ASO Weekly - App Store News

April 30th, 2022

by David Quinn

VP of Strategy & Partnerships at Gummicube, Inc.

Is Your App Safe from the App Store Purges?

If your current App Store Optimization strategy doesn’t account for regular app updates, the latest sweep of app store regulations may have some dire effects.

In the past week, Apple announced that it will be purging even more outdated apps from its App Store. This announcement follows Google’s recent announcement that it has started to crack down on outdated apps by blocking them from being downloaded.

Many app developers took to social media to find an explanation for this sudden and unexpected change.

Several developers received notices from Apple stating that their apps will be removed if their app doesn’t support at least iOS 14 or higher. Google Play made a similar announcement just last week regarding outdated apps. Evidently, the app stores are shifting their focus on bringing a better experience to their users.

Both app stores are making it clear to developers that the new frontier of app stores will be based on freshness and relevancy.

In an attempt to improve the user experience on the app stores, Apple and Google are shifting their focus to provide a more rewarding and clean experience to its users based on quality.

ASO builds on optimization from all angles and proving relevancy to the app stores is part of that process. It’s important not to fall behind on regular updates to maintain relevancy not only to the app store algorithms and reviewers but users as well.

Twitter V. Indie Social Media Apps – The Battle for Rankings Begins

“Let’s make Twitter maximum fun”, tweets Elon Musk following his official purchase of social media platform, Twitter after months of acquisition speculation and hearsay.

Record number Twitter app downloads boosted its popularity across both app store platforms. But not so fast Elon, the Twitter alternatives also rose in rankings following the announcement.

Among the apps making the top charts are Mastodon, Signal, Telegram, and most notably Truth Social. Truth Social climbed to the #1 rank in the App Store’s “free to download” charts following Musk’s official announcement.

The timing of its sudden rise to popularity can’t be attributed to any single event. Around the same time Elon Musk announced his Twitter acquisition, Truth Social lifted its app waitlist and informed users that the significant bugs and glitches the app had at the start of their launch are now gone. Thus, a flock of new users flooded the app to see what the Truth Social app is all about.

Meanwhile, Elon’s series of tweets and previous public appearances may have dismayed many people from endorsing the new face of Twitter and are now looking for newer alternatives.

While the cause of Truth Social’s surge can’t be attributed to any single factor, the developments surrounding this acquisition is causing interesting trends in user behavior.

Competition is stiff across all app store categories. However, when a user makes the switch from one app to another, it can be difficult to reacquire them. The user decision-making process can be difficult to pinpoint, especially on the app stores. Luckily, ASO technology helps us better understand many of the factors that may influence user behaviors trends and shifts.

Word-of-mouth, earned media and external marketing influences inundate user decision processes – making it difficult to gauge why users are switching. With the help of an ASO company with over 12 years of mobile marketing experience, you can better understand the external and internal factors that may be influencing your app performance.

Overall

Twitter, Truth Social, and overhauls – the app stores never stand still. This week has been all about the user. From user behaviors and user experience, the new focus for all developers is clear: optimizing with relevance at the forefront is key to capturing users and remaining active on the app stores.

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