Google Play Store ASO with App Update Frequency Statistics 2023
- Last update: 18 Jun 2023 CET
The frequency with which mobile app developers update their apps on the Google Play Store is a unique lense through which to observe the Android app market. While data on app update frequency offers broad visibility into the global app market, it can also be used to examine the activity, and therefore market vibrancy, of any genre, subgenre, region, or country. As such, iOS app update frequency can be leveraged by app developers to improve the app store optimization (ASO) of their own apps and games, by ad networks to bolster lead generation, and by app market researchers to study existing and emergent trends within the app stores.
In this article, we breakdown the behavior of Android app developers by looking at app update stats pulled from the Google Play Store. We monitor how many apps are updated per week, month, and year, and track the most popular days of the week to release updates.
Finally, we discuss how app developers and ad networks alike can leverage Android app update stats to improve Apple App Store ASO practices, bolster operational efficiencies, and boost profitability.
42matters tracks everything from app meta data, to rankings, to download estimates, to changes in meta information, to SDK usage, to App-ads.txt and more. If you would like to leverage our data into your own product, research or app industry analysis, it can be obtained via our API or File Dumps or our interactive App Market Explorer.
The frequency with which mobile app developers update their apps on the Google Play Store is a unique lens through which to observe the Android app market. While data on app update frequency offers broad visibility into the global app market, it can also be used to examine the activity, and therefore market vibrancy, of any genre, sub-genre, region, or country. As such, Android app update frequency can be leveraged by app developers to improve the app store optimization (ASO) of their own apps and games, by ad networks to bolster lead generation, and by app market researchers to study existing and emergent trends within the app stores.
Every week 272 of top 1000 mobile apps are updated on Google Play Store. That means 27% of the top 1000 apps are updated minimum once per week.
Every month 635 of the top 1000 Android apps are updated on Google Play Store. 63% of the top 1000 apps are updated at minimum once per month.
The following shows the number of updates per month of the top 1000 apps.
Every year 920 of top 1000 Android apps are updated on Google Play Store. That means 92% of the top 1000 Android apps get updated at least once per year.
App update frequency varies by day of the week, with being the most popular day to release updates on Google Play Store and being the least popular. Here's a breakdown of the average number of updates released by day of the week for the top 1,000 Android apps.
To help businesses harness the full potential of mobile app update frequency data and to facilitate Google Play Store ASO we here at 42matters offer two useful products.
The first is the 42matters App Market Explorer (AME). The ultimate app market research tool, it enables users to visually survey every app, game, and publisher available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store.
The AME provides in-depth, near real-time insights into everything from the software development kits (SDK) apps have deployed to the metadata they’ve stored. Moreover, the AME tracks every changelog for every app, facilitating a comprehensive view of developer activity.
For those of you not after all the bells and whistles of the AME, but who still want to improve your Google Play Store ASO practices, don’t worry! The second product we offer is a suite of app data file dumps with raw app data that you can use however you want.
For more information about our data contact our team.
App update frequency data enables developers to know their competition. As the Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu famously wrote in The Art of War: if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you’ll forgive us this platitude, you’ll realize it’s no less applicable to the mobile app industry today as it was to warfare in the sixth century BC.
Consider the meteoric rise of the mobile app industry. App publishers are under immense pressure to release apps that not only capture enough interest to generate downloads but also high, sustainable daily active usage. This means they’re incessantly jockeying for a leg up on their direct and indirect market competitors, as well as on established global social media giants like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
In such a landscape, any advantage that a team of mobile app publishers can gain is a pretty big deal. So, developing an understanding of what their rivals are up to can be a game changer.
With app update frequency data, app creators can craft their update release schedules to be more competitive with their biggest rivals by being either more or less aggressive with the rollout of their own updates. Moreover, in doing so, they’ll be in a better position to allocate precious time and company resources, and reap the benefits of improved operational efficiency.
Simply put, app update data enables ad networks to separate the wheat from the chaff.
In September 2019, we wrote an article about the various ways ad networks can leverage our data to generate leads. In it, we noted that mobile advertising is one of the hottest markets in the ad industry and that total digital ad spend would soon reach well over $300 billion a year.
For mobile ad networks, this was old news. They know better than anyone just how competitive the mobile advertising market has become in recent years. And, with no obvious indication that competition is about to wane, they’re also aware that they’ll need to step up their lead generation processes to remain relevant.
To help ad networks improve and economize their lead qualification, app update frequency data facilitates thorough, accurate app publisher background checks. By reviewing app publisher update histories, they can determine the ideal apps on which to serve ads, and those they ought to blacklist.
42matters tracks everything from app meta data, to rankings, to download estimates, to changes in meta information, to SDK usage, to App-ads.txt and more. If you would like to leverage our data into your own product, research or app industry analysis, it can be obtained via our API or File Dumps or our interactive App Market Explorer.
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