How apps get featured by Shopify

For an app to be eligible to be featured by Shopify, it has to have all of the following qualities:

• Proven usefulness: High-quality apps have a history of helping merchants. Some factors we consider are total installs over the lifetime of the app, the recency of those installs, uninstall rate, and recent average rating from merchant reviews. Learn about tracking your app usage metrics.

• Easy to use: A merchant’s time is valuable, and high-quality apps make life a little easier for them. Apps should be intuitive, seamless, and well-integrated. To rate ease of use, we evaluate whether apps are embedded and, for embedded apps, we also check to see that they use App Bridge 2.0 and session tokens. Shopify will also begin reviewing apps according to the App Design Guidelines.

• High performance: Apps should perform quickly and at scale for merchants and their customers. We measure an app’s performance impact using Lighthouse scores over a period of time. For apps that impact checkout, such as shipping apps, we also consider their response time and error rate. We feature apps with either no performance impact or with low performance impact. Because there's some variability in performance between storefronts and checkouts, we only feature apps with a sufficient number of installs and requests to ensure a stable measurement.

• Quality merchandising: App listings should have a clear brand identity that spells out exactly how the app will help the merchant. Taglines, images or video, key benefits, demos, websites, and FAQs all improve the quality of an app's merchandising. Learn how to write a great app store listing.

• Good Partner standing: Apps must continue to meet the requirements for distributing apps on the Shopify App Store and uphold the Shopify API License and Terms of Use. There should be no outstanding infractions against the Partner Program Agreement.

We’re always working on new ways for merchants to discover apps that will help their business succeed. Apps that meet the criteria for featured apps are eligible for special merchandising and placement in high converting surfaces, including:

• "Picked for you" modal: Designed to help merchants discover recommended apps in a way that feels simple, safe, and personalized. This new admin surface includes only apps that meet the bar for high-quality, and recommendations are tailored to the needs of each unique merchant.

  

• In the Spotlight: Shopify selects and features high-quality apps for the In the Spotlight section on the Shopify App Store homepage. In addition to the general promotion criteria, we consider the following factors for inclusion:

  • New apps: Partners that create new and impactful apps can lack the ability to gain installations. In the Spotlight shows new apps to merchants in a high-traffic section in the homepage, which can help apps succeed faster.
  • Internationalization: Shopify helps merchants on a global scale, and apps that help merchants across the globe get special consideration for In the Spotlight. Apps can do this by translating both their listing and user interface for various international markets. If you have a translated listing, then you're required to offer support in that language.

• Search result rankings: We use quality signals to drive our search algorithm. Partners who follow the criteria for featured apps have a greater chance of showing up in a higher-ranked position.

• App highlights: We verify certain attributes on app listings and across the Shopify App Store to make it easier for merchants to spot high-quality apps. Currently, an app's listing might include up to three possible app highlights.

  

On the Distribution page in the Partner Dashboard, you can find clear steps to improve the quality of your app. When you follow these steps, you receive quality achievements that might increase the visibility of your app in the Shopify App Store.

We continue to learn what helps merchants succeed and update these criteria accordingly. For example, localized and mobile-optimized app experiences are increasingly important for our merchants, and we encourage you to think about these as you build and evolve your apps.