. In any case, choose about 25 keywords carefully for the next release of your app.App Store Optimization Tips:App Store Keyword Optimization StrategyFor a new app, choose keywords with low difficulty and reasonable traffic. They help your app gain the initial momentum. After gaining the initial momentum, start using keywords with higher traffic and reasonable difficulty. They help your app stack up more downloads. Work your way up gradually as your app gets more popular.Long-tail App Store KeywordsUse longer keyword phrases (aka long-tail keywords) to outrank the competition. For example, it is hard to outrank Zynga Poker by the competitive keyword “Poker” (high difficulty). But you have a better chance to outrank it by the keyword phrase “Poker Casino”. It is because “Poker Casino” is less competitive (lower difficulty).Retiring Poor App Store KeywordsIf you have already released your app with your target keywords, check your current app ranking of these keywords. Keep those keywords that your app ranks within top 10, and replace the rest with new keywords in your next release.[Back]App Store Keyword OptimizationNow that you have chosen the keywords, you are ready to use them for your app.For iOS developers: Fill in the keyword metadata with your selected app store keywords. This metadata decides how your app gets discovered. Follow the rules below and make every character counts!Use all 100 charactersSeparate every keyword by a commaAvoid space, articles and prepositionsUse singular OR plural, the easier one to rank forDon’t repeat keywordUse numbers instead of spelled out wordsNo need to include the words in your company name, app name and app category names.App Store Optimization Tips:App Store Keyword OptimizerYou can use the App Store SEO Grader to optimize your app keyword metadata. The tool applies the above rules to your app keywords and tells you how to improve.How To 5X Your iOS App Store KeywordsDo you want more keyword space for your iOS app? You can get up to 500 characters for your iOS app store keywords using this optimization tip. That is FIVE TIMES more!For Android developers: Google Play doesn’t have the keyword metadata. Instead, Google pulls keywords from your description to be your app store keywords. Incorporate your keywords in the description in natural and sensible sentences. Note that keywords in the above-the-fold section (the first few lines) carries more weight than the rest of the description copy in Google’s ranking algorithm, so remember to put your main app store keywords in this section.[Back]App ScreenshotsAccording to StoreMaven, 60% of users won’t swipe past your first two screenshot images. A better version of your first two screenshots can increase your conversions by 25%!To make great screenshots, make sure each screenshot is telling a single message about your app. Show your strongest messages in the first two screenshots. The best apps use all five screenshot slots to impress their users, and you should do the same.Adding short caption texts on your screenshots can help, but make sure they are on a clean background. And try to create a positive impression in the viewers’ mind at all times.Avoid login, registrations, purchase forms, ads and even “Welcome” screen in your screenshots. Make the best use of the screenshots to tell your users why they should love your app.App Store Optimization Tips:Vertical ScreenshotsKeep the screenshots vertical. The users can see more screenshots on the narrow screens when the screenshots are vertical.Vertical screenshots of Clash of ClansVertical screenshots of UberOptimize Your App ScreenshotsTo optimize your app screenshots, use this App Store SEO Grader. The tool checks your screenshots’ dimensions, count, orientations, and their compatibility with various iOS devices, and tells you how to improve.[Back]App Preview VideoMaking a video may be difficult but it can increase install rates by more than 23% according to StoreMaven. Don’t forget to use a good poster frame (iOS) / feature graphic (Google Play). This graphic has a big impact to whether your visitors would watch your video.App Store Optimization Tips:App Marketing VideoHere are some of the essential elements of an effective app marketing video. They are recommended by Apptamin, a company well-known for its app videos and trailers:Use the first 5 seconds to grab the viewer’s attentionFocus on the best features, instead of all featuresYour video should make sense even with the sound turned offInclude a call-to-actionRemember, 80% of users don’t watch past first 12 seconds of the video. Do make sure you keep it short and to the point. Avoid any fade-in and “welcome” type of message at the beginning of your video.[Back]App Store Ratings – The ImpactRatings and reviews have a great impact on your app downloads. You need an average rating of 4-stars or above. Or else only less than 50% users are willing to download your app.Check out this infographic for more details:App Store Optimization Tips:User Review SentimentUse this tool to get a user sentiment analysis of your app. It applies Artificial Intelligence on your user reviews to find out what your users like and don’t like about your app.[Back]App Store Ratings – Getting Five-Star RatingsHow can you get more five-star ratings for your app?Delay asking for a rating until there’s a likely moment of constructive feedback. For instance, ask when the user completed a reservation, finished a mission in a game, etc. When the time comes, ask nicely, and don’t beg.What does that mean? Circa News app is a perfect example. It got 90% five-star ratings for every major version. Here is a flowchart of how it asks users if they would like to provide feedback:Image courtesy of Circa NewsThe key is to encourage satisfied users to leave positive reviews and deflect negative reviews by using a “send feedback” option.To do this, you can either develop your own version of rating and feedback flow or simply use the tools like Apptentive’s Ratings Prompts.App Store Optimization Tips:The Right Paths To A ReviewDirect only positive reviews to App Store, and negative reviews to support.But what if I already have many bad reviews?Redditor amirrajan shared some awesome tips about how to sweep bad reviews under the rug. He also tells you how to give a positive first impression about your app by making good use of the five-star reviews.