The App Store is somewhat shrouded in mystery, thanks a secret recipe that Apple uses to determine what apps shoot up the charts. Downloads play a big, influential role, but they arenât the only factor. That being said, Readdle, [1] developer of Calendars 5, Scanner Pro and many other apps, shared some data with us today that could help other devs get an indication of what download numbers might lead to top ranking.
Readdleâs Denys Zhadanov says that the company has found it takes between 3,500 and 3,800 downloads per day of a 4.5 star ranked app to break into the Top 10 U.S. Paid iPhone app list on Appleâs mobile software marketplace. Thatâs based on their experience with Scanner Pro, a universal app which recently cracked the top 10, and Calendars 5, their revamped calendar application recently released for iPhone.
This echoes a study released by app research firm Distimo back in June , which found that a paid app needs over 4,000 downloads per day to reach the top 10 spot for Appleâs paid iPhone list. Apple has been known to change its App Store ranking algorithms, so that could be whatâs behind the small discrepancy between Readdleâs experience and Distimoâs findings, but itâs also well worth noting that Zhadanov believes things like ratings and feedback might also affect the threshold at which an app breaks into the top 10.
Based on what theyâve seen with their apps, Readdle can make some educated guesses about what factors affect App Store ranking: In addition to ratings, they say thereâs an âinertiaâ factor at play, which means that some stickiness applies to rankings, so that a dramatic increase or decrease in app downloads for one particular day wonât necessarily move you up or down in the rankings once youâre in the top 10. There also seems to be a bonus for brand new apps, which is eventually counteracted by the so-called âinertiaâ effect.
âThatâs why itâs important to reach the highest rank possible during the first few days,â Zhadanov says. âBecause itâll be harder [to climb] later.â
Some other observations from Readdle suggest that reaching higher spots in the chart requires two times or more the number of downloads it takes to break into the top 10. Around 7,000 downloads per day should result in a #4 spot for an iPhone app, or a #2 spot for an iPad app, based on their experience with a Universal (works on both) software release.
iOS 7 is generating a lot of renewed interest in apps and the App Store from consumers and developers, so itâs interesting to see with this snapshot that the download threshold seems not to have gone up considerably from back in June. It is perhaps a sign that Appleâs ranking algorithm has been tweaked to consider other factors more strongly in its ranking recipe mix.
A tech start-up based in Ukraine. Creators of the most popular iOS productivity apps such as ReaddleDocs, Scanner Pro and PDF Expert for iPad. It aims to provide iPad/iPhone and iPod Touch users with high quality applications that are missing in a standard application set.
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