Last fall, Apple rolled out a totally new, totally redesigned App Store. Although it would require an adjustment to get used to the new hub for all things Apple apps, one of the goals behind the redesign was to make sure new apps had a better chance at being discovered by a wider audience. A report from Sensor Tower is evidence that this progress is working.
When Apple launched iOS 11, the focus was on editorial content and allowing more apps to be discovered (instead of just found through search). Since launch, the proportion of downloads that happen from browsing rose to more than 15 percent (about 5 percent more than the previous rate), and even still the numbers remain higher than they were before the iOS update.
Features like “Game of the Day” have proven to increase downloads by more than 8 times their average, another feature included in this new, editorial-focused setup that highlights apps (there are more than 2 million in the marketplace, so it’s easy for things to get crowded). These highlights encourage people to download apps they might have previously skipped over.
The largest amount of downloads still happen based off of specific searches, but installations from other sources and browsing the app store are important steps toward getting your apps out there and reaching a larger audience.
