App Marketing Glossary
42 terms app developers, marketers and agencies use every day — from app reviews and ASO to retention, attribution and release tools.
App Reviews & Ratings
Ratings, reviews and what to do with them — the terms behind user feedback in the App Store and Google Play.
- App RatingAn app rating is the 1–5 star score users give an app. The stores show the average as the app’s overall rating, next to the number of ratings.
- App Review MonitoringApp review monitoring means automatically collecting new App Store and Google Play reviews and delivering them to the team — usually as alerts in Slack, Microsoft Teams or email.
- App ReviewsApp reviews are the written feedback and star ratings users leave for an app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
- Competitor App AnalysisCompetitor app analysis is the practice of studying other apps in your category — their store listings, rankings, updates and especially their user reviews — to find opportunities for your own app.
- Developer ResponseA developer response is a public reply from the app’s developer to a user review, posted from App Store Connect or the Google Play Console.
- In-App Review PromptAn in-app review prompt is the system dialog that lets users rate an app without leaving it — on iOS via SKStoreReviewController / RequestReviewAction, on Android via the Google Play In-App Review API.
- Rating ResetA rating reset lets iOS developers start the App Store summary rating from zero when they release a new version. Reviews stay visible; only the displayed average starts over.
- Review BombingReview bombing is a sudden wave of negative reviews and ratings, usually coordinated or triggered by one event, aimed at pulling an app’s rating down.
- Review Sentiment AnalysisReview sentiment analysis classifies app reviews as positive, negative or neutral — and often by topic — so teams can see what users love and what they complain about at scale.
App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization: how apps get found in store search and how store pages turn visitors into installs.
- App Store Conversion RateApp store conversion rate is the share of people who see an app’s store listing or product page and then install it.
- App Store FeaturingApp Store featuring is when Apple or Google editors highlight an app in the store — on the Today tab, in curated collections or on the Google Play home page.
- App Store KeywordsApp Store keywords are the search terms an app is indexed for. On iOS they come from the app name, subtitle and a hidden 100-character keyword field; Google Play has no keyword field and indexes the title and descriptions instead.
- App Store Optimization (ASO)App Store Optimization (ASO) is the process of improving an app’s visibility and conversion in the App Store and Google Play, so more people find it and install it.
- App Store RankingApp store ranking is an app’s position in store search results for a keyword or in the top charts of its category, on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
- App Store ScreenshotsApp Store screenshots are the images on an app’s store listing that show what the app does. They are one of the biggest factors in whether a visitor installs.
- Custom Product PagesCustom product pages are additional versions of an App Store product page — with their own screenshots, previews and promotional text — that you can link to from ads and campaigns.
- In-App EventsIn-app events are timely events inside an app — a challenge, a live stream, a season launch — that Apple lets you promote with event cards on the App Store.
- Product Page Optimization (PPO)Product Page Optimization (PPO) is Apple’s built-in A/B testing for App Store product pages. It lets you test alternative icons, screenshots and app previews against your original page.
- Promotional TextPromotional text is a 170-character field at the top of an App Store description that you can change at any time without submitting a new app version.
- Store Listing ExperimentsStore listing experiments are Google Play’s built-in A/B tests for an app’s store listing. You can test icons, screenshots, videos and descriptions against the current listing.
App Metrics & Analytics
The metrics app teams track to understand engagement, retention and revenue.
- App Retention RateApp retention rate is the percentage of users who come back to an app a given number of days after installing it — usually measured on day 1, day 7 and day 30.
- ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)ARPU (average revenue per user) is the total revenue of an app in a period divided by the number of active users in that period.
- Churn RateChurn rate is the percentage of users — or paying subscribers — who stop using an app or cancel within a given period.
- Cost Per Install (CPI)Cost per install (CPI) is what an advertiser pays, on average, for one app install from a paid campaign.
- Crash RateCrash rate is the share of app sessions — or of users — that end in a crash. Its counterpart is the crash-free rate.
- DAU/MAUDAU/MAU is the ratio of daily active users to monthly active users. It shows how often users come back — often called the app’s “stickiness”.
- Lifetime Value (LTV)Lifetime value (LTV) is the total revenue an app expects to earn from a user over the whole time they use it.
- Session LengthSession length is the time from opening an app to leaving it. Sessions per user is how often an average user opens the app in a period.
App Marketing Basics
The basics of app marketing and user acquisition: from push notifications to attribution.
- App Tracking Transparency (ATT)App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is Apple’s framework that requires iOS apps to ask users for permission before tracking them across other companies’ apps and websites.
- Deep LinkingDeep linking means using a link that opens a specific screen inside a mobile app — a product, an article, a settings page — instead of just launching the app.
- Deferred Deep LinkingDeferred deep linking sends a new user to a specific screen in an app after they install it from a link — not just to the home screen.
- Mobile Attribution (MMP)Mobile attribution is how app marketers find out which ad, campaign or channel led to an install or in-app action. Mobile measurement partners (MMPs) provide it.
- Organic InstallsOrganic installs are app downloads that don’t come from a paid campaign — from store search, browsing, featuring, word of mouth or links.
- Push NotificationsPush notifications are messages an app sends to a user’s device — shown on the lock screen or in the notification center — even when the app isn’t open.
- SKAdNetworkSKAdNetwork is Apple’s privacy-preserving framework for attributing app installs to ad campaigns on iOS without revealing user-level data.
- Soft LaunchA soft launch is releasing an app in a few selected countries before the global launch, to test retention, monetization and stability with real users.
- User Acquisition (UA)User acquisition (UA) is everything an app does to win new users — paid ads, app store optimization, referrals, PR and partnerships.
App Store Tools & Releases
Apple’s and Google’s developer consoles, testing tools and release features.
- App ClipsApp Clips are small parts of an iOS app that people can use instantly — from a link, QR code, NFC tag or Maps — without installing the full app.
- App Store ConnectApp Store Connect is Apple’s web portal for developers to publish and manage apps on the App Store — builds, metadata, pricing, TestFlight, analytics and reviews.
- Beta Testing (TestFlight & Play Testing)Beta testing means giving a pre-release version of an app to a group of testers to find bugs and collect feedback before the public release.
- Google Play ConsoleThe Google Play Console is Google’s platform for developers to publish Android apps on Google Play and manage releases, store listings, testing, statistics and reviews.
- Phased Release (Staged Rollout)A phased release (App Store) or staged rollout (Google Play) delivers an app update to a growing share of users over time instead of everyone at once.