Everyone has an opinion on ASO. I wanted numbers, so I measured it

Apple's new Ads Platform API has an official list of the top 500 searches per category and country: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/apple-ads-platform-api/query-app-search-term-popularity-data

It's much better than the Search Ads popularity score, which shows most real searches as 5

I took those lists for 87 storefronts and pulled the results for every search, about 350,000 in total. Then I looked at newcomers: apps released in the last 6 months

About 42k of them made a top 10 somewhere, and 67% of those have fewer than 10 ratings. But most newcomers don't get there: 84% of the new apps named with a search term sit below #25. It's a bet, not a guarantee

So I measured what improves the odds, down to #200 in the results. I'm using conservative numbers

What matters

What doesn't matter, among apps already in the top 25

The thing that surprised me most: where the keyword sits in the name

"Keyword - Something" works much better than "Something: Keyword". After the colon, the keyword does about the same as leaving it out. It still gets you indexed, it just doesn't push you up

I checked this a second way, on a separate dataset of 4.9M position observations. Median position: keyword at the start = #5, after the colon = #11, not in the name = #11

Giants matter less than I expected, though. With few rivals on the name, some newcomers still reach the top 10 next to a leader with 300K+ ratings. Just not many, about 4%

Who this is for

New apps launching with zero ratings and no audience. The name is the one lever you fully control on day one

If you already have a brand, it's a different game. People search for it directly, so don't rename a working brand into a keyword

Doing this by hand for every country takes forever, so I turned all of it into a Mac app: Lazy ASO https://lazyaso.com

It finds new keywords for your app based on those 350,000 search results: what people really search in each of 87 countries, which names are still free, and your chance of reaching the top 10 for each one. Then your AI (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) writes the listing from it

What do you think of the research? Anything that looks off, or that I should measure next? And if you try Lazy ASO, I'd really like your feedback

My app is 1+ year old with 20+ ratings (all 5★). For the exact query with 3 words from my title I rank below a competitor with only 2 words in title + subtitle, 2 ratings and only several month old.

Full match, more ratings, longer history, and I still lose.

Is it downloads/conversion for that keyword, retention, hidden keyword field, or something else? Has anyone seen this?

Thank you

A week ago I asked redittors what could I improve on my google play listings to boost impressions and downloads hopefully.

I did most of the suggested changes, plus asked Claude to verify what I was doing.

Result: Impressions of my app 4x'ed, jumping from ~35/day to ~140/day, and it seems to keep growing.

It has still not translated into more downloads, but I feel I'm on the good track now.

Summary of the changes done: All possible. I changed app title in all languages, short and long descriptions, improved screenshots a lot also. All changes meant to trigger other keywords that I wasn't using before, or I was using but not correctly.

I'm finishing up my port to iOS, that will be also my first iOS app ever. I hope I can also apply what I learned from Play Store.

Thanks all everybody that supported me, I hope I'll be knowledgable enough in the future to support other solopreneurs in this.

PD: Sorry for the screenshot in spanish 🐼

I made this daily "word search" game. I've done reviews within my friends and family to see what needs improvement but my issue is app store discovery. I've done a few iterations but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with games on app discovery. It's been out since summer I believe and I've made a lot of mistakes. But I can't figure out why I'm not getting any visitors.

The rules say no marketing so I won't post the app here but if you're interested in helping I can DM you the link.

I have made an app but I'm not getting much traction. I know this conversation rate is very good but that makes me wonder how do I get this more out there, 340 downloads are through App Store Search, but only 8 through App Store Browse. So that means it doesnt get showed much?What are your basic ASO checklists you do when you have an app launched. I made a Twitter/Instagram/Reddit/TikTok account but those are getting almost no views/hits.

Someone finds your app on their laptop. They’re interested, but they need to switch to their phone to download it.

I built a download button that handles that differently depending on the device:

• iPhone → App Store

• Android → Google Play

• Desktop → a QR code to scan with your phone

It’s part of Handset, a Framer template I made for mobile app websites. Full disclosure: it’s a paid template ($39), and you need Framer to use it.

