Where they come from
- App store search — the biggest source for most apps.
- Browsing: categories, charts, featuring.
- Referrals and word of mouth.
- Web: your website, press, blog posts.
In attribution reports, any install not credited to a paid channel counts as organic. Paid campaigns can also drive "organic" installs indirectly by raising rankings and awareness.
How to grow them
- App store optimization: keywords, screenshots, testing.
- A strong app rating and fresh positive reviews.
- Good retention and few crashes — quality signals feed back into ranking.
- Content that ranks on Google, linking to your store pages.
Example
After a keyword update and a push for more reviews from happy users, a meditation app's organic installs grow from 300 to 450 a day without any change in ad spend. See also user acquisition.