How Craft got its users

Craft's App Store listing (Craft: Notes, Documents, AI, in Productivity) carries an Editors' Choice badge, and Apple wrote it a separate story page at apps.apple.com/us/story/id1591089619. Neither is bought or ranked into. Both come from Apple's editorial team, so aim at the Today tab and curated collections, not chart position. Copy Craft's setup first: one listing covering iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision, so a single pick reaches every device you support.

done whenCount how many Apple platforms sit on your single listing. If your Mac build is a separate SKU or a direct download only, one editorial pick reaches one device instead of all of them.

The door is a form, and it is free. In App Store Connect, pick your app, then Featuring > Nominations in the sidebar, then + and Create Nomination. Three types: App Launch, App Enhancements, New Content. Apple's help page asks for a minimum lead time of 3 weeks plus a publish date, and lets you attach up to 5 supplemental URLs and priority notes. File one per meaningful release, the way Craft ships continuous updates, not once at launch.

done whenOpen Featuring > Nominations in your own App Store Connect. If the tab is empty, or your last draft went in under 3 weeks before shipping, that is the gap, not your product.

Editors reward being early on new Apple technology. Craft's post 'How we crafted a first class visionOS experience from our existing code base at Craft' names the exact adoption: UITooltipInteraction, UIHoverStyle, glassBackgroundEffect, SwiftUI .offset(z:). Pick the one thing from the last WWDC that touches your main screen, ship it before that OS reaches everyone, and make it the first screenshot on your listing.

done whenInstall the newest OS beta and open your app. If nothing on your first screen looks different from the previous OS, an editor has nothing new to point a story at.

Write the nomination in Apple's own vocabulary. The Apple Design Award categories are Delight and Fun, Inclusivity, Innovation, Interaction, Social Impact, Visuals and Graphics. Craft's Mac App of the Year story quotes editors on how fast and fun organizing ideas feels, never on a feature count. Open with one sentence naming the category you are arguing for and the Apple technology behind it, then the human reason you built it.

done whenRead your draft description out loud. If it does not name one Apple technology and one of those six category words, it reads like a changelog and gets filed as one.

Give the editor something to read. Craft publishes build posts on craft.do/blog: 'Thinking outside of the WKWebView', 'BlurHash Meets Metal', 'The beginnings of Craft on Apple Vision Pro', alongside rolling Craft Update notes. Those fill the supplemental URL slots at zero cost. Then add Apple surfaces the way Craft does: a Safari Web Clipper extension and Shortcuts support each open another shelf an editor can place you on.

done whenCount the URLs you could attach today that show how you built something. If the answer is zero, write one post about your hardest technical choice before you nominate.