Why Is Nobody Downloading My App? A 4-Number Diagnosis

Key takeaways

Four numbers locate the leak: impressions, product page views, downloads, and users still active after a week. Compare each step to the one before.
Apple says about 65% of downloads happen directly after a search (worldwide, 2022), so words in your title, subtitle and keyword field matter.
Compare your conversion with your own category and last month. One vendor measured 8.56% on the US App Store and 16.15% on Google Play in 2025, but averages hide huge category gaps.
Google says to budget at least 50 times your target cost per install a day for app campaigns. At the US median Apple Ads install cost of $4.06, that is about $203 a day.
Google says an app is likely to be less discoverable above 1.09% daily users hitting a crash or 0.47% hitting a freeze.
Fix in funnel order: found, then convincing, then installed, then kept. Ads come after the page converts.

What the video covers

0:00 Why is nobody downloading my app?
1:15 Where is my app losing people?
2:39 Can people even find my app?
4:07 People see it, so why don't they install?
6:24 Do I need more reviews first?
7:58 Should I just run ads?
10:55 Why do people install it and leave?
12:42 Which one do I fix first?

How do you find where your app is losing people?

Use four numbers from your store dashboards, and look for the biggest drop between one number and the next. Impressions tell you how often the store showed your app. Product page views tell you how many people opened it. Downloads tell you how many installed. Users still active after a week tell you how many stayed. Each ratio points to a different fix. Few impressions means people cannot find you. Plenty of impressions but few page views means your icon, name or ratings do not earn the tap. Plenty of page views but few downloads means the page does not convince. Many downloads but few active users means the app loses them after install. Apple's App Analytics shows impressions, conversion rate and downloads, and lets you filter conversion by App Store search. Play Console has its own reports for the same steps. Work in that order, because a fix late in the funnel is wasted if the early steps are broken.

Do not compare your numbers with a blog post. Compare them with your own last month and with apps in your own category, because the category sets what normal looks like. A change you can measure beats a benchmark you cannot check.

Write the four numbers down for the last 30 days before you read on. When you can see where the biggest drop is, the rest of this page tells you what to try for each step.

Can people even find your app?

If impressions are low, the store is not showing your app for the searches that matter, and the fix is in your title, subtitle, keywords and category. Apple says its search results are based on text relevance, meaning matches for your title, subtitle, keywords and primary category, plus user behavior such as downloads, ratings and reviews. Google Play search reads your title, description, category and images. Search matters because Apple says that 70% of App Store visitors use search and almost 65% of downloads happen directly after a search, in a figure Apple dates to 2022 and publishes on its own ad-sales page. Treat that as Apple's claim, not a neutral study. For a new app there is a second problem: downloads and ratings are inputs, and a brand new app has few of either. So it starts weak, and the fix is to be exact about the words you can win, not to chase the biggest ones.

Apple's keyword field takes 100 characters, and Apple tells developers not to repeat words already in the name, subtitle or category. Pick words that describe what the app does in the language your user would type, then check the top five rivals to see which phrases are crowded. Our guide to app store keyword research walks through it.

Why do people see your app but not install it?

If page views are healthy and downloads are low, your store page is not convincing, and the first screenshots and the icon do most of the work. Apple says that when there is no app preview, the first one to three images appear in search results, so they should highlight the essence of the app. Apple also shows your rating and up to three screenshots or previews in search results. Think of it as a shop window: most people judge from the window and never come in. Do not chase an average. AppTweak measured 8.56% for the US App Store and 16.15% for Google Play in 2025, counting visitors who download after viewing the page. Those are averages across every category, so a single app can sit far above or below them, which is why you compare yourself with your own category and your own last month. Change one thing at a time so you know what moved the number.

Both stores have built-in tests. Play Console's store listing experiments test up to two variants against your current listing. Apple's product page optimization tests up to three treatments of the icon, screenshots and previews. Both need enough visitors to give a clear answer, so on a quiet page, make the obvious fix first and test later.

The obvious fixes are rarely subtle. The first screenshot should show the app doing its main job. The words on the image should be few and large. The icon should look different from the apps around it in search. Our guide to app screenshot optimization goes through the checks.

Do you need more reviews before you push traffic?

Reviews matter twice: they help the store decide who to show your app to, and they help a visitor decide whether to trust it. Apple says that ratings and reviews appear on your product page and in search results, and can influence how your app ranks in App Store search. A visitor who sees a low rating or no rating next to a rival with a high one has a reason to pick the rival. The answer is not to buy reviews. The FTC's final rule, announced 14 August 2024, says it prohibits businesses from providing compensation or other incentives conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews. The honest route is to ask real users at the right moment: after they have finished something in the app and got value, not at launch. Do not ask before you have fixed crashes and the first-run experience, because you will collect the low ratings you are trying to avoid.

So the order is: make the app work, let a first group of real users reach the good moment, and then ask. A small number of honest reviews does more than a large number you cannot defend.

Should you just run ads?