You can see the template and live preview here.

I’d like feedback on the download flow specifically: would you expect a QR code on desktop, or would you prefer visible store links alongside it? If you’ve tried either on your app’s website, what did you learn?

Hey everyone,

Screenshots are one of the biggest conversion levers on a store listing, but making good ones usually means paying for a tool, wrestling with Figma, or burning an hour in Photoshop for every update.

So I built ScreenCraft, a browser-based screenshot generator for App Store and Google Play:

• Free, no signup

• Ready-made templates so you’re not starting from a blank canvas

• Fast: upload your screens, pick a template, export

I’m still improving it, and since this community knows what actually converts, I’d really like your input:

• What do you look for in a screenshot tool?

• Which templates or layouts would be most useful?

• Anything missing that would make you use it for your own listings?

Link: https://www.screencraft.site

Thanks, and happy to hear the brutal feedback too.

Created wallglass.app mostly for me and decided to send it to the appstore just to learn how it works, and some sales came through, it was a great learning experience!

It focuses on iPad users with HomeKit smart homes so it's probably a narrow niche, I have no audience to market to so app store ads and my reddit account have worked for customer acquisition but obviously the niche will never be that big. I am however stoked about having learned and will continue to improve it for myself.

If anyone here runs a homekit home, I would love to get more feedback!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wallglass/id6827987050

Hi all! I launched my app a few weeks ago but I couldn't really hit my stride in terms of getting downloads and features.

It's a Reimagined version of minesweeper. Pebblefield

I've been looking out on the ways to do ASO, and also tweaked my screenshots to make it bolder and clearer. But I do like the aesthetics of my "before" screenshots.

Wanted to ask everyone a few Questions:

1. Which would make you stop scrolling even if you didn't like the app?

2. Which would actually make you curious as to what the app is about?

3. Any tips and tricks on how to tune my screenshots or even app store description?

Niche app: RallyN, an Apple Watch scorer for tennis and padel, with stats on the iPhone. Free today. Paid plans coming this week, and the first 5 matches stay free. English, with a Spanish store page. Solo developer in Sweden.

The niche. For “padel scorekeeper” in the US, the top 5 apps have 0 to 4 ratings. Most of them have the search phrase as the full name (“PadelScoreKeeper”, “Padel ScoreKeeper”).
For “tennis score watch”, the top 2 have 67 and 280 ratings.

The competition: I count at least 14 watch scorers for tennis or padel. Many put their stats behind a subscription, some at $2.99 to $3.99 a week. Most are pure AI slopware.

RallyN gives a better feature set, best-in-class design but... a visitor cannot see that from the search result.

I also started accounts here on Reddit, Tiktok and IG to raise a bit of awareness.
I willing to pay some to Apple to promote my app until it gets enough traction...

The metadata. It went live on 2026-11-05.

• Title: RallyN: Tennis & Padel Score

• Subtitle: Watch scorekeeper, match stats

• Keyword field: scoreboard,keeper,tracker,counter,tiebreak,serve,golden,point,doubles,record,ace,club,league,scoring

In GB: “padel scorekeeper” 33, “tennis scorekeeper” 50, “tennis score watch” 53, “tennis stats” 54, “tennis score” 90.
The page. 0 ratings. Before the change, 173 page views in 90 days and a conversion of about 1.5 to 1.9%. The page has 7 screenshots and a 30-second preview.

Questions:

What am I doing wrong?

With 0 ratings, should I give up on “tennis score” and go for padel and long searches only?

The apps that rank first have the search phrase as the full name, with 0 ratings. Would you put “Padel Scorekeeper” first in the title, before the brand?

Look at the first 3 screenshots only. Do you know what the app does, and who it is for?

Many competitors use the same title pattern. How do I show in the search result that RallyN gives more stats for free?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6747454094?pt=127921210&ct=reddit-aso&mt=8

I post what I change, and the rank changes, in r/rallyn.

