tokconnectStart free ASO keyword research starts with the words people type. TokConnect pulls TikTok's own search counts for whole lists of app phrases, with curves, searcher splits and zero-video gaps, to seed your App Store metadata.
App Store keyword research usually starts inside an ASO tool, with store search volume and difficulty scores. Those numbers tell you how hard a word is to rank for. They don't tell you how people describe the job your app does, or which feature names they already know.
TikTok search does. People type full phrases there, often with the modifier that decides their download: "free", "ai", "best", a feature name or a rival app. TikTok's Creator Search Insights counts those searches over the last 7 days and says how many videos answer each one.
Be precise about the claim. No public data ties a TikTok search count to App Store search volume number for number, so treat TikTok as the source of words and demand direction, then confirm volume and difficulty in your store tool. Apple's own guidance is that keywords "help determine where your app displays in search results" (Apple Developer, checked 10 October 2026). Better words in, better placement out.
Start with the category phrase a stranger would type, not your brand. We searched "photo editing app" on 10 October 2026 and kept only the phrases a person types. TikTok's generated groups, such as "Viral photo edit challenge ideas", are left out because their figures pool many searches.
| Search, as typed | Modifier | 7-day searches | Videos |
|---|---|---|---|
| best photo edit apps | best | 326,197 | 985 |
| apps to edit photos for free | free | 285,714 | 0 |
| photo editing apps free | free | 285,328 | 733 |
| free ai photo editor app | free ai | 267,980 | 758 |
| free photo edit app | free | 259,325 | 0 |
| ai photo editing app | ai | 237,928 | 1,191 |
| body editing app for photos | use case | 236,429 | 0 |
| photo ai editing app | ai | 223,577 | 0 |
| free app for photo editing | free | 165,149 | 703 |
| Photo editing app | head term | 121,587 | 1,218 |
| Editing apps for photos | head term | 69,406 | 0 |
freenamefor aestheticbackgroundaifor ig postfor photographycollagefilmwith watermarkfor schoolin 2026for coupletemplate
Suffixes TikTok suggests after "photo editing apps", pulled 10 October 2026. Each one is a candidate keyword.
TikTok Creator Search Insights via TokConnect, global, 7 days to 10 October 2026. Tinted rows have no matching videos. Raw responses.
"free" is the word that moves this category. It sits in 5 of the 11 searches, and two of those have no videos at all. "ai" shows up in 3. A photo editor whose subtitle and keyword field skip both words is missing how its buyers phrase the search.
Pull TikTok's search counts for [your app category]: every phrase people type about apps like [your app], with 7-day searches and video counts. Group them by modifier (free, ai, best) and flag the ones with no videos.
Seed your keywordsBrand searches show the features people already know by name, and the questions nobody has filmed. We searched three photo apps. Of the 23 typed searches we cite, 14 have no matching videos.
Read: effects and profile pictures. Name them in screenshot captions.
Read: presets, masking, denoise and culling. Tool words, typed as how-tos.
Read: filters and the DSCO loop feature, with a 2019 nostalgia angle.
no matching videos · numbers are 7-day searches, then videos
TikTok Creator Search Insights via TokConnect, global, 7 days to 10 October 2026. Off-topic results such as "vsco girl" trend topics are left out.
Feature words are the ASO payoff here. "denoise", "presets", "filter" and "collage" are terms a photo editor can own in its keyword field, and "how to do dsco on vsco" (297,429 searches, 0 videos) says people want a named feature explained. If your app has that feature under a plainer name, the screenshot caption is where you say both.
List the TikTok searches that name [competitor app] with a feature, tutorial or price word. Show 7-day searches and video counts, and flag the ones with no videos.
Map rival featuresA 7-day count is one snapshot. Before a phrase goes into your title, the field you change least often, look at its longer curve.
"best photo edit apps" never went quiet in 180 days. Its daily reading peaked at 698,402 on 27 April, the July median of 400,630 was the high month, and September's 170,916 was the low. On 10 October it read 326,196, climbing again.
"free photo edit app" is the steadier gap. All 31 daily readings in the last 30 days were over 100,000, with a high of 529,032 on 28 September and a median of 181,608. It still has 0 matching videos.
Show the 180-day search curve and the searcher age, gender and country split for "[your top keyword]" on TikTok.
Check the curveTikTok splits the searchers behind each phrase by age, gender and country. Both photo-editor searches lean the same way, which is a brief for your screenshots and preview video.
Shares of TikTok's panel of searchers for each phrase, last 30 days to 10 October 2026. The rest of each split is "unknown" or other ages and countries.
Lead with the use case this audience edits: selfies, outfits and posts for Instagram. "for ig post" and "for aesthetic" are both in TikTok's autocomplete.
"free" dominates the phrasing. If the core editor is free, say it in the subtitle or the first screenshot, not only in the description.
About 95% of searchers on both phrases are in the United States, so the US English listing comes first.
