Guides
Start here: how the charts work
- How App Store Top Charts Rankings WorkWhat decides an app's position on Apple's Top Free, Top Paid and Top Grossing charts, how often they update, and why ranks differ by country.
- How Google Play Top Charts Rankings WorkWhat drives an app's place on Google Play's Top Free, Top Paid and Top Grossing charts, how categories and countries differ, and how often the charts refresh.
- Top Grossing vs Top Free vs Top Paid: What They MeanThe three app store chart types explained: what each one counts, which apps lead them, and which chart matters for your goals.
- How to Check Your App's Ranking in Every CountryA free way to see where your iOS or Android app ranks on the top charts in every country and category, and how that changed since yesterday.
- Why Did My App's Rank Drop? Common CausesThe usual reasons an app falls on the App Store or Google Play charts overnight, how to tell them apart, and what you can do about each.
- App Store vs Google Play Charts: 7 DifferencesHow Apple's and Google's top charts differ: depth, apps vs games, categories, update cadence, ranking signals, countries and prices, and what that means when you compare them.
App Metrics Explained: DAU, Retention, ARPU, LTV, CPI
Plain-English definitions and formulas for DAU, retention, ARPU, LTV and CPI, how App Store Connect and Play Console report them, and the traps to avoid.
App Subscription Benchmarks: Trials, Churn and Pricing
Trial-to-paid rates, year-one retention, median prices and regional gaps from RevenueCat's 2024–2026 reports, and how to read them without being misled.
Duolingo Onboarding Teardown: Lesson Before Sign-Up
Step-by-step teardown of Duolingo's onboarding: questions first, a goal, a placement test, a full lesson before any account, then soft sign-up and paywall.
Free Trial Length and Conversion: 3, 7 or 14 Days?
Trial-to-paid benchmarks by trial length and plan type (RevenueCat, Adapty 2025–2026), intro and win-back offers on iOS and Android, and how to measure.
How Duolingo Grew to 100M+ Monthly Users
Streaks, leagues, bandit-tuned reminders, a meme-able owl and a retention-first growth model: how Duolingo hit 128M MAU and what indies can copy.
Mobile App Retention Benchmarks by Category (2025–2026)
D1, D7 and D30 retention benchmarks from 2025–2026 reports, split by category, iOS vs Android and games vs apps, plus what good looks like.
Notion, Todoist and Things Onboarding Teardown
How three productivity apps handle the blank page: templates, empty-state design, and whether to ask for an account first or later.
Soft Launch Strategy: Countries to Test and What to Measure
Why studios soft-launch in Canada, Australia, the Philippines and the Nordics, what to measure, how long to run it, and how small-market charts behave.
TikTok Onboarding Teardown: Content Before Signup
How TikTok gets a new user to a playing video in seconds, what the interest picker does, and when it finally asks for an account.
Viral Apps: Why Some Spike and Fade While Others Stick
BeReal, Clubhouse, Threads, Lensa, Lapse, Yik Yak and NGL all hit the top of the App Store. Here is what the spike looked like and what retention decided.