[Back]App Store Ratings – Reply To ReviewsRemember to reply the app reviews and feedback! Only the ones who care about your app will spend the time to leave a comment. Show them you care about them as well! This is a great way to let the visitors know that the developer is active too.For Google Play, there is a “Reply to a review” option in Developer Console for you to do just that.For Apple App Store, you can also do this since iOS 10.3 release in March 2017.On iTunes Connect, go to ‘My Apps > Choose your app > Activity > Ratings and Reviews’.There you can see the “Reply” option in each of the reviews.App Store Optimization Tips:How to Reply to ReviewsTry to reply to all feedback immediately following a major release of your app.If you can’t respond to every review, try prioritizing reviews with the lowest star ratings or those mentioning technical issues with the most current version of your app.When you release an app update that fixes issues users mentioned in older reviews, consider replying to the relevant reviews to let them know that your update addressed their concerns.Once a user indicates that your response answered their question or fixed their technical issue, consider asking them to update their rating and review.You can also foster deeper engagement by asking users for feedback on future app updates as part of your reply.[Back]App Store Ratings – One-Star ReviewsOne-star reviews are your friends. Read them all. Try to understand why the users complained your app, and think about what you need to do to turn them into five-star reviews. This thought process helps you improve your app from the user perspective. Also, fix all serious bugs, crashes and performance issues.In the end getting more and better app reviews comes down to creating a great app users love. Listen, improve your apps and repeat until you are topping the app store ratings.[Back]App Localization StrategyApp localization gives you a larger audience to download your mobile app. But localizing the whole app to many languages can be a daunting task.Before doing a full localization of your whole app, consider localizing your app listing first. It means translating your app name, keywords, screenshots, etc.David Janner of MAKE APP Magazine conducted a localization experiment. In his experiment, he only localized the app name, the keywords, and sometimes the top line in the app description. After this simple localization, his app received a massive 767% increase in downloads. Before localization, the downloads were mainly from within the US. After localization, his downloads looked like this:Image courtesy of MAKE APP MagazineAccording to OneSky, only 31% of the world’s total app revenue came from the U.S., while 41% came from Asia, and 23% came from Europe. In particular, China has already surpassed the U.S. by both iOS app download and revenue. If your app only has an English version for the U.S. market, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.App Store Optimization Tips:App Localization StrategyLocalize your app listing first to see how well your app performs in different countries. You can then decide if you should perform full localization of the whole app for the best performing countries.Icon and Screenshot LocalizationDifferent countries have distinct preference of icon colors, screenshot layouts and annotations. Check out these posts about icon colors and screenshot localization for more insights.[Back]App Localization – Best Countries For Your AppNow you know the strategy, but which countries should you start first?If your app is already available in more than one country, you can use app analytics to find out the top countries by your app downloads. Check the official languages of the top five countries, and localize your app listing if you haven’t done so.Depending on your priority, you can also do the same using top countries by revenue, ARPU, conversion rate, active devices or retention.App Store Optimization Tips:Predict Your Next Successful MarketsThis app analytics tool predicts where your next successful markets are based on LTV (Lifetime User Value), ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), Conversion Rates, and more. With this information, you can proactively localize your app to grasp the market opportunities.[Back]App Localization – Top Countries By RevenueAnother approach is to localize your app listing for the top countries by downloads and/or revenue. According to App Annie, here are the top countries in Q3 2016.Again, check the official languages of the top countries, and localize your app listing if you haven’t done so.[Back]App Conversion Rates – The ImpactFirst, what is conversion rates (CR)?Let’s use the analytics from Apple App Store to illustrate the concept.In Apple iTunes Connect’s App Analytics, you can find the followings:Impressions (the number of times your app showed up in the App Store)App Page Views (the number of visits on your app’s page in the App Store)and App Units (the number of downloads)With these data, you can easily calculate two CRs:Page View CR = App Page Views / Impressions x 100%Download CR = App Units / App Page Views x 100%To put things into perspective,The page view CR is the percentage of people who see your app from search results, rank lists, or featured app lists, and then tap the icon to check out your app.The download CR is the percentage of people who visits your app page and then downloads your app.These two CRs can be presented along with impressions, app page views, and app units in a diagram called Conversion Funnel in app marketing.Why is conversion rate such a big deal?There are mainly three reasons.1. CR is a strong quantitative indicator of App Store Optimization effectivenessKeyword ranking and number of downloads are not the best metrics to measure the performance of App Store Optimization. There are many external factors that can influence those two metrics. For example, a big competing publisher may publish a hugely popular app and shift the apps in the keyword ranking by a margin (e.g. The impact of Pokemon Go and related apps on the keyword “Pokemon” and “Go”). Or you run App Store Optimization and an advertisement campaign at the same time and the number of the downloads become not purely organic.On the other hand, CRs are independent of market competition nor the source of traffic. They give you the true picture of App Store Optimization effectiveness.2. CR reflects the likelihood of getting rankedCR is a natural ranking signal in app store search. If lots of people search certain keywords, click on the same search result, and download the same app, Google Play and the App Store should receive a strong message:“Users want to see this app!”and place the app in a dominant spot (i.e. rank or featured list).3. CR saves you money!It’s just simple math: if you double your CR, you cut your advertising cost by half for the same amount of downloads. For the same reason, if you haven’t optimized your CR, don’t spend big bucks on advertising campaigns! You would be wasting your money.Just a side story: some ranking manipulation farms even go far and take advantage of this. They offer keyword-rank-manipulation service. They boost the ranking of an app by “searching” the app by specific keywords, tapping the app in the search results and download the app — the exact flow of conversion funnel.