Each store field has a hard limit, so each TikTok signal goes where it earns the most. Character limits below come from Apple's product page guide and Google Play's store listing help, both checked 10 October 2026.
| TikTok signal | Store field and limit | Photo editor example |
|---|---|---|
| Head term with steady demand ("photo editing app", "best photo edit apps") | App Store app name, 30 characters · Google Play app name, 30 | [Brand]: Photo Editor |
| Top modifiers ("free", "ai") | App Store subtitle, 30 characters · Google Play short description, 80 | Free AI Photo Editor & Filters |
| Feature words and autocomplete suffixes | App Store keyword field, 100 characters, commas and no spaces | free,ai,editor,filter,film,aesthetic,collage,background,preset,retouch,template,vintage,denoise (95 characters) |
| Zero-video feature questions ("how to denoise", "how to do dsco") | Screenshot captions and the preview video | "Denoise in one tap", shown on the second screenshot |
| Searcher split (young, mostly women, US) | Screenshot order and storefront priority | Selfie and outfit edits first; US English listing first |
| Words you want seen but not ranked | App Store promotional text, 170 characters | Seasonal hooks. Apple says promotional text doesn't affect search ranking. |
Sources: Apple Developer, product page; Google Play Console Help, store listing. Google warns that repetitive or irrelevant keywords in the name or descriptions can get an app suspended.
Pull TikTok searches for [your app category], then turn them into App Store metadata for [your app]: a 30-character title, a 30-character subtitle and a 100-character keyword field, using only words people actually search. Flag which words to check in my ASO tool.
Draft my metadataThe same research covers the rivals' own accounts. We pulled each app's last 20 posts. The account that films the searched features wins: Lightroom's edit tutorials pull far more per post than Picsart's trend clips or VSCO's photographer interviews.
Public TikTok posts from each app's verified account, pulled 10 October 2026. Saves per 1,000 views is the median across the last 20 posts.
VSCO's account talks to working photographers, while its searchers ask how to make a DSCO loop. That mismatch is an ASO note as much as a content note: the listing and the account should use the words searchers use. For the content side of app marketing, see TikTok for app marketers.
Compare the TikTok accounts of [your app] and [competitor app]: median views and saves per 1,000 views on the last 20 posts, and the posts that beat the median.
Size up rival appsFor TikTok search demand behind your keywords, TokConnect is the pick: it returns TikTok's own counts for a whole phrase list at once, inside a chat or the AI app you use. For store search volume, rankings and difficulty, use a store ASO tool beside it. Prices are from each vendor's pricing page on 10 October 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Price checked 10 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| TokConnect | TikTok search counts for whole phrase lists, 30- and 180-day curves, searcher age, gender and country, zero-video searches, rival app accounts and comments | 50 free credits, no card; Starter $49 a month for 500 credits |
| AppTweak | App Store and Google Play keyword research; Essential tracks 500 keywords across 5 followed apps, with volume history for both stores | Essential $79 a month billed monthly, or $949 a year; Grow $249; Grow Plus $499; 7-day free trial |
| MobileAction | ASO Intelligence plans for store keyword tracking | ASO Lite $15 a month ($12.5 a month billed yearly); Basic $69; Pro $239; 7-day trial on Basic and Pro |
| Sensor Tower | Market and store intelligence; data.ai is now "a Sensor Tower company" | Custom: "We customize pricing plans for each customer" |
| AppFollow | ASO and competitor tracking, per its pricing page | Not listed; contact sales |
| App Store or Google Play search volume, rankings, downloads | The store tools above | Not in TokConnect: it reads public TikTok only |
Sources: AppTweak pricing, MobileAction pricing, Sensor Tower pricing, data.ai, AppFollow pricing, all checked 10 October 2026. Appfigures is left out because its pricing page did not load for us. TokConnect plans: pricing.
The workflow is short. Pull the TikTok phrase list, curves and splits with TokConnect, paste the words into your store tool for volume and difficulty, then write the fields. Agencies running this for several app clients can follow the app marketing agency playbook; founders hunting for the next app can start from app ideas people already search for. The method itself is the same one in TikTok keyword research.
Not number for number. No public data links the two counts, so use TikTok for the words people use and whether demand is rising, then check store volume in an ASO tool. TikTok is strong on modifiers: "free photo edit app" drew 259,325 searches in 7 days with no matching videos. TokConnect pulls those counts for a whole list of phrases at once.
100 characters in total, with terms separated by commas and no spaces, per Apple's product page guide. The app name and subtitle allow 30 characters each, and promotional text 170, which Apple says doesn't affect search ranking. On Google Play the app name allows 30 characters and the short description 80.
For store keyword volume and rankings: AppTweak (Essential from $79 a month billed monthly), MobileAction (ASO Lite from $15 a month), Sensor Tower (custom pricing, and the owner of data.ai) and AppFollow (contact sales), as listed on 10 October 2026. For the TikTok search demand behind those keywords, TokConnect returns TikTok's own counts, curves and searcher splits for a whole phrase list.
Search your category phrase, note each typed search's 7-day count and video count, and group the modifiers people add, such as free, ai or a feature name. Then check the curve and the searcher split before a word goes into your title or subtitle. TikTok's app shows one topic at a time; TokConnect returns the whole list as a table.
We pulled public TikTok data through TokConnect on 10 October 2026, 21 calls in all:
search_topics for "photo editing app", "picsart", "lightroom" and "vsco" (20 records each);search_popularity for "best photo edit apps" (180 days) and "free photo edit app" (30 days);audience_demographics for both of those searches (last 30 days);search_suggestions for "photo editing app";user_profile and creator_posts (last 20 posts) for Picsart, Lightroom and VSCO;video_detail for the six covers we saved, five of them shown.Search counts are TikTok's global 7-day search popularity from Creator Search Insights. Every phrase quoted is under 1 million searches and treated as a typed search; TikTok's generated groups and off-topic results are left out. Monthly figures are medians of daily readings. App brands are named; photographers tagged in brand captions are not. Store limits and tool prices were read on each official page on 10 October 2026. Open the data.