Ads are worth running once the store page converts, and they are the wrong first move when it does not, because ads send people to the same leaking page. Paid traffic costs real money: AppTweak puts the median Apple Ads cost per install at $1.80 globally and $4.06 in the US for search results campaigns in 2025, with a median conversion rate of 56%. Google's guidance for app campaigns is a daily budget of at least 50 times your target cost per install so the system can learn. That is our arithmetic on their rule: at $4.06 an install, 50 times is about $203 a day, or roughly $6,100 over 30 days. Apple Ads Advanced charges per tap and lists no minimum budget, so you can start smaller, but small budgets teach you less. If your page converts at half the rate it could, you pay double for every install.

The other risk is buying the wrong people. Cheap installs from places where your product does not fit often leave quickly and teach the ad system the wrong audience. Match geography to the market you can serve, and judge a campaign by users still active a week later, not by installs alone.

Apple Ads is the cleanest place to start for most apps, because the person is already searching. Advanced uses a cost-per-tap model, so you pay only when someone taps. Our guide to Apple Ads covers setup and bidding.

Why do people install your app and then leave?

If downloads are fine but users disappear in the first week, the problem is inside the app: crashes, a slow start, or a first minute that does not show value. On Google Play the cost is spelled out. Google's Android vitals page says that if at least 1.09% of daily users experience a user-perceived crash, or 0.47% experience an ANR (a freeze), your app is "likely to be less discoverable on Google Play", and a warning may appear on your listing. The per-phone threshold is 8%. Google generally uses the last 28 days of data. Google also wrote in 2018 that apps and games with high retention rates, low crash rates and low uninstalls are recommended more often. We have not found an equivalent ranking rule published by Apple, so we do not claim one. But a crashing app gets bad ratings on both stores, and ratings feed ranking on both. Fix the crash rate before you chase more installs.

Then look at the first minute. People install with a goal. If sign-up, permissions or a paywall stand between them and the first useful moment, many will not get there. Cut steps, show a result early, and ask for details after the user has seen value. Our guide to app retention benchmarks shows how to read your own retention curve.

What we see across 300+ apps

We have been building and marketing apps since 2015, with 300+ apps shipped and 52M+ installs behind them. When a founder says "nobody downloads my app", the cause is almost never the idea. It is usually one of four things in a fixed order: the store page is not written for search, the first screenshots do not show the app doing something, the traffic sent to it is the wrong traffic, or the first minute inside the app loses people.

The most common mistake we see is spending first and diagnosing second. Founders put money into ads because it feels like action, and the money pays for visitors to see the same weak page. The first thing we check on any app is the funnel above, before a dollar goes to ads. It takes an afternoon and it tells you which of the four to fix.

If you want a second pair of eyes, our free ASO score tool checks the store page, and our guide to increasing app downloads goes through the fixes in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Why is nobody downloading my app?

Usually one of four things: people cannot find it, the store page does not convince them, the wrong people are being sent to it, or they install and leave. Check impressions, page views, downloads and week-one active users to see which step has the biggest drop.

How many downloads should a new app get?

There is no honest single number, because it depends on category, country and traffic. Compare against your own last month and your own category instead. One vendor measured US store conversion at 8.56% on the App Store and 16.15% on Google Play in 2025, but that is conversion, not downloads.

Do ratings affect app store ranking?

Apple says ratings and reviews appear in search results and can influence how your app ranks in App Store search. Google Play lists ratings, reviews and engagement among the details its search uses. Ratings also affect whether a visitor trusts the page.

Should I run ads if my app has no downloads?

Only after the store page converts. Ads send people to the same page, so a weak page wastes the spend. Google recommends a daily budget of at least 50 times your target cost per install for app campaigns, so budget for learning.

Can crashes hurt discoverability?

On Google Play, yes. Google says an app above 1.09% of daily users with a crash, or 0.47% with a freeze, is likely to be less discoverable. We have not found a similar published rule from Apple, but crashes lower ratings on both stores.

What should I fix first?

Fix in funnel order: found, then convincing, then installed, then kept. Start with the step that has the biggest drop. If the early steps are broken, work later in the funnel is wasted.

Want us to tell you where your app is losing people?

Book a call. We look at your store page and numbers and tell you which step to fix first.

Book a strategy call

Sources

Search, Apple Developer
Creating your product page, Apple Developer
How Google Play search works (Google Play Help), Google
Android vitals bad behavior thresholds (Play Console Help), Google
Improving discovery of quality apps and games, by Paul Bankhead, Android Developers Blog, Google, 29 June 2018
Average app conversion rate per category, AppTweak, 2025 data
Create an app campaign: budget and bidding (Google Ads Help), Google
Apple Ads benchmarks, AppTweak, 2025 data
How Advanced pricing works, Apple Ads Help
App Store ads, Apple Ads
Store listing experiments (Play Console Help), Google
Overview of product page optimization, App Store Connect Help, Apple
FTC announces final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 14 August 2024

Why Is Nobody Downloading My App? Find the Leak Before You Buy Ads