[Back]App Conversion Rates – Page View CRNow you know the importance of conversion rate, let’s see how we can improve them.Let’s do a recap:Page View CR = App Page Views / Impressions x 100%If Page View CR is less than 3%, you should try to improve it.3%? Really? Yes, 3% sounds very low, but you won’t believe many apps have less than 1% we have seen!To improve Page View CR, focus on optimizing these metadata:App nameApp iconFirst 2 lines of app descriptionFirst 2 screenshots (or app preview video)App ratingsIt is because the app search result only shows these pieces of information. That means they are your baits to bring users to your app page. So make good use of them![Back]App Conversion Rates – Download CRNow, let’s look at Download CR:Download CR = App Units / App Page Views x 100%Folks from SplitMetrics have done a wonderful job on this topic. They gathered the download conversion rates from hundreds of experiments with over 10,000,000 users. Here are the best conversion rates in each app category in their study:Based on this graph, you should set your download CR target to at least 60% for most categories. For Health & Fitness and Education categories, you may set your target a bit lower to around 40% and 50% respectively.If your download CR is lower than the target benchmark, you should follow all tips in this article to improve this metric.App Store Optimization Tips:Benchmark Your Conversion RateUse this App Store Optimization tool to benchmark your app’s conversion rate (CR). It compares your download CR with your app category’s median and best CR, and tells you what you should do.[Back]App SizeTry to make your app smaller than 100 MB. It is because users cannot download apps that are more than 100 MB using cellular service.So for example, if a user on a bus or a train can’t download “now”, it is unlikely the user will write down the name and try again X hours later when they’re home.Need some proof? This post from appfigures shows that ~98% of the top 100 free and ~62% of paid iOS and Android games can be downloaded are under 100 MB.Do you think 100 MB is not enough for your app? Take a look at Clash of Clans. Its iOS version is just 85.3 MB.App Store Optimization Tips:Make Your App SmallerTo reduce the app size, consider compressing some of the graphical assets or make some of the contents downloadable after install.Compare with the Top 100 AppsDo you want to know how your app size compares to that of the top 100 apps? Use this App Store Optimization tool. It tells you whether your app size falls in the reasonable app size range of the top 100 apps.[Back]App Pricing – Free with In-App PurchasesMaking your app free can remove the friction for users to download your app. After all, what price is better than free?If you want to make money from your free app, consider In-App Purchase (IAP) pricing model if that makes sense to your app design. IAP account for 79% of app store revenue.App Store Optimization Tips:New to In-App Purchase (IAP)?Check out this Do’s and Don’ts IAP Checklist. It can jump start your IAP design.Need In-App Purchase (IAP) Ideas?Here is a wonderful list of 40 IAP ideas for you to consider.[Back]App Pricing – Free with AdsIf you choose to make in-app advertising revenue, try to use native ads. They are created to fit the exact context of the app they appear on. This way, they serve as extra content for the app itself rather than a piece of promotional materials. Check out this post to see more reasons why native ads are better than traditional banner ads.[Back]App Pricing – Paid AppsUse a reasonable price by comparing your app price with your competing apps. Also, take reference of the price range of the top apps in your app categories.A good starting price point to test the market is $0.99 or $1.99. Anything above $2.99 won’t make you a lot of money. The exception is Minecraft Pocket Edition, which is priced at $6.99.[Back]App Compatibility – iMessageFor iOS apps, supporting iMessage App helps your app grow viral through the user’s phone contacts. You can also gain extra exposure in the App Store for iMessage.Need ideas of how to use iMessage for your app? Check out how these 10 apps make use of iMessage integration for more ideas.[Back]App Compatibility – Apple WatchFor iOS apps, supporting Apple Watch improves your app’s customer experience and user loyalty.But don’t just copy your original app features directly to your Apple Watch app. Make good use of the Apple Watch characteristics to improve your user experience. Need inspirations? Check out these 50 best Apple Watch apps.[Back]App Compatibility – Family SharingFor iOS apps, Apple offers the Family Sharing opt-in for app developers. Family Sharing allows up to six family members to share app purchases on the same credit card across devices and parents to supervise their children purchases. Supporting Family Sharing means you can reach more family members and improves user loyalty.Apple also clarifies that in-app purchases are not transferable through Family Sharing. Family members just the apps themselves. It means Family Sharing gives higher revenue potential for apps with in-app purchases.[Back]App Compatibility – Game CenterThough Game Center app is removed since iOS 10, the Game Center service is still available. If you have an iOS game, you can make use of these Game Center features:LeaderboardAchievementsChallengesSaving GamesMatchmaking for multiplayer gamesThese features improve your game’s virality and user retention in many ways.[Back]App UpdatesStatistics show that there is a high correlation between high ratings and app update frequency. In fact, releasing regular updates has many benefits. It improves user loyalty and keeps an app top of mind because your app will show up in the updates list in the app stores. Apple and Google also like to see app updates because they show you’re committed to the app and that it’s still being maintained.How often should you update your app? Check out this chart first:For these 25 top iOS apps, the average was about 30 days between updates. I’d recommend at least an update a month, and up to once a week.Don’t forget to use push notifications to alert users to new app updates. They have a big impact on your update downloads. Ideally, you should only send notifications to the users who haven’t downloaded your latest version. In case you can’t distinguish who have and who haven’t, you should word your message carefully to avoid the confusion.For examples,Hey! Have you checked for updates in the App Store recently?Updates! Are all your apps up to date? Check the Updates button in the App Store.Of course, you shouldn’t do an update just for the sake of doing an update. Your updates should always improve your app in some ways, either by bug fixings or enhancements.