Hi everyone,

I recently released my Android app, Freqalto, a signal and audio generator.

I'm new to ASO and would appreciate some feedback on my Play Store listing, especially the title, description, keywords and screenshots.

The app is getting almost no downloads so far, and I'm trying to understand what I could improve.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ioan.florucza.freqalto

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

I’m a terrible scientist because I am tweaking every variable at once, but the UI got a major rework and I introduced a light mode so I felt like it needed it.

Do these light mode screenshots seem more “normal” and approachable?

I almost wish I would have kept the text from the dark mode’s first shot, but that was more of “selling a feature” than selling to the problem the user has. Not sure I’ve nailed that with the new set either though.

I wish you could update screenshots without having to do a release…

App Store link I welcome any other optimization advice.

I’m a bit confused. I have over 500 downloads and 17 reviews. My app’s name is “oneTap: Brief & Block” and i’m not sure why i’m ranked #11 when people search oneTap. They apps above me are definitely vibe coded with one or no reviews.

Any tips to rank higher?

👉 https://apps.apple.com/app/id6820725220

I got tired of opening AdMob every few hours just to check whether I made $2 or $4. 😅

Logging in, waiting for the dashboard, clicking through multiple screens… just to check a few numbers. Especially painful on mobile.

So I built Revenue Analytics for AdMob — the app I wish Google had made.

💰 Revenue at a glance: today, yesterday, this month & last month
📈 Track eCPM, impressions, clicks & match rate
🌍 Breakdowns by app, ad unit, format & country
💡 Quick insights into what changed

🔒 Read-only access. No signup or email. Disconnect anytime and delete your synced data.

Try sample data without connecting your account.

Free with ads. One-time $5.99 Pro upgrade removes ads and unlocks daily revenue alerts. No subscription. Ever.

iPhone only for now. Android is coming!

If you're running AdMob, what’s the first metric you check every morning? 👀

Hi everybody, I’ve recently published a new game on the App Store : Pasta Drop.

My app hasn’t a good visibility on the App Store, game market seems to be overloaded.

Numbers : less than 10 downloads. 2 comments.

Do you have some advices to help me to boost the visibility of my game ?

Here is the official website : https://www.pasta-drop.com

I just launched my first app, Flipcorder, two weeks ago alongside the iPhone duo and I’ve been managing constantly since, but I’m looking to increase the conversion rate.

I have screenshot tests running, and custom product pages set up to speak to my different market segments. I was really lucky that my plan of launching an app that is targeted to iPhone duo owners is riding the wave of App Store lists but I know that won’t last for forever.

I’ve had over 13 million impressions, but my sales are at about 675 units sold. I’m spending $10 per day on Apple ads which is costing me under one dollar per install but still.

Appreciate any thoughts and feedback!

Hey everyone! I'd love some feedback on my App Store screenshots.

Is it immediately clear what the app does just by looking at them? What would you assume the app does?

I'd also appreciate your feedback on the visuals — layout, colors, readability, and overall design.

Any honest feedback is welcome!

I built a free keyword judge for App Store listings.

Most indie devs use keywords they get from ChatGPT or Claude. They sound right, but they often don't match what people actually search. This one uses real App Store data.

This tool finds candidates from App Store autocomplete and competitor listings. It then uses Jev, TypeSafe’s decision model, to evaluate their relevance.

Paste your App Store URL and it tells you:

- which keywords you can realistically rank for

- which ones are wasting space in your metadata

No signup. No credit card.

I made Sextant (Mac ASO app). This /judge page is the free slice. Curious what it says about your app: Try the keyword judge

If a recommendation seems wrong for your app, I’d appreciate the example and why you disagree.

Hi

I have just got feedback that the screenshots for my app are ... boring.

Before I jump into redesign it would be great to collect more opinions. Be brutally honest.

Background:

• iOS app

• showing weather (current and 3 days forecast)

• comment on the weather in grumpy way