You’ve launched. Downloads are coming in. But are they the right numbers? Are people sticking around? Is your listing actually working?
Without tracking the right metrics from day one, you can’t answer any of these questions. Here’s what to measure, what the numbers should look like, and where to find them.
The metrics that matter most
Conversion rate
This is the percentage of people who visit your listing and actually download. It’s the single best indicator of whether your store page is doing its job.
How to calculate it: Downloads ÷ Unique page views.
What “good” looks like: 40-60% is solid for most categories. Below 30% means your listing needs work — usually the screenshots, icon, or first line of your description.
Where to find it: App Store Connect (under App Analytics) or Google Play Console (under Store performance).
If your conversion rate is low, the fix is almost always visual. Better screenshots, a clearer value proposition in the first frame, or a more compelling icon will move this number more than anything else.
Impression-to-page-view rate
This tells you whether your icon and title are compelling enough to earn a tap when your app appears in search results.
What it means: Someone saw your app in a list — did they click through to learn more?
Where to find it: App Store Connect shows impressions and product page views separately. The ratio between them tells you how well your icon and title are performing in search results.
If you’re getting lots of impressions but few page views, your icon or title isn’t standing out. If you’re getting page views but few installs, your listing page needs work.
Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention
Retention tells you whether your app delivers on the promise your listing makes.
D1 retention (Day 1): What percentage of users come back the day after installing? This is your first checkpoint. If it’s low, your onboarding is failing — people downloaded but didn’t find enough value to return.
D7 retention (Day 7): Are users forming a habit? By day 7, you know whether people see your app as something worth using regularly.
D30 retention (Day 30): Long-term engagement. This number tells you if you’ve built something people actually need in their lives.
Benchmarks to aim for: D1 around 30%+, D7 around 20%+, D30 around 10%+. These vary a lot by category — games tend to have higher D1 but steeper drop-offs, while utility apps may start lower but retain more steadily.
Where to find it: App Store Connect (Retention tab in App Analytics), Google Play Console (User engagement section), or Firebase Analytics for more detailed cohort analysis.
Crash rate
Nothing kills retention faster than crashes. If your app crashes in the first session, that user is probably gone for good.
What to aim for: Below 1% crash rate is excellent. Between 1-2% is acceptable but needs attention. Above 2% requires immediate fixes.
Where to find it: App Store Connect (Performance section), Google Play Console (Quality section shows crashes and ANRs), or Firebase Crashlytics for detailed stack traces.
Google Play has a specific threshold: if more than 1.09% of daily active users experience a crash, your app gets flagged for “bad behavior” — which can hurt your visibility in the store.
Uninstall rate
When people are uninstalling matters as much as how many. If most uninstalls happen within the first day, your onboarding or first experience has a problem. If they happen after a week, it might be a content or engagement issue.
Where to find it: Google Play Console shows uninstalls directly. iOS doesn’t provide uninstall data natively, but you can infer it from retention metrics.
What tools to use
You don’t need expensive analytics suites to get started. Here’s what’s free and already available:
App Store Connect (iOS): Built-in analytics showing impressions, page views, downloads, conversion rate, retention cohorts, and crash data. This is your baseline for iOS. No setup required — it’s already tracking.
Google Play Console (Android): Similar to App Store Connect. Shows installs, uninstalls, ratings, crashes, ANRs, conversion rate, and retention. Also has built-in A/B testing for your store listing.
Firebase (both platforms): Free tier gives you detailed event tracking, retention cohorts, crash reporting (Crashlytics), and performance monitoring. Takes about 30 minutes to set up and gives you much deeper insight than the store dashboards alone.
Your tracking rhythm
Daily (first 2 weeks): Check crash rate and D1 retention. Fix critical issues immediately.
Weekly (first month): Review conversion rate, page views, and download trends. Look for patterns.
Monthly (ongoing): Full review of all metrics. Compare cohorts — are recent users retaining better than launch-week users? Update your listing based on what the data tells you.
The one thing most indie creators skip
Connecting your listing metrics to your retention metrics. If you change your screenshots and conversion goes up but D7 retention goes down, your screenshots might be attracting the wrong audience. The metrics only make sense when you look at them together.