[Back]Apple App Store vs. Google PlayIf you wonder what are the differences between Apple App Store and Google Play on App Store Optimization, here is a great summary:[Back]Putting It All TogetherHere is a cool infographic produced by Y Media Labs. It sums up the most important points about App Store Optimization.After you have published the changes, keep an eye on the keyword rankings. The rankings change right after you published the new version. Target to make your app rank within top 10 of all keywords. If your new keywords are too hard to rank, you might have to replace them with your old keywords.Review your app store optimization every three weeks or four because that is when big trends change. Don’t give up if the results of first few optimizations are not turning out well. App marketing takes time and App Store Optimization needs many observations to master.Congratulations!You’ve read to the end of this mega post (~6,000 words).Give yourself a BIG hand!And I wish you good luck in your journey.PS. If you are too busy to try out all these tips, just use this app store optimization tool. In less than 30 seconds, it automatically checks your app using app store optimization best practices and tells you how to improve.And it’s free :-)

When I launched my first app in the app stores a few years back, I thought the app was so awesome that it would get a lot of downloads.Then I waited, and waited…Well, in actuality, the opposite happened – there were only a few downloads each day.Then I realized that was a whole lot of app store optimization tricks I should have done.In the end, I managed to increase the app downloads by 1478% in a month!I’ve written a mega post (>6000 words) about 40 app store optimization tips to summarize my experience. If you follow them, I’m sure you can greatly increase your app downloads.The best part? You can do them all without spending a penny!Here is an extract of all 40 app store optimization tips:App Name & KeywordsApp Name FormatApp Name LengthApp SubtitleApp Description & KeywordsApp Description – The First Few SentencesApp Description – The Expanded DescriptionApp Description LengthApp Promotional TextApp IconApp Store Keywords – Getting Keyword IdeasApp Store Keywords – Selecting Your KeywordsApp Store Keyword OptimizationIn-App PurchasesApp ScreenshotsApp Preview VideoApp Store Ratings – The ImpactApp Store Ratings – Getting Five-Star RatingsApp Store Ratings – Reply To ReviewsApp Store Ratings – One-Star ReviewsApp Localization StrategyApp Localization – Best Countries For Your AppApp Localization – Top Countries By RevenueApp Indexing – Spotlight SearchApp Indexing – Firebase IndexingApp Conversion Rates – The ImpactApp Conversion Rates – Page View CRApp Conversion Rates – Download CRApp SizeApp Pricing – Free with In-App PurchasesApp Pricing – Free with AdsApp Pricing – Paid AppsApp Compatibility – iMessageApp Compatibility – Apple WatchApp Compatibility – Family SharingApp Compatibility – Game CenterApp UpdatesiOS App Store vs. Google PlayPutting It All TogetherHere’s What To Do NextNote: If you find the tips below useful, remember to get the summary checklist here.Let’s dive in!App Name & KeywordsName your app in a creative and searchable fashion. Not only it is the first piece of the clue telling your potential users what your app is, but it also gets your app in the search results.According to research by MobileDevHQ (now renamed Tune), using keywords in your title can result in up to a 10.3% increase in rankings.Image courtesy of MobileDevHQ via John Rampton on ForbesBoth Google and Apple’s search algorithms scan the app name for keywords when a user performs a keyword search in the app markets. It is a good idea to include a few keywords in your app name as an App Store Optimization practice. It is because both platforms give quite high priorities to apps with app names that contain the search input.But don’t stuff every keyword into your title or your app will look spammy. You need to find a good balance between keywords and branding. But how? Read on![Back]App Name FormatKeep the actual brand name short and sweet. You can then append this short brand name with a few keywords, typically preceded by a dash or a semicolon.App Store Optimization Tips:App Name FormatUse the format “Brand Name – Keywords” or “Brand Name: Keywords” to include relevant keywords in your name.Here are some real examples:Google Maps – Navigation & TransitAmazon App: shop, scan, compare, and read reviewseBay: Buy, Sell, Save! Electronics, Fashion & MorePandora – Free Music & RadioThe Weather Channel: Alerts, Forecast & RadarIt’s also important to use only URL-friendly characters in your title, particularly in the App Store. It is because Apple uses the app name to create your app URL. Also, avoid any special characters in your app name, like the trademark or copyright symbol. They will cause iTunes to refer to your app’s numeric ID to scan for relevant keywords instead of your app name.Did you know?In less than 30 seconds, you can get an App Store Optimization Report of your app here. Just enter your app name, and the report will tell you how to increase your app downloads using app store optimization. And it’s free.[Back]App Name LengthApple limits the app name to a maximum of 50 characters since September 2016. So you have to make good use of every character in your app name.Brand Name: Use 23 characters or less for optimal presentation on every device.Total Length: To make the most of the 50 character limit, use more than 40 characters to cover more relevant app store keywords.