AppsAstrology and tarot apps playbook
Daily horoscopes are everywhere. What spreads is a voice people screenshot, a compatibility check they send a friend, and content timed to the sky. Outpost plans around eclipses and retrogrades, writes the evergreen chart and card pages search engines love, and shows you a receipt for every step.
01 · DISCOVERY
Most users arrive through other people: a screenshot of a reading posted to a story, a friend inviting them to compare charts, or a creator explaining their rising sign. The rest search, either in the App Store ('birth chart', 'tarot reading') or on the web for chart and card meanings. Co-Star is the reference case: its daily notifications stood out for their unusual tone, which helped it get noticed.
Free install, enter birth date, time and place, then the first reading has to feel personal within a minute. Users come back for the daily push and convert to paid for deeper readings, compatibility or questions. The moment they add a friend is often when they get hooked, because now there's a social reason to open the app.
02 · CHANNELS
Ranked 5 (essential) to 1 (optional) by the research for this industry.
Astrology is visual and personal: chart wheels, sign memes, card pulls. Post sign-by-sign content timed to sky events and make every reading in the app exportable as a clean, branded image people want to post.
Comparing charts with a friend or partner gives people a social reason to install. Make inviting someone the obvious next step after the first reading, and give both people something good.
'What is my rising sign', 'Venus in Scorpio meaning' and individual tarot card meanings are searched every day. A deep, well-written library builds search traffic over months and feeds AI-assistant answers.
Apple's guidelines name fortune telling as an established category that only accepts new apps offering a meaningfully different or better experience. Your listing has to make that difference obvious, and your keywords should target the practice you're best at (birth chart, tarot, Vedic, numerology).
Working astrologers and tarot readers have loyal audiences and credibility. A named expert voice, credited in the app, is also a real difference in a crowded category.
BUSINESS MODEL · LIVE
The same channel can be a strong fit for a paid game and a poor one for a free one. Each line below is a rule or rating from Outpost's knowledge base, with its source; your own plan is built from your answers.
Apple rejects apps designed predominantly to display ads, limits display ads to the main app binary, requires interstitials to be labelled as ads with easy close/skip buttons and a way to report inappropriate ads, and bars third-party ads and analytics in Kids Category apps (except limited contextual ads from services that human-review creatives).
Google Play bans unexpected full-screen interstitials, full-screen interstitials that cannot be closed after 15 seconds (opt-in or non-interrupting ones, such as after a score screen, may run longer), ads that mimic app or system UI, and lock-screen monetization (unless the app is a lock screen); rewarded ads the user opts into are exempt.
Apple auto-renewable subscriptions must provide ongoing value, last at least seven days, work across all of the user's devices, and clearly describe what the user gets before asking them to subscribe.
AlternativeTo classifies apps as Free, Freemium (free version can 'perform the main purpose of the app'), Free for personal use or Commercial (time- or usage-limited versions count as Commercial), offers an 'Only Open Source' filter, rejects Coming Soon, closed/private beta, invite-only and Early Access apps, and will probably accept open betas.
On the App Store and Mac App Store, unlocking features, subscriptions, in-game currency, premium content or a full version must use Apple In-App Purchase, and apps may not use their own unlock mechanisms such as license keys.
Since iOS 26.5 (terms published 18 June 2026), Brazilian iOS apps may use alternative in-app payments or link out to the web: App Store commission is 21% (10% for Small Business Program members and for subscriptions after year one) plus 5% if Apple processes the payment, link-out sales within 7 days carry a 15% (or 10%) store-services commission, and alternative marketplaces carry a 5% Core Technology Commission.
Google Play user choice billing (an alternative billing system offered alongside Google Play billing, with a 4% service-fee reduction on those transactions) is available in India, and in Indonesia and Brazil under the pilot.
Since Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act took effect in December 2025 (iOS 26.2), iOS apps in Japan can be distributed through Apple-authorised alternative marketplaces and can offer alternative payment processing or web purchase links alongside Apple IAP; App Store commission is 10% or 21% plus 5% for Apple IAP, web-link purchases pay 15% (10% for reduced programs), and apps outside the App Store pay a 5% Core Technology Commission.
Amazon Appstore requires that every native library in lib/arm64-v8a has a matching library in lib/armeabi-v7a, and tells developers not to remove 32-bit support.
Amazon Appstore binaries can be up to 2.5 GB, OBB expansion files are not supported, and the console warns above 50 MB or on growth of more than 10%; Fire TV apps should ideally be 2 GB or less and stay under 4 GB installed.
Apple moved to a new age-rating system; developers had to answer the updated age-rating questions by 2026-01-31 to avoid an interruption when submitting app updates.
An App Clip's uncompressed, thinned main bundle may be at most 15 MB for iOS 16 and 10 MB below iOS 16; 100 MB is allowed only for iOS 17+, digital-invocation-only clips used where reliable internet is likely.
Read from Outpost's knowledge base on Nov 8, 2026; every line links its source.
