In-App Events and Play Promotional Content Explained

In-App Events on the App Store and promotional content (formerly LiveOps) on Google Play are the only self-serve way to put fresh, time-limited content on store surfaces without shipping a new version or waiting for an editor. Both are free, both go through a light review, and Google is the one platform that has published average lifts: about 3.6% more revenue and 5.1% more 28-day actives for titles that use them, in its 2022 figures.

What each program is

Apple's In-App Events are cards with an image or video, a 30-character name and a 50-character line, attached to your product page. They can describe a competition, a challenge, a live moment, a season, a premiere, a major update or a "special event" such as a collaboration ¹. Apple is explicit about what does not qualify: daily rewards, price promotions with no new content, and generic awareness pushes ¹.

Google Play's promotional content is broader. It covers offers (discounts, bundles, free rewards, subscription trials), time-limited events (real-time events, competitions, specials such as crossovers), and major updates including pre-registration announcements ². The offer type is the big difference: Google actively wants you to merchandise discounts, while Apple will reject an event that names a price ^1,2.

Rules, limits and surfaces compared

Two details catch teams out. On Apple, a user who already has your app sees the event card in search results instead of your screenshots, so a bad card can hurt re-engagement for your most valuable searchers ¹. On Google, the Events tab is games-only and limited to markets including the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, Brazil, India and Indonesia; apps and other regions rely on listing and search placements ².

What the lifts look like

Google's November 2022 post that renamed LiveOps to promotional content is still its only platform-wide number: titles using the program saw roughly 3.6% higher revenue and 5.1% higher 28-day DAU than comparable titles that did not ⁵. That is an average across all users of the tool, not a per-event effect, and it dates from 2022.

Per-event effects can be much larger. In Google's SHEIN case study, limited-time offers surfaced as promotional content drove a 98.75% impression uplift in the US, a 3.18% CTR increase and more than 10,000 incremental monthly installs; the study does not give a year ⁶. Play Console now shows you your own version of this: an acquisition uplift versus a holdback group, reported only when it reaches 95% confidence, plus the change in active days over the following 28 days ⁴.

Apple has not published average lifts for In-App Events. What it does give you is per-event downloads and the share of users who opted into a start notification, which is the cleanest signal of whether an event idea resonated ¹. Anything you read about typical In-App Event conversion lifts is third-party estimation unconfirmed.

Planning a 12-month calendar

The programs reward frequency: Google says frequent, high-quality promotional content is a signal that you are investing in the app, and Apple surfaces events in editorial picks that need lead time ^1,3,7. A workable rhythm for a small team is one anchor event per quarter and one lighter beat per month.

Step 1: Map the fixed dates

Start with the calendar you cannot move: platform moments (WWDC and iOS launch in June and September, Google I/O in May), your release train, and the seasonal peaks for your category. For most consumer apps that means the New Year, back-to-school, the Black Friday to Christmas window, and any regional holidays in your top five countries.

Step 2: Assign a type to each slot

Apple will only approve a Major Update event for real feature releases, so pair those with your big versions. Use Challenge or Competition badges for community moments, and Special Event for partnerships ¹. On Play, use offers for the shopping window and trials for January, and save major-update slots for releases with screenshots to prove it ².

Step 3: Work backwards from review

Submit Play events at least four days before start, and earlier if you want a chance at featuring; the system accepts submissions 60 days out ³. Apple events can be promoted 14 days before they begin, so set the publish date two weeks ahead and the event length at or under 31 days ¹.

Step 4: Build once, localise, repeat

Both platforms want text-free, logo-free imagery: Apple applies its own crops and gradients, and Google rejects text on images ^1,3. That means one 16:9 and one 9:16 asset per event can serve every locale, with only the strings translated.

How this shows up in the charts

Events do not change your rank directly; they change impressions and taps, which change downloads, which change rank. The pattern we see in the US iOS movers is a two- to four-day bump around an event's start date for games that pair the event with a push campaign and a real content drop, then a return to baseline. Shopping apps on Google Play show the clearest effect, because offers surface in search for high-intent queries during the November window; compare the Android charts in the last week of November with the first week of December to see the cohort rise and fall together. If you want the mechanics of why downloads move rank with a lag, start with how rankings work.

Caveats

Google's average lift figures are from 2022 and predate the renamed, wider program; Google has not published a refreshed platform-wide number as far as we can find. The SHEIN case study carries no date. Apple's limits (10 published, 31 days, 14-day promotion) are from its developer page as of October 2026 and have changed before, so check App Store Connect before you lock a calendar.