Critical Appstore ranking bug

Hi,


I have recently noticed a bug in the iPad rankings:

Apple-store algo is giving an abnormal importance to the iPad-only apps, letting the Universal apps dropping in the iPad rankings.


I noticed the bug for all the categories (Games, business, ...)


I've sent a General Inquiry to the app store team through iTunes Connect.

Just hope they will take it into accont.

Replies

EXAMPLE #1: Universal apps dropped on the iPad ranking in a couple of days

US Market, the game called "Injustice 2" (-----> UNIVERSAL APP)

#1 on iPhone ranking All Categories-Free apps from 11th May to 15th of May

#8 on iPad ranking on May 11th, ....... #241 (!!) on 15th of May


EXAMPLE #2: All the top apps on any iPad-ranking are iPad-only apps.

US Market, Game Segment, Free iPad-Apps All Games ranking:


Plants vs. Zombies FREE HD: (-----> IPAD-ONLY APP)

#197 on 10th of May

#1 on 15th of May,


Angry Birds HD: (-----> IPAD-ONLY APP)

#213 on 10th of May

#2 on 15th of May,


Glow Hockey 2 HD FREE: (-----> IPAD-ONLY APP)

#559 on 10th of May

#3 on 15th of May,


PLEASE REPLY TO GIVE VISIBILITY TO THIS CRITICAL BUG !!

(Source: Sensor Tower)

I have noticed some ranking issue as well lately.


Now app store gives top rankings to top charts apps for most of the trending keywords searches, even if these apps content are irrelevant to the keywords or do not contain these keywords at all. Now if you search most trending games in app store, you may find Color Switch, 8 pool balls, subway surfers, slither.io are always among the top search results. But these games are completely irrelevant to the search terms.


Simply listing other top chart games under a rising top chart game is not the right algorithm to do! It seems the App store only wants to help top grossing games to sell more. However, it diminishes users experience as now users now see much less relevant games under the key terms they search. What's more, it discourages tight-budget indie developers. Under the new algorithm, their apps can never be ranked well, as all well searched keywords are dominated by top chart games. How can they expect to expose their hard worked app to users?


I sincerely urge App Store to fix this algorithm to expose better search content to uers and give more chances to indie developers!

We are seeing the same bug. It seems that all ipad only apps are ranked much higher then they should be.

We seem to see the same issue on our charts. I double checked with Uber and Youtube, both platforms seem to have their ipad ranking plummet.

Yes, I have noticed the same problem. I've also sent an inquiry to Apple. In a few minutes they replied that everything is O.K., they did not notice any issues. I asked them again to re-check the issue. We'll see what happens.

YouTube is the perfect example.

It is currently ranked 449th on the US Market - All Categories - Free apps.

(It was #2 on 10th of May).

--> WOW

Bug must be fixed! It gives inactive developers, with old iPad only apps, not updated for years, an enormous amount of extra visibility. It hurts the good & active devs by pushing their apps to the bottom of the lists!

We see the same issue!! It needs to be fixed. Please assist Apple. If everybody can twitter and email them to make them aware. Thanks

We are seeing the same issue. We run a smaller app and late last week we were moved way down the search results for popular search terms and other apps that are irrelevent to the search term are now in our place. Seems like a bad experience for everyone.

I tried to contact Apple again, but unfortunately, I was not successful. I received this answer: "The issue you are reporting with regard to your app position on the App Store charts is expected behavior. The Top Grossing and Rankings charts on the App Store change regularly, and we don’t guarantee app placement. Previously ranked apps can’t be restored to charting positions".
I tried to find some contacts in Apple and asked them for a help. Please, do the same and ask your Apple contacts for a help.

It looks, that the issues was fixed just now. Thanks to everybody, who helped.

yes, things are slowly getting back to normal

Very nice this 'expected behavior' 😐

Thank you all, guys!

Unfortunately, it looks that the same ranking error is back again. Look for example for Facebook or Youtube iPad ranking for the last days. Facebook fell from top ten to 320th position in iPad US ranking, Youtube from 1st position to 150th.

I am not sure if I should try to contact Apple again. I already know what they would answer... Is anyone here who could report the bug to the right person?