ASO Monthly #31 November 2018: App Store Connect API, Play Store Reviews Section Redesign & More
In the ASO Monthly-series by ASO Consultancy Phiture, we reflect on the previous month and shed a light on trends in app store optimization, algorithm changes, insights in conversion rate optimization and tool updates.
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This update was prepared by Binh Dang, an ASO consultant at Phiture. He helps companies with optimizing their apps for both the App Store and Play Store through ASO experimentation & keyword optimization processes.
November 1st — The ASOStack.com Slack community celebrates its 1000th member
The ASO Stack Slack group has now grown to 1000 members — and still counting!
As the name suggests, this Slack group is mostly dedicated to ASO discussion, which helps to keep the community’s purpose clear, focused, and of high-value for all members.
If you’re an ASO practitioner wanting to join, please send an email with a one-liner about why you would like to join the community to asostack@phiture.com and receive an invite.
November 2nd — Apple releases App Store Connect API
First reported by Ilia Kukharev on the ASO Stack Slack group, App Store Connect API is now available to its users. The availability of this API is expected to help app developers, publishers and third parties automate their workflows on the platform, thus increasing overall efficiency.
However, the usefulness of this API for ASO (documentation) is still debatable, as the only areas users can use to automate their workflows are TestFlight, user and access management, and reporting of sales and financial trends.
November 5th — Newsstand section is removed from Play Store
Android Police reports that the Newsstand section has been removed from the Google Play Store. Its removal was foreseen in May when Google integrated this section into the News app.
This means news apps are now only visible and installable on the Play Store via the News & Magazines category.
November 5th — Google releases new code shrinker to improve APK size reduction efficiency
According to Android Developers Blog, the next generation of code shrinker, R8, is now available for preview in Android 3.3 beta.
Faster code shrinking speed and more significant reductions in APK size are among the major advantages that R8 has over Proguard, the current generation of code shrinker. This proves to be of great help for app growth as “smaller APK sizes correlate with higher install conversion rates”.
November 7th — Google is testing in-app update API with early access partners
It is reported that Google is letting certain developers push in-app updates with a new API. With this feature, users can update their apps while using them. For devices with automatic update options off, this can save considerable time compared to visiting the Play Store .
In-app updates can be done in two ways: A full-screen immediate update flow that requires users to wait for it to complete, and a flexible update flow that lets users continue using the app throughout the duration.
The in-app update API is currently being tested with a number of early access partners, and will hopefully be rolled out on scale soon.
While direct impacts on ASO may seem insignificant, the fact that less users will visit the Play Store for app updates could passively affect apps’ growth via ASO efforts. Also, publishers who use a lot of pre-installs can use the in-app update API to force these pre-installs (counted only after an update) to be counted towards their play store installs.
November 12th — Apple reportedly launches bid strength and suggested bid range features on Search Ads
Apple launched a new feature that reveals the bid strength and suggested bid range for certain Ad Group Keywords in your Search Ads campaigns.
Not all keywords show yet these new metrics, likely due to insufficient data collected by Apple, but they already help Search Ads campaigns runners in making better-informed decisions. Further information about the new metrics is available on the Apple Search Ads Advanced site.
November 14th — Google Play console adds 30 days rolling average to reports
Google Play console reports can now be filtered by 30 days rolling average for most metrics viewed in Statistics section. Possibly this was a highly requested feature via Google’s Play Console feedback/survey form.
November 20th — Google Play is testing a new feature that reminds users to install or reinstall previously used apps
Android Police reports a new test on Google Play around a new feature in the Updates tab in “My apps & Games” that offers users to install apps they have used before.
There are two ways this feature can be used:
- Reinstalling apps previously uninstalled on the same device, or
- Installing apps that are also installed on other devices with the same user IDs
While this feature may be less helpful in measuring some ASO metrics like First Time Installers, other metrics such as Install Events could be affected.
November 26th — Yet another new design is being tested on Google Play, this time for ratings & reviews
According to Android Police, Google seems to be testing a new design for the ratings and reviews section on the Play Store. This allows user reviews to be filtered by the rating star accompanying it.
From only 3 simple filters by “Most helpful first”, “Newest first”, and “Highest rating first”, the new design now shows which reviews users write about an app when they give it a specific star rating. However, this still seems to be a test as not all devices can show the new design.
On a related note, the overall functionality of Google Play’s ratings & reviews section appears to be unstable. Olivier Bernal and Ilia Kukharev, ASO Stack Slack group members, report on November 27th that it is not possible to rate certain apps on the store, despite having them installed and not previously rated.
November 29th — iOS 12 adoption rate reaches 75%.
Apple Insider just published data from Mixpanel, showing that the adoption rate of iOS 12 on all active devices arrived at 75% on November 26th, 2 months and 10 days after its release. This is much faster than the iOS 11 adoption rate in 2017, which did not reach the 75% mark after 3 months.
This adoption rate, which also seems to continue to rise, means the majority of active devices are now showing the iOS 12 App Store, with several changes in user experience from its iOS 11 counterpart.
Notable past & upcoming events
- November 26th — Apple launches an app development program called Apple Entrepreneur Camp.
- December 6th — App Promotion Summit takes place in Berlin, where Phiture’s experts Aude Boscher and Stuart Miller will be hosting the Conversion Optimization Loop workshop.
Tool Updates
- AppTweak — App stores algorithm change detector.
- AppTweak — Language filter and exports for Google Play Install Keywords.
- AppTweak — Keyword ranking movements detector.
- Mobile Action — New UI designs and keyword explorer feature.
- AppFollow — Latest 4.1 update.
- App Annie — App Annie Labs
Interesting posts
- Managing A/B testing more effectively with 3 key considerations.
- How the App Store is being exploited by developers.
- How to design and run better screenshot experiments.
- Category rankings and volatility.
- Mobile gaming trends to look out for in 2019.
- App Retention Benchmarks for 2018.
Thanks, that’s it from us for November!
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