Release Notes Template for Mobile Apps
Mobile app release notes serve two audiences simultaneously: the app store (Apple App Store, Google Play) which has specific content requirements, and your users who want to know what changed. App store release notes must be concise (4,000 character limit on iOS) while still communicating meaningful changes.
This template structures mobile release notes for both app store submission and user communication, including phased rollout plans.
Template sections
5 sections covering the complete release notes workflow.
App Store Release Notes
App store release notes must fit within platform limits (4,000 characters for Apple, no hard limit for Google Play but shorter is better). Lead with the most impactful user-facing change. Avoid technical jargon. Do not mention competitor apps (violates app store guidelines). Focus on what the user can now do, not what the engineering team built.
Version 4.2.0: Faster checkout with Apple Pay. You can now complete your purchase with a single tap using Apple Pay. We also improved search speed by 40% and fixed an issue where notifications were not appearing for some users on iOS 17. Smaller improvements: redesigned settings page, reduced app size by 15MB.
Tips
- Lead with the single most impactful change - do not bury it in a list
- Use user language, not engineering language (improved search speed, not optimized query index)
- Do not mention competitor apps in app store notes
- Keep Apple App Store notes under 4,000 characters
Phased Rollout Plan
Document the phased rollout strategy for each release: percentage of users per phase, monitoring criteria for promotion to the next phase, and rollback triggers. Both Apple and Google support phased rollouts, and using them reduces the blast radius of bugs that escaped testing.
Rollout plan for v4.2.0: Phase 1 (Day 1-2): 5% of users, monitor crash rate and critical path conversion. Promotion criteria: crash rate below 0.5%, checkout conversion within 2% of baseline. Phase 2 (Day 3-4): 25% of users. Phase 3 (Day 5-6): 50%. Phase 4 (Day 7): 100%. Rollback trigger: crash rate above 1%, checkout conversion drop above 5%, or any P0 bug report.
Tips
- Start with 5% to catch major issues before broad exposure
- Define promotion and rollback criteria before the release, not during
- Monitor crash rate and critical path conversion during each phase
- Have the rollback plan ready before starting the rollout
Platform-Specific Changes
Document changes specific to iOS or Android: new platform feature adoption (Dynamic Island, widgets, Material You theming), minimum OS version changes, and platform-specific bug fixes. Users on each platform want to know what changed for them specifically.
iOS 17 specific: Live Activities support for order tracking (shows delivery status on Lock Screen and Dynamic Island). Minimum iOS version raised from iOS 15 to iOS 16 (affects 2.3% of active users, notification sent 30 days before release). Android specific: Material You dynamic color theming support. Predictive back gesture support. Android 14 per-app language preference support.
Tips
- Call out platform-specific features separately for iOS and Android
- Announce minimum OS version increases at least 30 days before enforcement
- Quantify the percentage of users affected by OS version requirement changes
- Test platform-specific features on physical devices, not just emulators
Performance and Size Changes
Mobile users care about app size, battery consumption, and performance on older devices. Document app size changes, cold start time improvements, and battery impact. These are differentiating features for mobile apps where storage and battery are constrained resources.
Performance improvements in v4.2.0: App size reduced from 85MB to 72MB (-15%) through asset optimization and unused code removal. Cold start time improved from 2.1s to 1.4s on iPhone 12 and equivalent Android devices. Battery impact: background refresh interval increased from 15 min to 30 min, reducing battery consumption by approximately 8% for heavy users. Memory usage: peak reduced by 22% on devices with 4GB RAM.
Tips
- Track and report app size changes in every release
- Measure cold start time on mid-range devices, not flagships
- Document battery impact for any change to background processing
- Include memory usage improvements for users on older devices
Known Issues and Workarounds
Document known issues shipping with the release and available workarounds. Mobile app users cannot roll back to previous versions easily, so known issues must be communicated proactively. Include the expected fix timeline and the affected device/OS combinations.
Known issues in v4.2.0: (1) Apple Pay sheet may not appear on iPad Air 4th gen running iPadOS 17.0 - workaround: update to iPadOS 17.1 or use manual card entry. Fix in v4.2.1 (expected in 2 weeks). (2) Android 14 dark mode may show incorrect colors in settings page - cosmetic only, fix in v4.2.1. No known issues affecting core functionality.
Tips
- List known issues with specific device/OS combinations affected
- Provide workarounds for every known issue
- Include expected fix timeline so users know it is being addressed
- Distinguish cosmetic issues from functional issues in severity
Copy-paste template
# Release Notes — [App Name] v[Version] ## What is New [1-2 sentence summary of the most impactful change] ## App Store Notes [Under 4,000 characters for Apple] [User-focused language] ## Rollout Plan | Phase | % Users | Duration | Criteria | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | 5% | 2 days | Crash <0.5%, conversion baseline | | 2 | 25% | 2 days | Same | | 3 | 50% | 2 days | Same | | 4 | 100% | - | Full release | ## Platform-Specific ### iOS - [iOS-specific changes] ### Android - [Android-specific changes] ## Performance - App size: [Change] - Cold start: [Improvement] - Battery: [Impact] ## Known Issues - [Issue]: [Workaround] — Fix in v[Version]
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