[Back]App Description & KeywordsApple App Store: Apple App Store does not search for keywords in the app description, but that does not mean iOS developers can be lazy with it. Read the sections below for more tips about App Description.Google Play Store: you need to be careful with the app description. It is because Google pulls keywords from your description to be your app’s keywords. Incorporate your app store keywords in the description in natural and sensible sentences. Note that keywords in the above-the-fold section (the first few lines) carries more weight than the rest of the description copy in Google’s ranking algorithm, so remember to put your main keywords in this section. And this leads us to the next tip below…[Back]App Description – The First Few SentencesAccording to StoreMaven, only an average of 5% users will click the “read more” button below the short description on Google Play.This number is further down to only 2% on Apple’s App Store.So every character in the short description counts!On mobile, you only have 252 characters for this short description.You don’t want to waste any space here. Make it concise and attention-grabbing. Avoid blank lines and interrupted sentences.Tell users what makes your app unique and why they will love it. Focus on your app’s values, instead of features. And don’t forget to include a call-to-action text to get the users excited![Back]App Description – The Expanded DescriptionHighlight the features of your app here. Use spacing and bulleted lists to make it easy to read. If possible, also list out all the social proofs, awards, and honorable mentions your app has received. Don’t forget to include your app’s social media links too.Also, Google Play Store allows rich formatting and emoji in your app description. Make good use of these to make your description organized and stand out from the crowd.Communicate in the tone of your brand. Use terminology your target audience will appreciate and understand.[Back]App Description LengthWe analyzed the description length of the top 100 apps in Nov 2016. Here are some findings:90% of top 100 apps use more than 589 characters90% of top 100 apps use less than 3385 characters.Though app description length doesn’t have a very big impact compared to other factors, it is still a good idea to keep your length within this range.App Store Optimization Tips:Benchmark with the Top 100 AppsDo you want to know the latest statistics of description length? Just use this App Store Optimzation tool. The tool benchmarks your app with the top 100 apps and tells you how to improve.[Back]App IconA better icon can increase your downloads up to 560%!To design a good icon, keep your design simple and eye-catchy. Do not cram the small space with many items or words. You want people to remember the icon after the first impression. Also, make sure your icon will still look good when it is scaled down to the smallest size required by App Store / Google Play. It should also look good against light and dark background.To get more design inspirations, browse the top-rated apps in your category and Apple/Google’s top picks. Also, make sure your icon is different from your competitor’s to avoid brand confusion. Contrasting colors, different shapes or adding a frame can also help.App Store Optimization Tips:Branded vs Functional IconIf your app has a brand, use the logo to make your brand and your future products recognizable. If your app is a functional app, use one object to describe your app.Branded App Icon – facebookFunctional App Icon – Whatsapp Messager[Back]App Store Keywords – Getting Keyword IdeasTo begin with, try and come up with at least 50 keywords. Here are some great tools that help you with the app store keyword ideas. These tools will then give you many keyword ideas to consider. And they are all free!Keyword Suggestions (only for iOS app developers)ÜbersuggestOneLook Reverse DictionaryRemember that your keywords must be relevant to your app. Don’t be tempted to use a keyword just because it is popular, but not relevant to your app. You want your app to be found by users who will really download and enjoy your app.App Store Optimization Tips:Time-sensitive KeywordsLet’s illustrate the idea by an example: using “Rio” and its related keywords during the Olympics 2016 would greatly help the exposure of your sports apps. Your app would also have a better chance to get into the app store’s feature lists too.Review KeywordsDid you know the words in your app user reviews are indexed by the app store search engine?That is why review mining is a very good way for getting app store keyword ideas. Your app reviews speak your users’ mind. And the words are highly related to how they would search for your app. Just by looking at your review keywords, you will be surprised to find out the keyword ideas that you have never thought of before.There are some review analysis tools in the market. And this one uses Artificial Intelligence on your user reviews to find out what your users like and don’t like about your app.[Back]App Store Keywords – Selecting Your KeywordsWith your initial set of app store keywords, you have to pick a strategy on how to optimize the right keywords. There are some keyword research tools that help you with this app store keyword optimization process. They provide the difficulties (or chances) and traffic of your keywords. In any case, choose about 25 keywords carefully for the next release of your app.App Store Optimization Tips:App Store Keyword Optimization StrategyFor a new app, choose keywords with low difficulty and reasonable traffic. They help your app gain the initial momentum. After gaining the initial momentum, start using keywords with higher traffic and reasonable difficulty. They help your app stack up more downloads. Work your way up gradually as your app gets more popular.Long-tail App Store KeywordsUse longer keyword phrases (aka long-tail keywords) to outrank the competition. For example, it is hard to outrank Zynga Poker by the competitive keyword “Poker” (high difficulty). But you have a better chance to outrank it by the keyword phrase “Poker Casino”. It is because “Poker Casino” is less competitive (lower difficulty).Retiring Poor App Store KeywordsIf you have already released your app with your target keywords, check your current app ranking of these keywords. Keep those keywords that your app ranks within top 10, and replace the rest with new keywords in your next release.