How to Promote an App for Free: Where to List It, Submit It and Get It Seen
Promoting an app for free means being listed everywhere its users already look and asking the people who curate those places to notice it. For a mobile app that includes the store’s own featuring request; for a desktop or open-source app it includes platform directories such as MacBase, Flathub and F-Droid; and for everyone it includes a few newsletters and one community. None of it is automatic, and none of it promises downloads.
What does promoting an app for free actually involve?
An app lives in a store or a package source, and the first free promotion is being complete there: a clear name, honest screenshots and a description written for the person typing a search. That work is covered by the app store launch checklist. This page starts after it, with the places that can send a person to the listing.
They fall into three kinds. Curators decide what to show, and you ask them. Directories list everything that qualifies, and you submit once. Communities talk about apps, and you take part. Each kind needs a different tone: curators want a reason, directories want accurate fields, communities want a person, not a pitch.
A practical detail saves time. Most places below link to a web address, not to a store button, so keep one page on your own site that explains the app and links to every store. That page is also what you give a newsletter editor.
Where can you submit an app today?
Facts come from each site’s own pages, read on 13 November 2026. Reddit refused an automated check.
01 Apple’s App Store featuring nominations
A request route on Apple’s developer site for apps, games, updates and in-app events you want the App Store team to consider.
- Cost
- Free to nominate
- Lead time
- At least two weeks’ notice; up to three months ahead for wider consideration
- Fits
- iOS, iPadOS and other App Store apps
Apple’s page says the team is always looking to highlight new apps, significant updates, in-app events and great stories, and that its lead time varies. Nominate when you have something concrete to point at, such as a new release or an event, and not for an app that is merely live.
It is a request, not a promise. The useful discipline is the deadline: because you must plan weeks to months ahead, you have to decide your release date and story early.
Visit Apple’s App Store featuring nominations (developer.apple.com) →
02 MacBase
A free directory of Mac apps, with categories, alternatives pages, deals and a weekly email of new listings.
- Cost
- Free to list
- Account
- Sign in creates one the first time
- Link
- Followed only for verified listings; others get nofollow
The badge page explains verification: add its badge to your website and the listing is marked verified, listed above others in categories and linked with a followed link. Decide with open eyes whether a badge belongs on your page.
The site also lets you add a deal for a sale season and shows it on a deals page. If you plan a discount anyway, that is free extra visibility.
03 Microsoft Store
The store for Windows 10 and Windows 11 apps and games, reached through a Partner Center developer account.
- Fits
- Windows apps, including MSIX, MSI or EXE installers and PWAs
- Needs
- An individual or company developer account
- Gate
- Certification before release
Microsoft’s publishing page walks from account to submission to certification, and lists separate paths for MSIX, MSI or EXE and progressive web apps. If your app is already a web app, the PWA route can be shorter than packaging a desktop installer.
Check the account page for any registration fee before you start. We did not read a price on the pages we opened.
04 Flathub
The main store for Flatpak apps on Linux, with a documented submission process.
- Fits
- Linux desktop apps
- Skill needed
- Basic familiarity with Git and Flatpak
- Catch
- Submissions can be rejected at any stage or recalled after merge
Flathub’s docs call submissions extremely welcome and the process straightforward, then ask you to read requirements, metainfo guidelines and its generative AI policy before submitting. The process applies to new applications only; updates do not repeat it.
Linux users install from here by habit, so a listing is the main way a Linux app is found at all.
05 F-Droid
An Android app repository for free and open-source software, with a published inclusion policy.
- Fits
- Open-source Android apps only
- Policy
- Apps must carry a free software licence and are built from published source
- Rule
- No downloading of extra executables without opt-in consent
The policy says every effort is made to verify the licence, by inspecting the source and by building the application from it. That makes F-Droid a trust signal for privacy-minded users, and a reason not to apply if your app depends on closed components.
06 Amazon Appstore
Amazon’s store for Android apps and Fire TV, with its own developer portal.
- Cost
- The portal page says to create a free developer account
- Fits
- Android apps, and Fire TV apps built with its Vega tools
It is a second store for an Android build you already have, and the only reason to bother is if your users own Fire devices. Skip it if you do not know whether they do.
07 iOS Dev Weekly and Android Weekly
Two newsletters for people who build apps for Apple platforms and for Android, each with a way to send in a link.
- Route
- iOS Dev Weekly has a “Submit a Link” item; Android Weekly has a submit form on its homepage
- Readers
- Developers, so they fit developer-facing apps and write-ups
- Catch
- We could not confirm that either covers new consumer apps
Both are developer reading lists, so a link to a consumer app with nothing to learn from may not fit. A write-up on how you built a feature, with the app as the example, is a better submission.
Visit iOS Dev Weekly and Android Weekly (iosdevweekly.com) →
08 r/iosapps and r/androidapps
Two well-known subreddits about apps for iPhone and Android.
- Fits
- Consumer apps with a free or trial version
- Catch
- Our automated check could not read Reddit; each community has its own self-promotion rules
Read the sidebar and the pinned thread before posting; communities of this kind often set aside a specific place or day for developers. Post in the one that matches your platform, and never the same text in both.
09 Post your build ideas (our launch board)
A free launch board, ours, that links to any product website, including an app’s landing page.
- Cost
- Free; one verified email
- Catch
- A small audience, and a gallery of four images at most
Launch the app’s page for free as a permanent public URL that you can link from a store description or a message. The listing is text, so describe the app’s one job and put the store links on your own page.
In what order should you do it?
- Before release: build the single web page, then prepare the featuring nomination if you are on Apple, because it has the longest lead time.
- Release week: list in the directory for each platform you ship on, and publish the launch board page.
- Week two: send one link to the newsletter that fits your reader, and post in one community.
- Ongoing: tag each link, and use the launch metrics page to decide which place to repeat.
Skip the places that do not match your platform. A Linux listing for an iPhone app is noise. The broader guide to marketing an app covers paid and organic routes beyond this list, and the mobile app showcases page covers places that display a finished mobile app. If you have the idea for an app but no app yet, you can post the idea on the board for someone else to build.
Frequently asked questions
How can I promote my app without spending money?
List it in the directory for each platform it runs on, ask Apple’s featuring team to consider a concrete release, send a link to a newsletter that fits your reader, and take part in one community. Keep a single web page that explains the app and links to every store. Measure each link separately.
Does Apple feature apps that ask?
Apple has a featuring nomination route on its developer site and asks for at least two weeks’ notice, or up to three months ahead for wider consideration. It says it looks for new apps, significant updates and in-app events. A nomination is a request, not a guarantee, so treat it as free but uncertain.
Where do I promote an open-source Android app?
F-Droid is the dedicated repository, and it requires a free software licence and builds the app from your published source. Add the GitHub repository, a plain README and the launch board page. Developer newsletters and communities can follow once the project has something to show.
Should I use a service that submits to many app directories?
Usually not. Bulk submission puts you in places you have not read, some abandoned and some paid, and you cannot keep the listings accurate. Choose the few directories your users actually search, submit by hand and check each page a week later.
Is promoting a Mac or Windows app different from a mobile app?
Yes. Desktop apps are found through their own directories and stores, such as MacBase, the Microsoft Store and Flathub, and often through the website’s search ranking. Mobile apps lean more on store search and store featuring. Match the places to the platform and skip the rest.
Post your build ideas publishes this page and runs a free launch board that competes with some of the sites it names. Facts about other sites came from their own pages on the date shown above; terms, queues and prices change, so confirm on their sites before you decide. About the publisher.