Making an app is really profitable if the app sells...obviously but you won't believe how many apps have become a cash machine that really look pointless from the outside.
There are about 100 + meditation apps that do the same thing and still own a bit of the market share of the 'meditation' niche on the play store. Now, there are some common patterns between the top apps on the play store which tells us something about people's behaviors and why they use the apps they use.
Now, this analysis doesn't not look into the 'quality' aspect of apps or 'why' an app is rated so high but rather what are some common buckets of the most installed and highly rated apps. The analysis was made on 8000 apps of the 2.12 Million apps in the year 2018 but it tells us enough to make an app.
Does the Size of the app matter?
Yes, it does. We can see that as the size of an app increases, so does the number of ratings. Apps that are bigger in size, get more ratings which might be positive or negative. There is no correlation between positive rating and size of an app because there are tons of apps that are huge and only have a 1 star rating but, more ratings means more reviews and more reviews means feedback to improve :)
Who is the app made for?
Most apps on the play store are made for 'everybody' then followed by 'teen' and then 'mature content'. From this data, we can only infer that most apps are made for day to day use and hence made for most people. Larger the target customers, larger the revenue.
Does the price matter?
Most apps on the play store are free. We all would take an app that is free over paid one but are all apps that claim to be free....really free? I don't think so. Most apps ask you to make an 'in-app' purchase and charge you for their extra features or just dupe you into thinking its free (very rare). Also, if apps don't charge you, they can always get revenue from advertisements which is why most app makers prefer to keep ads since conversion from free to paid user for any product is usually low.
Top rated Content
Now, the average rating of each content category is quite same but 'Adults' and 'Everyone 10+' have the highest rating followed by 'teens'. What we don't know are the demographics of these users:
1) What is their Gender?
2) What country are they from?
3) What is their age?
4) What time is the app used?
These variables are far more important than you think it is.
Genre.
We have to first ask ourselves, why do we make apps in the first place? The most relevant answer is to solve problems and that is why most apps on the play store are in tools genre and then followed by entertainment.
Hmm... what problem is entertainment solving? Apart from problem solving, apps are made to entertain. Next is education. Now the unfortunate part is that there are several apps in the education category that also come under finance, sports, travel and books. There are more 'educational' apps than what the insights provide. To summarize, apps are made for mainly 3 things:
1) To solve problems
2) To educate
3) To entertain
So, now what?
These are the apps with the highest rating & most number of installs. Does this tell us anything other than the fact that google is the most dominant company in it's own play store? Yes it does. So, what does that say then? It is better not to compete with billion dollar companies that can spend more in research, talent and advertising on apps that are made for everybody. The best thing to do is to go super-niche, try to expand and compete with the big-guns in the future when you can afford to do it.
An improvisation
Just a reminder, this analysis was pulled from the year 2018 and so some of these apps have rebranded themselves and their ratings have significantly improved. Why am I showing these apps? These apps have 1 Million plus downloads but have an average rating between 1 and 3 stars. Clearly it suggests a 'need' or a demand from the user side but could not achieve user satisfaction.
This just tells us that these apps have the potential to improve and you can be the first one to do it! Figure out from the reviews, why these apps are rated this low and try to make it better.
How do I make an app that sells?
To conclude, this is how you make an app that sells:
Make an app that it solves a problem, entertains people or educates them. Don't make apps that run like a website, blog or apps that will be used only for one day and poof, the user deletes it the next second.
2. Make an app that can be used by everybody more specifically a tool that helps save time, effort, cost or any of these combinations.
3. Know your target user well. If you can't figure out their demographics, try to build an app that solves a problem that you have faced.
4. Can't find an idea? Go the app store and research for apps that have over 100,000 installs and 1 to 3 star rating. Read their reviews and improve upon it.
5. Know how to develop games? Make a game! Games always sell and you don't have to compete with Call of Duty Mobile or Dream League Soccer. There are tons of pointless apps that make a lot of money. Remember flappy bird?
Here is an interactive dashboard you use to see the visuals in one place!
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