Figuring out the why apps get featured by Apple is a constant struggle for app developers large and small, as the reward of being featured is not only increased visibility and downloads, but also the prestige of being singled out by the creator and curator of the app store ecosystem.
So how does Apple decide which apps to grace with its “featured” distinction? To answer this question, we spent some time compiling a quantitative and qualitative study of the 23 apps featured for the “Best of January 2016” list (excluding games). From this study we extracted many valuable insights as well as some delectable surprises, which we think do help to de-mystify some of the reasons as to why apps get featured; here are our results! (data collected on 2/13/16):
Summarized Findings:
TLDNR: we observed the following 5 correlations between featured apps to be some of the strongest:
- Apple skews towards featuring apps that are visually stunning and centered around pictures (with a requirement for a great icon to boot), family friendly and also free.
- Apple does feature some apps that solve a need, but moreover focuses on apps that encourage users to be creative, social or to explore the world around them.
- Updating an app with additional functionality or adopting new technology can boost your chances of being featured if you missed out during launch.
- Getting press is vital for being featured, and optimizing your app for multiple languages can drive up your overall visibility.
- Making a universal app can’t hurt but isn’t strongly correlated with being featured.
Section 1: The quantitative look
Of the more than 25 individual data points collected during the study, here were the most noteworthy facts captured about the 23 apps and their developers from the Best of January 2016 list:
- One of the more surprising facts was that 52% of featured apps supported only iPhone, with less than half (43%) optimized for iPad users as well, and only 9% (two apps) supporting WatchOS.
