Number of daily downloads required for an Android app or game to make it to the top ten apps list Google Play Stores in India are the tallest in the world, according to the latest store intelligence data from app analytics firm Sensor Tower. In India, a non-gaming app requires 292,000 downloads every day while a gaming app needs 125,000 downloads to achieve the milestone.
The Sensor Tower report found that India, China and the US have the highest entry barriers for apps.
In China, a non-gaming app requires 108,000 downloads on the Apple App Store to be among the top ten, while an iOS app in the US requires 52,000 downloads. Gaming apps are in comparatively better shape. For example, with only 23,000 daily downloads in China, and 26,000 daily downloads in the US, an app may rank in the top ten.
In comparison, in markets like Brazil, apps require only 69,000 downloads and 39,000 for games to be in the top ten on the Play Store. Similarly, in Indonesia 77,000 downloads are required for apps and 44,000 downloads for games.
Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst and founder of market research firm TechARC, points out that the Indian app ecosystem is much more fragmented than others in terms of user choices. “Instead of relying on one go-to app for cabs, flight bookings or shopping, most smartphone users have multiple apps on their smartphones to compare the best features and prices,” he added.
Furthermore, the Sensor Tower report shows that reaching the top is even more difficult. For example, the number of daily downloads of an app increased by 37% to top the list on Apple’s App Store in the US. The number of downloads required for an app on the App Store now stands at 156,000 compared to 114,000 in 2019, reaching the first number.
It is comparatively easy to reach the top on Google Play Store. Data from Sensor Tower shows that the number of downloads needed to become number one has dropped from 83,000 in 2019 to 56,000 this year.
Sensor Tower attributes the increase in downloads for iOS apps to an “iOS specific user acquisition strategy,” used by developers after Apple introduced the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. Introduced in 2021, ATT has ensured that app developers cannot access app-related data to track a user or device without the user’s explicit permission.
According to Sensor Tower, this is a unique challenge for non-gaming app developers. The number of downloads required for a gaming app to reach number one on the App Store fell 46% from 171,000 daily downloads in 2019 to 93,000 daily downloads in 2022. On Google Play, it has dropped 68% from 114,000 downloads to 37,000. , Analysts at Sensor Tower believe that this is happening because users are downloading games they are already interested in rather than trying out new ones.