How these market reports are measured
Every figure on this page is read directly from the store: the release date and rating count of each app holding a top-10 search position, the in-app purchase list and price on the app's own store page, and the star histogram. None of these figures is estimated or modelled; the one exception is the complaint themes, which an AI model assigns to each 1–2★ review. A new entrant is an app released in the last 12 months that holds a top-10 position today; it counts as surviving once it reaches the ratings threshold shown. Apps that reached the top-10 and later dropped out are not observed, so the figure describes who is present now, not everyone who tried. The same measurement runs on App Store and Google Play, but App Store rating counts are per country while Google Play counts are worldwide, so a Play survival figure is read against Play, never against the App Store figure for the same niche. Category chart presence comes from the App Store's public top-grossing feed; rating growth comes from the same rating count read every night.
METHODOLOGY
What is read, and from where
- Entrant survival: every app holding a top-10 position today for a niche's core keywords, its release date and rating count. A new entrant is one released within the last 12 months; it counts as surviving once it reaches the ratings threshold. Apps that reached the top-10 and later dropped out are not observed, and rank history only starts on 7 August 2026, so the date an app first reached the top-10 is not known — the figure describes who holds a seat now, not everyone who tried.
- What winners charge: the in-app purchase list and prices on each app's own store page, plus the download price. Read, not modelled.
- Niche boundary: a keyword belongs to a niche when its top-10 shares at least 30% of its apps with the seed keyword; 10–29% is a neighbouring market.
- Two stores, same method: App Store and Google Play are measured independently with the same rules, so the same niche can be read on both. They are not two points on one scale: App Store rating counts are per country while Google Play counts are worldwide, so the same ratings threshold is easier to clear on Play. Read a Play survival figure against Play, never against the App Store figure for the same niche.
- Chart presence: an app counts as on the chart once it sits on its category's top-grossing chart on at least 3 of the last 30 days. Only the App Store publishes this chart, so Google Play pages say plainly that it isn't measured there.
- Rating growth: shown only once at least 5 apps, and at least half of the niche's top-10 apps, have rating-count readings spanning 14 or more days — below that the median is skewed by a handful of long-tracked apps. App Store rating counts are kept per country; Google Play counts are worldwide, so the two are never compared to each other.
METHODOLOGY
What is not on these pages
- No download or revenue estimates — third-party estimates carry 2–3× error, worst exactly on small apps.
- No absolute search volume — neither store publishes it.