[Back]App Store Keyword OptimizationNow that you have chosen the keywords, you are ready to use them for your app.For iOS developers: Fill in the keyword metadata with your selected app store keywords. This metadata decides how your app gets discovered. Follow the rules below and make every character counts!Use all 100 charactersSeparate every keyword by a commaAvoid space, articles and prepositionsUse singular OR plural, the easier one to rank forDon’t repeat keywordUse numbers instead of spelled out wordsNo need to include the words in your company name, app name and app category names.App Store Optimization Tips:App Store Keyword OptimizerYou can use the App Store SEO Grader to optimize your app keyword metadata. The tool applies the above rules to your app keywords and tells you how to improve.How To 5X Your iOS App Store KeywordsDo you want more keyword space for your iOS app? You can get up to 500 characters for your iOS app store keywords using this optimization tip. That is FIVE TIMES more!For Android developers: Google Play doesn’t have the keyword metadata. Instead, Google pulls keywords from your description to be your app store keywords. Incorporate your keywords in the description in natural and sensible sentences. Note that keywords in the above-the-fold section (the first few lines) carries more weight than the rest of the description copy in Google’s ranking algorithm, so remember to put your main app store keywords in this section.[Back]App ScreenshotsAccording to StoreMaven, 60% of users won’t swipe past your first two screenshot images. A better version of your first two screenshots can increase your conversions by 25%!To make great screenshots, make sure each screenshot is telling a single message about your app. Show your strongest messages in the first two screenshots. The best apps use all five screenshot slots to impress their users, and you should do the same.Adding short caption texts on your screenshots can help, but make sure they are on a clean background. And try to create a positive impression in the viewers’ mind at all times.Avoid login, registrations, purchase forms, ads and even “Welcome” screen in your screenshots. Make the best use of the screenshots to tell your users why they should love your app.App Store Optimization Tips:Vertical ScreenshotsKeep the screenshots vertical. The users can see more screenshots on the narrow screens when the screenshots are vertical.Vertical screenshots of Clash of ClansVertical screenshots of UberOptimize Your App ScreenshotsTo optimize your app screenshots, use this App Store SEO Grader. The tool checks your screenshots’ dimensions, count, orientations, and their compatibility with various iOS devices, and tells you how to improve.[Back]App Preview VideoMaking a video may be difficult but it can increase install rates by more than 23% according to StoreMaven. Don’t forget to use a good poster frame (iOS) / feature graphic (Google Play). This graphic has a big impact to whether your visitors would watch your video.App Store Optimization Tips:App Marketing VideoHere are some of the essential elements of an effective app marketing video. They are recommended by Apptamin, a company well-known for its app videos and trailers:Use the first 5 seconds to grab the viewer’s attentionFocus on the best features, instead of all featuresYour video should make sense even with the sound turned offInclude a call-to-actionRemember, 80% of users don’t watch past first 12 seconds of the video. Do make sure you keep it short and to the point. Avoid any fade-in and “welcome” type of message at the beginning of your video.[Back]App Store Ratings – The ImpactRatings and reviews have a great impact on your app downloads. You need an average rating of 4-stars or above. Or else only less than 50% users are willing to download your app.Check out this infographic for more details:App Store Optimization Tips:User Review SentimentUse this tool to get a user sentiment analysis of your app. It applies Artificial Intelligence on your user reviews to find out what your users like and don’t like about your app.[Back]App Store Ratings – Getting Five-Star RatingsHow can you get more five-star ratings for your app?Delay asking for a rating until there’s a likely moment of constructive feedback. For instance, ask when the user completed a reservation, finished a mission in a game, etc. When the time comes, ask nicely, and don’t beg.What does that mean? Circa News app is a perfect example. It got 90% five-star ratings for every major version. Here is a flowchart of how it asks users if they would like to provide feedback:Image courtesy of Circa NewsThe key is to encourage satisfied users to leave positive reviews and deflect negative reviews by using a “send feedback” option.To do this, you can either develop your own version of rating and feedback flow or simply use the tools like Apptentive’s Ratings Prompts.App Store Optimization Tips:The Right Paths To A ReviewDirect only positive reviews to App Store, and negative reviews to support.But what if I already have many bad reviews?Redditor amirrajan shared some awesome tips about how to sweep bad reviews under the rug. He also tells you how to give a positive first impression about your app by making good use of the five-star reviews.[Back]App Store Ratings – Reply To ReviewsRemember to reply the app reviews and feedback! Only the ones who care about your app will spend the time to leave a comment. Show them you care about them as well! This is a great way to let the visitors know that the developer is active too.For Google Play, there is a “Reply to a review” option in Developer Console for you to do just that.For Apple App Store, you can also do this since iOS 10.3 release in March 2017.On iTunes Connect, go to ‘My Apps > Choose your app > Activity > Ratings and Reviews’.There you can see the “Reply” option in each of the reviews.App Store Optimization Tips:How to Reply to ReviewsTry to reply to all feedback immediately following a major release of your app.If you can’t respond to every review, try prioritizing reviews with the lowest star ratings or those mentioning technical issues with the most current version of your app.When you release an app update that fixes issues users mentioned in older reviews, consider replying to the relevant reviews to let them know that your update addressed their concerns.Once a user indicates that your response answered their question or fixed their technical issue, consider asking them to update their rating and review.You can also foster deeper engagement by asking users for feedback on future app updates as part of your reply.[Back]App Store Ratings – One-Star ReviewsOne-star reviews are your friends. Read them all. Try to understand why the users complained your app, and think about what you need to do to turn them into five-star reviews. This thought process helps you improve your app from the user perspective. Also, fix all serious bugs, crashes and performance issues.In the end getting more and better app reviews comes down to creating a great app users love. Listen, improve your apps and repeat until you are topping the app store ratings.