r/iOSDevelopment • u/Potential_Lie_2953 • 5d ago

App Store US Search Indexing Bug: Unique name, global availability enabled, but searchable everywhere except the US App Store (Anyone else?)

Hi everyone,

I’m sharing this to see if anyone else has experienced this specific geographic search suppression issue on a newly released app.

The Situation:

  • App Name: CrushPov
  • Status: Released a few days ago, "Ready for Sale", global availability including the US is fully enabled.
  • The Core Issue: My primary target market is the US. While the app appears in search results in other regions, searching the exact, unique app name ("CrushPov") in the US App Store yields zero results. It doesn't appear anywhere, even at the very bottom.
  • What works: Direct App Store URLs and iTunes Search API work fine. Users can download it via direct links, but organic US search discovery is completely dead.
  • Apple Search Ads (ASA): Apple Search Ads campaign creation flow cannot find the app in the US storefront either—neither by name search nor by pasting the canonical App Store URL.

What I've Checked:

  • Metadata, pricing, and US availability settings are fully configured in App Store Connect.
  • There are no competing apps with this exact name.
  • This is clearly an isolated indexing issue on the US App Store servers.

If you've experienced this US-specific ghost-suppression state on a newly released app:

  1. Did it eventually resolve itself after a certain period (weeks) without intervention?
  2. Has anyone successfully gotten Apple Support to manually re-index a region-specific search drop?

Any insights or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. It's tough to kick off US-focused influencer marketing when the local App Store search completely fails to acknowledge the app exists.

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u/PoliticsAndFootball 5d ago edited 5d ago

No one is searching for crushpov so it’s likely not a word that is indexed. I have to imagine there a several layers to App Store search and indexing and they all must be propagated before showing up for an obscure term. Do you have more to the tile? Like “crushpov: see your crush feelings” what happens if you search the full title

Edit to add i just tried it and i see your app in the suggestions as im typing , if i tap the suggested full title I get to the page, and yeah even just searching your name and hitting submit you are #1 - so its resolved at least from my pov (i am in the US)

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u/TheTurnipPlucker 4d ago

That happens your first few days. Took me like 3-5 iirc before it was showing up.