Why is the discoverability in these stores so poor? Outside of top 10 in a category its miserable. Can't we allow richer interfaces? I'd love to subscribe to a blocklist that just took out all the junk apps, then incorporate verified reviews from active users on my generation and one prior generation device etc etc. No device able to review more than 10 apps and hardware link/lock reviews.
I have a time tracking app in Google Play. It has fine reviews. Yet if I search for "time tracker" it's almost impossible to get to, and if I search by its full name "Hours - time tracker", it's still on page two.
Almost all of the apps (I found one exception) that appear above my app have in-app purchases and or
ads, and most of them have a lower score than mine.
It's hard not to come to the conclusion that my app is somehow penalized for not generating income for Google.
If we had real competition with stores competing to provide the most value for the users, then I would expect non-profit apps like mine to bubble up rather than drown.
On Android, you do have competition though. There are app stores from Amazon, Samsung, and F-Droid. Not to mention, you could go direct to consumer and list the application's installer for download directly on a web page.
All I want in reviews is an indicator of how much they’ve actually used the app at the time the rate is made.
Lots of apps crank up the forced ads/other BS after they’ve nagged you a few times, and they like to that right after a dopamine hit, like beating a boss.
Try living in a small European country. 10-100x less reviews on all apps and no way to view reviews from users in other countries without opening the app store page on a desktop..
Basically means they will be incentivised to make their app discoverability algorithm worse, to encourage companies to pay them for ads. Kinda like Google did with ads coming above the search results forcing companies to buy ads to be displayed at the top even when you search for the company directly.
