How ranking works
Short version: apps are ordered by their review data, and app makers can pay to appear higher. Anything paid for says Sponsored on it. Nothing else moves an app up or down.
The two things that decide the order
- 1. Review data. The default order is review volume weighted by average rating, taken from public App Store listings. Weighting matters: an app with a 4.9 average across 4,000 reviews ranks above one with a perfect 5.0 across three, because three reviews is not evidence.
- 2. Paid placement. An app maker can pay to appear above the review-data order. Those rows are marked Sponsored. Payment changes the position and nothing else – it never changes an app’s rating, review count or install count, and it never removes another app from the list.
What paying does not buy
- Not a recommendation, an endorsement, or a quality check by us.
- Not a change to any number on the listing. The data is the data.
- Not the removal or demotion of a competitor.
- Not a search-engine backlink – every outbound link here is
nofollow sponsored.
Want to see the money?
The exact amount behind every sponsored placement is public on the board. We keep it on its own page so browsing apps stays about the apps, but nothing is hidden from anyone who wants the number.
Who runs this, and the obvious conflict
TouchPoints Inc., which also builds apps for Shopify merchants. Our own apps are labelled From the operator and cannot be sponsored – the checkout refuses payment on them, so no money of ours has ever moved a position on this site. They sit wherever their review data puts them, and a competitor who sponsors goes above them. Full detail on the About page.
Something looks wrong
Wrong category, stale description, an app that should not be listed – tell us and we fix it, sponsored or not. The Rules page has the full detail.