[Back]App Localization StrategyApp localization gives you a larger audience to download your mobile app. But localizing the whole app to many languages can be a daunting task.Before doing a full localization of your whole app, consider localizing your app listing first. It means translating your app name, keywords, screenshots, etc.David Janner of MAKE APP Magazine conducted a localization experiment. In his experiment, he only localized the app name, the keywords, and sometimes the top line in the app description. After this simple localization, his app received a massive 767% increase in downloads. Before localization, the downloads were mainly from within the US. After localization, his downloads looked like this:Image courtesy of MAKE APP MagazineAccording to OneSky, only 31% of the world’s total app revenue came from the U.S., while 41% came from Asia, and 23% came from Europe. In particular, China has already surpassed the U.S. by both iOS app download and revenue. If your app only has an English version for the U.S. market, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.App Store Optimization Tips:App Localization StrategyLocalize your app listing first to see how well your app performs in different countries. You can then decide if you should perform full localization of the whole app for the best performing countries.Icon and Screenshot LocalizationDifferent countries have distinct preference of icon colors, screenshot layouts and annotations. Check out these posts about icon colors and screenshot localization for more insights.[Back]App Localization – Best Countries For Your AppNow you know the strategy, but which countries should you start first?If your app is already available in more than one country, you can use app analytics to find out the top countries by your app downloads. Check the official languages of the top five countries, and localize your app listing if you haven’t done so.Depending on your priority, you can also do the same using top countries by revenue, ARPU, conversion rate, active devices or retention.App Store Optimization Tips:Predict Your Next Successful MarketsThis app analytics tool predicts where your next successful markets are based on LTV (Lifetime User Value), ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), Conversion Rates, and more. With this information, you can proactively localize your app to grasp the market opportunities.[Back]App Localization – Top Countries By RevenueAnother approach is to localize your app listing for the top countries by downloads and/or revenue. According to App Annie, here are the top countries in Q3 2016.Again, check the official languages of the top countries, and localize your app listing if you haven’t done so.[Back]App Conversion Rates – The ImpactFirst, what is conversion rates (CR)?Let’s use the analytics from Apple App Store to illustrate the concept.In Apple iTunes Connect’s App Analytics, you can find the followings:Impressions (the number of times your app showed up in the App Store)App Page Views (the number of visits on your app’s page in the App Store)and App Units (the number of downloads)With these data, you can easily calculate two CRs:Page View CR = App Page Views / Impressions x 100%Download CR = App Units / App Page Views x 100%To put things into perspective,The page view CR is the percentage of people who see your app from search results, rank lists, or featured app lists, and then tap the icon to check out your app.The download CR is the percentage of people who visits your app page and then downloads your app.These two CRs can be presented along with impressions, app page views, and app units in a diagram called Conversion Funnel in app marketing.Why is conversion rate such a big deal?There are mainly three reasons.1. CR is a strong quantitative indicator of App Store Optimization effectivenessKeyword ranking and number of downloads are not the best metrics to measure the performance of App Store Optimization. There are many external factors that can influence those two metrics. For example, a big competing publisher may publish a hugely popular app and shift the apps in the keyword ranking by a margin (e.g. The impact of Pokemon Go and related apps on the keyword “Pokemon” and “Go”). Or you run App Store Optimization and an advertisement campaign at the same time and the number of the downloads become not purely organic.On the other hand, CRs are independent of market competition nor the source of traffic. They give you the true picture of App Store Optimization effectiveness.2. CR reflects the likelihood of getting rankedCR is a natural ranking signal in app store search. If lots of people search certain keywords, click on the same search result, and download the same app, Google Play and the App Store should receive a strong message:“Users want to see this app!”and place the app in a dominant spot (i.e. rank or featured list).3. CR saves you money!It’s just simple math: if you double your CR, you cut your advertising cost by half for the same amount of downloads. For the same reason, if you haven’t optimized your CR, don’t spend big bucks on advertising campaigns! You would be wasting your money.Just a side story: some ranking manipulation farms even go far and take advantage of this. They offer keyword-rank-manipulation service. They boost the ranking of an app by “searching” the app by specific keywords, tapping the app in the search results and download the app — the exact flow of conversion funnel.[Back]App Conversion Rates – Page View CRNow you know the importance of conversion rate, let’s see how we can improve them.Let’s do a recap:Page View CR = App Page Views / Impressions x 100%If Page View CR is less than 3%, you should try to improve it.3%? Really? Yes, 3% sounds very low, but you won’t believe many apps have less than 1% we have seen!To improve Page View CR, focus on optimizing these metadata:App nameApp iconFirst 2 lines of app descriptionFirst 2 screenshots (or app preview video)App ratingsIt is because the app search result only shows these pieces of information. That means they are your baits to bring users to your app page. So make good use of them![Back]App Conversion Rates – Download CRNow, let’s look at Download CR:Download CR = App Units / App Page Views x 100%Folks from SplitMetrics have done a wonderful job on this topic. They gathered the download conversion rates from hundreds of experiments with over 10,000,000 users. Here are the best conversion rates in each app category in their study:Based on this graph, you should set your download CR target to at least 60% for most categories. For Health & Fitness and Education categories, you may set your target a bit lower to around 40% and 50% respectively.If your download CR is lower than the target benchmark, you should follow all tips in this article to improve this metric.App Store Optimization Tips:Benchmark Your Conversion RateUse this App Store Optimization tool to benchmark your app’s conversion rate (CR). It compares your download CR with your app category’s median and best CR, and tells you what you should do.