03 · YOUR FIRST MONTH
A sample month. Your own plan is built from your audit, stage and goal, and paid options only ever appear as optional boosts.
Week 1 · days 1–7
Week 2 · days 8–14
Week 3 · days 15–21
Week 4 · days 22–30
04 · WHERE TO BE LISTED
Costs are as published by each destination when the research was reviewed; check before you pay for anything.
apps.apple.com
Where most iPhone and iPad users search for and install apps. The name, subtitle and keyword field decide which searches you can appear for.
US$99/yr Apple Developer Program; 15% or 30% commission
play.google.com
The main Android storefront. New personal developer accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 consecutive days before production, so plan that time in.
$25 one-time registration
galaxystore.samsung.com
Samsung's own storefront on Galaxy devices, with its own search and featuring. Worth adding once your Android build is stable.
Check current terms
producthunt.com
A launch-day spike and a permanent product page that also shows up on Alternatives pages. Launch only once the product is publicly available.
alternativeto.net
People browse it looking for alternatives to the big-name app they want to leave. List yourself against the incumbents you actually replace.
Free (optional paid priority review that doesn't buy approval)
developer.amazon.com
A small extra channel for Fire tablet users. Worth it once the Android build is stable.
05 · SEARCH DEMAND
Primary search
astrology app marketing
Below the provider’s reporting threshold: real demand, too small to report.
DataForSEO Google Ads, US/en, Oct 2026 (primary keyword below reporting threshold; related 'astrology app' 12,100/mo)
Learning: answer with guides
Learning: answer with guides
Comparing: show why you
Learning: answer with guides
Comparing: show why you
06 · AVOID
Apple says fortune-telling apps are an established category and new ones are accepted only if they're meaningfully different or better. Generic sun-sign text also gives nobody a reason to share. Pick a voice, a practice or an expert and commit to it.
If the result screen is cluttered, has a paywall over it or looks like any other app, it won't travel. Design the share image as carefully as the app icon.
Beginners want sun signs; enthusiasts care about house systems, sidereal versus tropical, aspects and orbs. Say who you're for and get the details right, because this audience notices mistakes.
Marketing that claims the app predicts love, money or health outcomes erodes trust and invites ad-platform trouble. Talk about reflection, self-knowledge and fun, which is what users actually value.
The daily push is the product for many users. Generic 'your horoscope is ready' messages get turned off. Write them with the same care as the readings.
07 · WHAT OUTPOST DOES
Writes articles for real sky events (eclipses, retrogrades, new and full moons, sign seasons), and you set their dates on the Calendar so they're live on time
Writes and publishes an evergreen library of planet, sign and tarot-card pages on your site that links back into the app, built to rank over months
Rewrites your App Store and Google Play listings to make your difference obvious, which matters in a category Apple treats as saturated, for you to paste in
Finds YouTube astrologers, tarot readers and creators whose audience fits your voice and logs each outreach you send with a receipt
Tracks AI-search visibility for prompts like 'best tarot app' or 'Co-Star alternative' and reports what changed
Prepares Product Hunt, AlternativeTo and Android store listings for you to submit, with every submission recorded
Every action Outpost takes gets a receipt: the live URL, a timestamp and what it drove, or “nothing yet”.See how receipts work
08 · QUESTIONS
It can, if it's clearly different. Apple's review guidelines name fortune telling among the established categories where new submissions are accepted only if they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience. A distinct practice (Vedic, tarot, synastry), a credited expert or a genuinely new format helps your case.
Short-form social is where most astrology content is shared, so it matters a lot. But social only works when the app gives people something to post. Fix the share image and the friend invite first, then post.
Public reporting credits its daily push notifications, which stood out for their unusual tone, and it uses NASA JPL data to personalize transits. The lesson isn't to copy the voice but to have one that's recognizably yours.
Yes, over time. Searches for placements and card meanings are constant, and a deep library builds traffic over months. Write each page properly rather than producing thin pages in bulk, which search engines treat as low quality.
Sky events and calendar moments. For 2027, the 6 February annular eclipse and 2 August total eclipse are clear anchors, along with retrogrades, sign seasons, New Year forecasts and Valentine's compatibility.
Expect months, not weeks. Social and friend invites bring the early installs; the chart and card library starts to pay back after a few months and keeps growing.
No. Every plan works at $0 extra spend. Outpost does the content, listings, outreach and tracking, and you can add paid ads later if the numbers justify it.
10 · EVIDENCE
Every fact on this page comes from one of these sources.
Guideline 4.3(b): fortune telling is among well-established categories where Apple will not accept new submissions unless they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience
Co-Star's daily notifications stood out for their unconventional tone, and it uses NASA JPL data to personalize transits
Upcoming solar eclipses: annular on 6 February 2027 and total on 2 August 2027
App Store name and subtitle limits (30 characters) and the 100-character keyword field
New personal developer accounts need a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 consecutive days
Last reviewed . Search volume: DataForSEO Google Ads, US/en, Oct 2026 (primary keyword below reporting threshold; related 'astrology app' 12,100/mo).
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