How Our Metrics For Mobile Apps Work
Learn how AppMagic measures mobile app performance and keeps its core metrics up to date.
— Victoria Beliaeva
At AppMagic, we take data accuracy seriously. Every day, app rankings shift, new data flows in from different sources, and we continuously adjust our models. That’s why our system constantly updates and recalculates the data to stay reliable.
There are several ways we handle data updates:
Daily Update
Our revenue and downloads data is updated daily, with previous-day figures processed between 12 AM and 2 AM CET. After each update, there may be minor shifts in the charts—top positions change very little, while apps in the middle or lower usually move by no more than 10%.
Why update daily?
The app's position in the stores’ top charts reflects its actual performance with a delay of about 1–2 days, and processing it takes roughly a day. That’s why the revenue and downloads estimates we show for the last two days are predictions and subject to be revisited in the next two days.
Weekly Update
The metric estimates are also slightly adjusted several times during the first two weeks, as long as data from additional sources continues to arrive.
Besides, multiple small apps get detected on the Google Play Store within their first several weeks of life, so total performance by genre may be adjusted by up to 10% for downloads and up to 2% for IAP revenue figures.
Quarterly Recalculation
Every quarter, we review and update our entire model dating back to 2021, accounting for recent changes to the model itself and new inputs from publishers and commercial data sources. These recalculations usually result in small adjustments—typically 1–4%—and mostly affect specific categories or countries.
Other metrics affected by updates:
Session Metrics (Number & Duration): Data for the previous month becomes available during the first 3 to 4 days of the current month. Past data might be updated, but usually only the latest month is adjusted, without affecting any past periods.
Retention: We start calculating retention one week after an app’s initial release—as long as it gets more than 1,000 downloads per week.
During the first week of each month, retention values for the previous month are recalculated, and data for the current month appears. New apps may also be added during this update.
DAU / MAU: DAU is available for all apps with a retention figure.
Data from the previous day becomes available around 3 AM CET and then updates for the entire period. While most updates are minor, sometimes a more significant adjustment may occur if new data sources are added.
Apple Ads / Store Search Ranking: Previous-day data appears around 5 PM CET.
Ad Intelligence: Data for the day before yesterday is published around 10 PM CET. The entire history may be updated, including retroactive changes to earlier periods.
We’ll be happy to get your feedback at [email protected]