Watching the stats for my apps for some time now, I've begun to see that a huge chunk of users are simply not updating their apps.
Something like 60-70 % simply stick with the version they first got, and even several months later. They never update.
This strikes me as very strange, as I strive each week to add new meaningful content to my apps (which are all games).
Are you guys seeing the same?
Posted Jun 13, 2011, 11:50 PM UTC
Two thoughts:
Are you sure they aren't updating because they simply aren't using your app anymore?
Have you thought about perhaps implementing an in-game notification telling users there is a new version available with better features?
Well they'd have to update at least once to get the notifications.
That's true, but at least your future new users will get the notification.
As more of a user then developer, if I'm perfectly happy with the app I have I do not update for fear of incompatibility. For example I used arcMedia player for almost as long as I had a droid. That changed about a month ago after one of their updates destroyed functionality for my phone. I kept up with it for a few weeks with every new update but it was still incredibly buggy on my phone.
The only other reason I wouldn't update an app is if it requires a 'manual' update, I wait on those updates and sometimes never update them at all.
But in your case I'm stumped, if I have a game I update it as often as possible.
I've noticed that some people simply don't care about newer versions, which to me the notion is somewhat ridiculous. For example, one of my friends, every time I see his phone, he always has the market notification saying updates are available and most of his apps are similar to mine, so I know he simply doesn't care about updating.
Also, how do you know if they are updating or not? Sorry, I'm a new developer and do not see a seperate graph in the app statistics.
I think you're right. My best bet is a large portion of my users are not very tech-savvy.
I use Flurry to gather anonymous user data, in there you can see version ID as well as other stats about your apps
My Android system basically never informs me of updates until I enter the Market. At that point I usually have about 50% of my apps inform me that there are updates available. Damn Android, piece of crap.
Start the market app. press menu. press settings. Set Notifications.
And don't have a Milestone - update notifications have been broken for me from 2.0 to 2.2 on the Milestone, exact behavior as commenter, no matter whats configured in the market settings.
Already set to "Notify me".
Yes, I see the same, No, people aren't updating. I get negative comments about things I updated over a year ago. Also, I lose active installs when I update. Instead of updating, they see it as a reminder to uninstall because they haven't played our game in a while. It's understandable that they've moved on, but it sucks that it affects rank.
People don't even update their Windows OS and not doing that is really stupid. They do, however, install all the toolbars they can find. I'm thinking most cellphone buyers/users look at the pretty outside, the size of the screen and the number of MPx of the camera, not the OS and stuff. Kudos to the not-so-tech-savvy who managed to install your apps in the first place.
Of all the problems I've heard developers having, I hadn't thought of this one. That's crazy. I obsessively update my apps.
Do you think services like Socialize, or OpenFeint, that add a social layer would, as they claim, increase longer term user engagement? That might help with updates.
Good question, it might of course. Though, it seems to me like most users are not updating simply because they don't know how/don't think of it.
Yea, I use my mom as kind of a litmus test for all thing technology. She does have a droid, which is a good sign for the platform, but she never updates her apps, of which she's only downloaded about 6. As someone who's never had an iPhone, how do they do updates? Is automatic throug iTunes?
Were there any change in permission?
I'm paranoid about apps permission, I take time to read them through, consider if it's reasonable, and if I trust the developer with those permissions, etc every time I install an app.
When it comes time to update, for anything that has no permission change, I usually just have a brief glance through of the change log, and just click "Update All" afterwards.
For apps that have permission change I usally just let them sit as update avaliable while I procrastinate about making decision about them as long as the old version still works.
I also know a lot of people who are too lazy to even check for updates at all, so that's probably the main reason.
That's the reason I sit and don't update those apps. If the current version of the app is working fine and you've changed your permissions around, then I'm doubting your most-likely honourable intentions.
Yup, i completely understand where you're coming from. But no, there has generally not been any changes.
Once I removed Location Coarse, not that it made a difference really :)