A little over two months ago we launched Brainfeed — an educational app for iPad that we built for a great client in the US.
We loved the idea behind the app and worked hard to sweat the little details striving to make the app fast, fluid and fun. We collaborated with Anne-Sophie Leens on the visual design front — we'd worked with her before and knew that she'd be a perfect fit for the project.
Post-launch the app was steadily getting some attention. Interestingly it did really well very quickly in parts of Africa and South-East Asia where it shot up the charts. It got into the top 10 in a couple weeks in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and the Philippines.
Then Europe took notice. First it started climbing the charts in the Eastern countries and slowly moved westward. Then on a Saturday afternoon our client got an email from Apple requesting artwork as the app was being considered for promotion.
This could be huge.
It was on a weekend and I was away so we couldn't provide any help but they scrambled and got the material together and submitted it right before the deadline and then we waited. And waited.
And then this happened.
App Store banner
This banner started appearing in the App Store in some countries. First as a small banner, but then eventually the main banner at the top of the store. Placing our app alongside other apps and games from the likes of Disney, EA and Nickelodeon.
Main banner for Kids 9-11 in the UK App Store — April 27, 2014
This was absolutely amazing.
When an app is published you have to choose two categories that it should belong to that make sense. For Brainfeed this was Kids and Education, though for Kids you have to specify an additional age range — so it kind of gets three categories.
Reaching the #1 spot for Kids 9-11 was no mean feat (its done so in 64 countries thus far), but it also started rising slowly in the more general Kids category and then Education which is massive.
While this was happening the app started to get noticed in the States and landed on the #4 spot for Best New Apps in the US App Store.
US App Store: Best New Apps — April 27, 2014
As you can imagine this was huge for visibility.
And then this weekend, the app got another major spike when Apple featured it in the iTunes Education Spotlight (in the Canadian one too). Still there as of this writing and immortalized forever in the screenshot below.
iTunes Education Spotlight featuring Brainfeed — May 26, 2014
This is the first time I've worked on an app that's gained so much exposure.
One thing is rising up the charts and reaching:
- #1 for Kids: Ages 9–11 in 64 countries
- #1 for Kids in 23 countries
- #1 for Education in 17 countries
- reaching #4 in the US in Kids: Ages 9–11
However for me getting the app featured by Apple means much more. A prominent spot in a newsletter that goes out to teachers and parents means we definitely did something right, and that's certainly something I am very proud of.