ASO News August 2019
We decided to try a new ASO news format for us. Every month we will publish the most interesting news from the ASO world which collected Altai Zeynalov, creator of the ASO Secrets Channel on YouTube.
Here we collected the latest news from app stores that may affect the App Store Optimization strategy. If you missed something from the updates of Google Play or the App Store, you could always read in our monthly news digest.
Google Play News
Google Play added Tags
In Google Play Console you can add tags to the application, up to five. You need to go to the section “Store presence” -> “Store listing” -> at the very top “Add tags to describe your app”.
Why do you need tags?
Tags help show the application in the correct sections of Google Play and select groups of analogues for comparison. While the tag system is in AB testing mode.
Bots on Google Play
There are bots on Google Play that test applications. After the release of approximately 500 bots from Beverly Hills, they try to go through the first launch of the app; they enter something into different fields there. The activity of bots was noted earlier, but it was the first time we noticed that they showed some meaningful behavior.
Google Play started showing new app ratings
Google Play changed the way a rating is calculated to place greater significance on most recent ratings. You can find more information, using the link.
The Google Play Store is getting a new look
The visual redesign will include a sleek UI and updated details page layout to improve app discovery and accessibility for users. More details in Google Play blog.
New Google Play Console data
A major update that enables you to measure and analyze better and your core statistics — the most fundamental install and uninstall metrics by user and device. The Statistics page on the Play Console shows change over time, enables more granular configurations, and, coming soon, exclusive benchmarks for core stats. More details you can find using the link.
Google Play in Japan
To comply with Japanese law, developers distributing apps on Google Play may need to provide additional information through the Play Console.
If you or your business distributes paid apps or offers in-app purchases to consumers in Japan, you need to display certain information to consumers as required by the Tokuteishotorihiki-ho (Specified Commercial Transactions Act). Here is the information you need to add to your Account Details page: name, address, and telephone number of the business operator.
Note: You can either add this information on your app’s store listing page or, alternatively, add the address of the website containing the required information.
More specific details you can find using the link.
New Tools in Google Analytics
Google introduces a new property type, App + Web, that allows you to combine app and web data for unified reporting and analysis.
Reports for this new property use a single set of consistent metrics and dimensions, making it possible to see integrated reporting across app and web like never before. Now you can answer questions like: Which marketing channel is responsible for acquiring the most new users across your different platforms? How many total unique users do you have, regardless of which platform they use? How many conversions have occurred on your app and website in the last week — and which platform is driving most of these conversions?
More details on Google Play blog here.
The App Store News
Apple updated usage statistics for different versions of iOS on iPhone and iPad
The company says that 88% of all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models are now running iOS 12. That proportion rises to 90% if counting only devices released in the last four years. These are likely the final figures for iOS 12 as Apple readies iOS 13 for release next month.
Stories in the web version of the App Store
“Apple has recently updated its App Store Preview pages for stories to allow users to view the full content of stories from inside their desktop web browser. App Store stories have always been shareable as links, but the web version was just a title and a navigation link to ‘open this story in the App Store’”. You can read more here https://9to5mac.com/2019/08/15/app-store-today-web-browser/
Now it is possible automatically create screenshots for the App Store
With Xcode 11 how to generate screenshots in multiple languages for localization and testing. Full information you can find in video https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/403/