[Back]App SizeTry to make your app smaller than 100 MB. It is because users cannot download apps that are more than 100 MB using cellular service.So for example, if a user on a bus or a train can’t download “now”, it is unlikely the user will write down the name and try again X hours later when they’re home.Need some proof? This post from appfigures shows that ~98% of the top 100 free and ~62% of paid iOS and Android games can be downloaded are under 100 MB.Do you think 100 MB is not enough for your app? Take a look at Clash of Clans. Its iOS version is just 85.3 MB.App Store Optimization Tips:Make Your App SmallerTo reduce the app size, consider compressing some of the graphical assets or make some of the contents downloadable after install.Compare with the Top 100 AppsDo you want to know how your app size compares to that of the top 100 apps? Use this App Store Optimization tool. It tells you whether your app size falls in the reasonable app size range of the top 100 apps.[Back]App Pricing – Free with In-App PurchasesMaking your app free can remove the friction for users to download your app. After all, what price is better than free?If you want to make money from your free app, consider In-App Purchase (IAP) pricing model if that makes sense to your app design. IAP account for 79% of app store revenue.App Store Optimization Tips:New to In-App Purchase (IAP)?Check out this Do’s and Don’ts IAP Checklist. It can jump start your IAP design.Need In-App Purchase (IAP) Ideas?Here is a wonderful list of 40 IAP ideas for you to consider.[Back]App Pricing – Free with AdsIf you choose to make in-app advertising revenue, try to use native ads. They are created to fit the exact context of the app they appear on. This way, they serve as extra content for the app itself rather than a piece of promotional materials. Check out this post to see more reasons why native ads are better than traditional banner ads.[Back]App Pricing – Paid AppsUse a reasonable price by comparing your app price with your competing apps. Also, take reference of the price range of the top apps in your app categories.A good starting price point to test the market is $0.99 or $1.99. Anything above $2.99 won’t make you a lot of money. The exception is Minecraft Pocket Edition, which is priced at $6.99.[Back]App Compatibility – iMessageFor iOS apps, supporting iMessage App helps your app grow viral through the user’s phone contacts. You can also gain extra exposure in the App Store for iMessage.Need ideas of how to use iMessage for your app? Check out how these 10 apps make use of iMessage integration for more ideas.[Back]App Compatibility – Apple WatchFor iOS apps, supporting Apple Watch improves your app’s customer experience and user loyalty.But don’t just copy your original app features directly to your Apple Watch app. Make good use of the Apple Watch characteristics to improve your user experience. Need inspirations? Check out these 50 best Apple Watch apps.[Back]App Compatibility – Family SharingFor iOS apps, Apple offers the Family Sharing opt-in for app developers. Family Sharing allows up to six family members to share app purchases on the same credit card across devices and parents to supervise their children purchases. Supporting Family Sharing means you can reach more family members and improves user loyalty.Apple also clarifies that in-app purchases are not transferable through Family Sharing. Family members just the apps themselves. It means Family Sharing gives higher revenue potential for apps with in-app purchases.[Back]App Compatibility – Game CenterThough Game Center app is removed since iOS 10, the Game Center service is still available. If you have an iOS game, you can make use of these Game Center features:LeaderboardAchievementsChallengesSaving GamesMatchmaking for multiplayer gamesThese features improve your game’s virality and user retention in many ways.[Back]App UpdatesStatistics show that there is a high correlation between high ratings and app update frequency. In fact, releasing regular updates has many benefits. It improves user loyalty and keeps an app top of mind because your app will show up in the updates list in the app stores. Apple and Google also like to see app updates because they show you’re committed to the app and that it’s still being maintained.How often should you update your app? Check out this chart first:For these 25 top iOS apps, the average was about 30 days between updates. I’d recommend at least an update a month, and up to once a week.Don’t forget to use push notifications to alert users to new app updates. They have a big impact on your update downloads. Ideally, you should only send notifications to the users who haven’t downloaded your latest version. In case you can’t distinguish who have and who haven’t, you should word your message carefully to avoid the confusion.For examples,Hey! Have you checked for updates in the App Store recently?Updates! Are all your apps up to date? Check the Updates button in the App Store.Of course, you shouldn’t do an update just for the sake of doing an update. Your updates should always improve your app in some ways, either by bug fixings or enhancements.[Back]Apple App Store vs. Google PlayIf you wonder what are the differences between Apple App Store and Google Play on App Store Optimization, here is a great summary:[Back]Putting It All TogetherHere is a cool infographic produced by Y Media Labs. It sums up the most important points about App Store Optimization.After you have published the changes, keep an eye on the keyword rankings. The rankings change right after you published the new version. Target to make your app rank within top 10 of all keywords. If your new keywords are too hard to rank, you might have to replace them with your old keywords.Review your app store optimization every three weeks or four because that is when big trends change. Don’t give up if the results of first few optimizations are not turning out well. App marketing takes time and App Store Optimization needs many observations to master.Congratulations!You’ve read to the end of this mega post (~6,000 words).Give yourself a BIG hand!And I wish you good luck in your journey.PS. If you are too busy to try out all these tips, just use this app store optimization tool. In less than 30 seconds, it automatically checks your app using app store optimization best practices and tells you how to improve.And it’s free :-)