One thing we wanted to make sure is that our App score, our quality score for apps, is solid enough to be released. Before we released it we ran all kinds of tests to make sure the data we collect is reliable enough.

About 2 months ago, Apple released a ranking of the All time Top downloaded Apps. The only company that can do that is Apple because they got, of course, all the download information per app. This ranking is precisely a list of the top apps downloaded per country.

At Appsfire we, of course, don’t have access to that information, but our App score is composed among other parameters of the Ranking Score - which tracks the evolution of a rank over time.

So we ran a little comparison. The results are compelling. Most of the top 20 apps announced by Apple were in our Top Ranking score. In other words we could, out of our internal data, track what are the most downloaded app. Here is an example with the All time top paid apps.

Where is the difference coming from?

• We started to track that information about 2 years ago, when the app store exists for longer
• The ranking apple publishes is local, App score is global
• Apple’s data is of course the most accurate for tracking download because this is the source. App score is a (good) approximation

Now here is the interesting part: if you rank apps by App score, meaning quality and not just Ranking Score, the results would be pretty different

For example: the Apple’s Top Free iphone app ever downloaded is Facebook [App Score 33] but in reality the #1 App score app is Temple Run. Facebook because of its consistent low rating does not even show up in the top 25 [too many users actually complain about the experience]. It is a best seller and a “top developer” but certainly not a quality app.

This is where App score matters. The most downloaded apps are not necessarily the best. Many users already “feel” or “know” it. Now there is a way to validate it.