Apple Begins Testing Related Search Suggestions In App Store

If you’re trying to search for apps on the iTunes App Store, it seems that Apple has recently begun testing a search suggestions feature on the app store. As you can see in the screenshot above, the related search feature is place below the search bar itself, so for example if you were to search for “calendar”, which is a pretty generic term, suggestions might include calendar planners, daily planners, and so on.

Another example would be search for a news reader, in which the relevant research suggestions will spit back terms like feed reader and business news, just to name a few. For example some people get their news from apps like Feedly which is a feed reader, while others might prefer more direct sources like a specific app like Bloomberg or CNN.

The search also apparently can detect specific terms, like Twitter, which would then have related results for news apps and so on. In fact some have observed that the way the results appear are similar to Chomp, a app search startup that was acquired by Apple a couple of years ago, so we guess Apple is finally applying some of Chomp’s features to the iTunes App Store.

Apple has been making a fair amount of changes to the iTunes App Store lately, such as adding new sections for people to browse. We’re not sure if this is just part of Apple keeping the app store updated and relevant, or if it might have to do with iOS 8 which is expected to be revealed at WWDC 2014. Either way we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears peeled for more updates.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple
Tags: Apps, itunes app store