Unexpected China downloads

App Store Distribution & Marketing App Store Connect App Store Connect

Created Aug ’17

Replies 26

Boosts 0

Views 14k

Participants 20

My game has done virtually nothing on the app store all year. A couple weeks ago it started getting a few downloads per day, gradually increasing every day and yesterday was the most at around 100.

This seems great and all, but it's a free game with in-app purchase to unlock full game. Not one of the over 400 has unlocked it. Seems weird.

Also weird is under the analytics there are no metrics under usage, everything is 0 (installations, sessions, active devices, active last 30 days).

I know these stats work for me because I have another app with 11 downoads in the past couple weeks (paid app) but even that small amount has usage stats.

I read that the Volumne Purchase Program can result in weird stats but I read they show up as desktop. My downoads for the game in questions are all from China for the iPhone.

Anyone know what might be happening? Are China stats not available for usage?

Boost

shuetrim OP

Sep ’17

Same problem for 15+ free apps. Eventually I have blocked China to stop approximately 1000-1500 downloads per day of free apps that are between 100MB and 250MB in size. Apple support showed no interest in understanding the issue.

David OP

Sep ’17

I am experiencing the same type of situation for two free apps of mine, both of which have been receiving 100+ downloads a day from the China region (up from 0). There is no increase in ad revenue, which seems extremely strange. I feel as if Apple should be concerned with this, but apparently (according to what I've read here) they don't seem to be.

Mimetic OP

Sep ’17

Yes, me too ("Street Sweeping Alarm") is now getting about 60 downloads per day. No idea why. Old app.

UbiApple OP

Oct ’17

So after a month and a half, I finally got a day with 0 downloads from China. Will keep you updated after a few more days if it stays like that.

Interestingly, my other app, which is paid, shot up to close to 6k impressions yesterday and the last couple months it got around 30-40 / day....LOL

I also find it weird that this paid app doesn't have a single day with more than one download. 22 total over 2 months ( I know, not good), but still, I would expect at least one of those days to have more than 1. Seems weird.

OKChooser OP

Oct ’17

Ha! Only came across this thread after trying to find out why my downloads had gone to zero yesterday. I'd had the same surge of China downloads. Seems that something changed on 29Sep17 and full effect seen on 30Sep17?

OKChooser OP

Oct ’17

Like a chump I had thought the China downloads were real, and as a responsive developer, added Sina Weibo sharing to my app! Feel a bit stupid now...😊

MeMike2 OP

Oct ’17

Same activity happening with our app. September: 1.97k downloads from China; August: 896 downloads from China; July: 0 downloads from China.

I didn't realize you can block an individual country - will do so.

FreddyB OP

Oct ’17

Me too. I have a lower back yoga app. Maybe 2 free installs a week from China, then every day. Suddenly 29, then 60, then 100, then 70 every day for 6 straight weeks, then 35, then 0. A total of 3500 installs on free app only. Not a single paid install. While usage in Analytics did not reflect this increase, on AppAnnie it did. The app went from 500 usages a month to 7,500 by 3600 users. I don't know how AppAnnie gets more accurate usage than iTunesConnect Analytics. Strange.

KMT OP

Oct ’17

> I don't know how AppAnnie gets more accurate usage than iTunesConnect Analytics

Maybe it's not about the data, but the way it's handled..errr, mangled - iTC's reporting efforts have always been a bag on the side, I think. I moved strictly to AAnnie years ago.

Joffrey0987 OP

Oct ’17

This is the first week with 0 downloads from China just as I was about to block China. I'll check up on my ticket with Apple to see if something has changed. They were of little help initially.

UbiApple OP

Oct ’17

Well after a 2 week break, they are at it again. Will see if it continues...