App Discovery

What Are The Top Sources to Find Apps?

Before searching the preferred sources of users to find apps, let’s have a look on the current scenario of the app store, i.e. number of apps available and downloaded by the users:

GROWTH STORY

App stores are bubbling with the number of apps. And it’s not just about the number of apps available in the app store; users are equally interested in exploring and buying the apps from the app stores.

The recent App Interrogator research note from Research firm Canalys states, “The app industry for mobile devices is now a maturing market, and shows healthy growth for the download and purchase of apps on mobile devices.”

App market has grown exponentially over the years. For instance, the number of apps available on the app store as well as the number of downloads by users is increasing every year, see figure 1.

As per the reports of Statista, a statistics company, “As of early 2013, 40 billion apps were downloaded from the App Store, games being the top category.”

Games apps were at the top place with 16.77% share whereas, education apps were the second-most popular category, with a share of 10.55 percent of all apps being learning apps. Figure 2 shows the most popular categories of apps that generate the maximum number of downloads.

What are the primary sources for searching the apps in various categories?

From general browsing on app store to reading blogs and ads in TV, Radio and Newspapers, users rely on number of sources to download apps on their devices

In figure 3, a number of sources are listed from where the users learn about the apps and how much preferences they give to a particular source. A huge number (63%) of the iOS users rely on general browsing on the app store, whereas for Android Apps, 58 % used the same channel to learn more about the apps. The percentage of users searching for an app on the search engine (Google) is very less i.e. 14% and 16 % for iOS and Android respectively.

50% of the iOS users get to know about an app from their family members or friends.

In 2011, Nielsen conducted a survey on, “Where do downloaders say they learn about apps?” The graph here shows the difference between the users’ sources to find apps then and now.

As per the survey reports, 63% of iOS and Android users rely on searching the app store, whereas, now the number of Android users using the play store search has reduced to 58%.  iOS and Android users seeking recommendations from friends and family members have also reduced to 50% and 41% as compared to 53% and 61% in 2011 respectively.

Users for both the smartphones platforms rely more on browsing the “top-rated” or “most popular” categories on the app store, which was not available in 2011 (Check figure 4).

Focus areas of developers

A huge number of apps are being launched on the app stores every day. At an average rate of 13,000 new apps are being approved every month since the launch of app store. How developers and marketers get their apps to rise above their competitors? How to target the right set of users? These are two focus areas of developers who want their apps on the top of the app store.


There are several sources that lead users to the app stores. One of the most important is getting listed in the Top 25 or the most popular categories in the app stores. It is clear from the figure 1 that Top 25 lists in the stores play a major role in most users' purchase decisions.

How to target the top 25 charts? Or How to get your app high exposure in the app store?

We have written two separate posts on the techniques on how reach the top of the app store and stay there? Click on the links to know more about the techniques to market your app on the app stores.

For more information on app development and marketing strategy send in your email to marketing@ymedialabs.com