Strange spike in downloads & Apple is telling me to address the issues

Question

Created Nov ’21

Replies 8

Boosts 1

Views 3.6k

Participants 7

A few days ago I've noticed a huge spike in downloads on one of my apps (that I haven't touched for about two years). This app averages 10 daily downloads. This spike brought 7k downloads D1 and almost the same D2, altogether around 14k downloads.

When I investigated I saw that all downloads came from a search feature and from iPhone only. Even tho I'm accustomed to spike downloads this one was really strange - the conversion rate on the app store was around 80-90% which is highly unlikely (at least only from search).

Additionally, I didn't have a single impression on my ads (in such spikes this would mean in thousands) or a single rate from that country.

I came to the conclusion that these spike downloads are most probably bots, but I'm not 100% sure since this is my first time dealing with such behaviour.

Now I've got the message from Apple

"We are writing to inform you that your company is not in compliance with the Apple Developer Program License Agreement (PLA) Section 11.2.

Please investigate and promptly address issue(s) related to manipulation of App Store chart rankings, user reviews or search index."

First I thought that this was a spam E-mail but the domain matches the real one and since I've really got issues regarding the spike of downloads, I almost don't doubt that this is a real E-mail.

I plan to write Apple about this from what I've know, but I'd like to know if anyone experienced something like this?

Even tho the downloads from Japan are not reported on this app anymore I've removed it from that particular App Store.

What can I do if this happens again? Any advice on this issue would be much appreciated.

Thank you :)

Boost

Answer 1

danieltian OP

Dec ’21

I ran into the same problem and also received an email from Apple Downloads in the US suddenly increased from 1k to 5k, 5k on the second day, and 1k on the third day. But Firebase’s statistics on user daily activity data did not increase Why is this? We haven't done anything recently

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Answer 2

george_ OP

Jun ’22

I ran into the same unnatural situation but i did not received an email from Apple (not yet). Downloads in just one country suddenly increased to huge numbers. I didn't have a single related impression on my ads. I think it is an Apple Store bug!

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Answer 3

Danny182 OP

Sep ’22

Do you have an update on this? How did it go?

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Answer 4

Danny182 OP

Sep ’22

Do you have an update on this? How did it go?

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Answer 5

abdelbari OP

Sep ’22

Same thing just happened to me, huge spike in downloads for 2 days from daily 700 downoads to almost 7K! and a day after i received the same email you received, i replied asking what is going on and they said that they are going to give me a call, will see what will happen.

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Answer 6

sebastien92 OP

Mar ’23

The same with 10k downloads from Germany one time...

Other question: Do you notice very different donwloads stats of your apps from one day to another?

I have several apps on the App Store and it seems like every apps have good days and bad days the SAME DAY.

They all have a drop the same day and surge all together the day after...

They seem to follow the same ups and downs. Very bizarre... and the difference between the good and bad days are often 50-60 % in the stats: impressions, product pages views, and downloads.

It seems like the algorythm follows a scenario with all my apps. When i have two good days in a row, you can bet you will have an important drop the day after and with all the apps... not just one or two.

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Answer 7

matheymatei OP

Mar ’23

Hello sebastien,

Other question: Do you notice very different donwloads stats of your apps from one day to another?

Like the same in the scenario you provided, I personally don't. But I bet there is a pattern going on there of some sort.

Maybe the algorithm is testing your apps
Are affected apps in the same or similar "niche"? Maybe there is a pattern in human behaviour

For example in gaming apps you can see that the activity rises on weekends, some apps are also seasonal (ex. Twinkly). You must find the pattern in your apps (first define common points, breakdown the stats from App Store Connect ,..).

I wouldn't say that this is a result of bad behaviour, specially if you are seeing consistencies on App Store connect analytics and in-app Analytics.

Best

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Answer 8

JozefSimko OP

May ’24

Hello everyone,

I have noticed this for the 1st time in 4 years since publishing my app. So I guess I should wait for the Apple call. How did it end up in your cases guys?

Best Jozef

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