ASO Weekly - App Store News

April 23rd, 2022

by Anh Nguyen

COO & Co-Founder at Gummicube, Inc

Gummicube Attending App Growth Masterminds 2022

On April 27th, Gummicube will be attending the App Growth Masterminds event in San Francisco, California. This invite-only event introduces a one-of-a-kind, fully-immersive conference with some of the top app experts in the industry. 50 Bay-Area experts will gather to exchange ideas, network, and learn about the latest developments in mobile.

The global popularity of apps shows no signs of slowing, and the app store marketplace is becoming an increasingly competitive across all categories. App Store Optimization is the key to mobile marketing success, and we hope to share some of our industry-leading insights and expertise next week.

Google Releases Its New Policy Changes…Here’s What You Need To Know

Google announced that it will be blocking all third-party calling apps from its Play Store starting May 11th. This move comes after sweeping changes made to Google’s Developer Program Policy.

Earlier this month, Google announced that Android app developers will no longer be able to use the Accessibility API. All third-party call recording apps rely on this API to carry out its call-recording feature.

Google explicitly cites that apps using the Accessibility API are not using it for its explicit purpose. The major issue surrounding third-party call recording apps is the lack of consent and transparency given to the user being recorded. This lack of transparency interferes with 11 states’ call recording laws like California, Delaware, Florida, and Washington.

This isn’t the only change taking place on the Google Play Store. There are additional policy changes that may affect apps from a broad range of categories. For example, Personal Loan apps can’t provide high APR personal loans above 36%. Additionally, apps using User Generated Content (USC) must add additional safeguards for user protection and put in place stricter processes for content moderation.

You can read read the full list of Google’s Privacy Changes here.

While these changes are rolling out incrementally throughout the year, developers need to be mindful of the Policy changes that may influence their app store performance and adjust accordingly.

App store updates are unavoidable, so developers must be able to adapt to the changes they bring when they arise. ASO is a highly iterative process that enables developers to do just that.

Move aside Twitter, Mastodon is the New Social App on the Block

Whether you’re tired of all the noise or not, we’ve been seeing a lot of Twitter and Elon Musk headlines in the news lately. However, lurking behind the scenes is an app that has quietly made its debut on the Google Play Store that many speculators say rivals the long-standing Twitter social media platform.

The Mastodon app classifies itself as a, “open-source decentralized social network - by the people for the people”, urging users to “take back control of [their] social media”. The app has been available on the Apple’s App Store since July 2021, but it just recently made its debut on the Play Store on April 19th.

The app has a similar design to Twitters UI; however, there are no algorithms or central databases dictating what users see on their feed. Users can also like, share, and reply to other users on the app without any data logging – a game changer in the face of increasingly security-conscious users.

Regardless of their initial spike in popularity, Mastodon will need a robust strategy that supports its continued growth. Implementing a growth strategy for the Google Play Store requires developers to understand how growth can be achieved on the specific platform they enter.

Google Play’s indexation algorithms work differently than iOS. Keyword optimization and conversion optimization processes and strategies also vary. For both platforms, it’s important to use the right ASO technology to ensure both strategies are data-backed and can be monitored for performance.

Overall

What can we learn from this week’s news? In a tale as old as time, developers must continue to adapt to the changing app store environment. Policy changes often come in at full force without warning; making it difficult to for developers to adjust and assess the risks and complications involved in their future app store operations.

The future seems bright for the Mastodon app. With the help of an ASO company with over 12 years of optimization experience, Mastodon can further support its growth on the app store through ASO.

Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.

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