Release App Store Changelog

App Store Changelog

Overview

Generate comprehensive, user-facing changelog from git history since the last tag, then translate commits into clear App Store release notes.

Workflow

1) Collect Changes

Get commits since the last tag:

# Find the last tag
git describe --tags --abbrev=0

# List commits since last tag
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline

# Or with more detail
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --pretty=format:"%h %s" --no-merges

If comparing specific refs:

git log v1.2.3..HEAD --oneline --no-merges

If no tags exist:

git log --oneline --no-merges -50  # Last 50 commits

2) Triage for User Impact

Scan commits and identify user-visible changes:

Include:

• New features
• UI changes
• Behavior changes
• Bug fixes users would notice
• Performance improvements with visible impact

Exclude:

• Refactors
• Dependency bumps
• CI changes
• Developer tooling
• Internal logging
• Analytics changes (unless affecting user privacy/behavior)

Group changes by theme:

• New: New features and capabilities
• Improved: Enhancements to existing features
• Fixed: Bug fixes

3) Draft App Store Notes

Write short, benefit-focused bullets:

• Use clear verbs and plain language
• Avoid internal jargon, ticket IDs, file paths
• Prefer 5-10 bullets unless user specifies different length
• Each bullet: one sentence, starts with a verb

Language guidance:

• Translate technical terms to user-facing descriptions
• Avoid: "API", "refactor", "nil", "crash log", "dependency"
• Use: "Improved", "Added", "Fixed", "Updated"
• Keep tense consistent (present or past)

Examples:

• "Added account switching from the profile menu."
• "Improved timeline loading speed on slow connections."
• "Fixed media attachments not opening in full screen."

4) Validate

• Every bullet maps to a real change in the range
• No duplicate bullets describing the same change
• No internal jargon or file paths
• Final list fits App Store text limits (if provided)

Output Format

What's New

• Added [feature description]
• Improved [enhancement description]
• Fixed [bug fix description]

Or with sections:

What's New in [Version]

New
• [Feature 1]
• [Feature 2]

Improved
• [Enhancement 1]

Fixed
• [Bug fix 1]
• [Bug fix 2]

Quick Commands

# Full workflow: commits since last tag with files changed
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --stat --no-merges

# Just commit messages
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --pretty=format:"- %s" --no-merges

# List all tags
git tag -l --sort=-v:refname

# Compare two specific tags
git log v1.1.0..v1.2.0 --oneline --no-merges

Tips

• If a change is ambiguous, ask for clarification
• Drop changes that are clearly internal-only
• When in doubt, describe as "small improvement" only if user-visible
• Respect storefront character limits if provided