Welcome to this month’s edition of ASO Monthly — your go-to update on what’s moving the needle in App Store Optimization.
We break down the latest algorithm changes, trends, and experiments across app stores, alongside CRO insights, tool updates, and developer platform news.
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December 20
Major Updates Observed During the Year:
January 23 2025: Epic Store expands its Mobile App Store with new titles. VPN apps receive verification badges on Google Play.
February 18: Apple starts removing apps without Trader Status in EU.
March 03: Apps on Google Play that support widgets now have higher chances of discoverability as Google added a filter to sort apps with widget support.
March 13th: All Google Play mobile games to be available on PC by default.
March 31: Apple started showing AI-generated review summaries in 18.4 beta as well as started indexing natural, descriptive text and showcasing app results against the queries. This change was made fully available with the iOS26 release across the globe.
April 14: Google Play adds new vitals and redesigns the Android Vitals dashboard. The new vitals include pre-review checks and large-screen layout issues.
April 14: Apple Search Ads become Apple Ads, showing Apple’s intent towards expanding the non-Search placements.
April 25: Google Play Promotion Content Events can now target custom audiences via a list of 5000 email addresses.
May 13: Accessibility Nutrition Labels come to the App Store with a focus on highlighting the in-app accessibility features such as voiceover, voice control, larger text, etc.
May 26: Google Play introduces “Ask Play about this app”, an AI-driven Q&A section which helps users by answering most relevant questions about the app features, performance, content.
June 06: Apple changes the App Store algorithm significantly. This one had the highest anomaly score since 2020. Speculations around Apple may be indexing captions from within the screenshots, sorting apps based on their app content remain prevalent.
June 09: Apple announced in the WWDC sessions that Custom Product Pages will be able to target keywords organically and appear in the search results. Apple also announced App Tags, labels on product page showcasing the functionality of the app.
June 17: Google confirmed that it will remove the Android Instant apps by December 2025.
July 01: Google Play elevates in-game achievements & rewards as a discovery and engagement lever via its improved Google Play Games Services.
July 30: Publishers can now directly upload assets to Google Play Console via Google Drive.
August 15: Google introduces “Quick Insights” within Google Play Console which helps explain analytics charts.
August 20: Amazon announced that it will be shutting down its App Store for Android devices except Fire tablets and TV.
August 27: Google introduced auto-open toggle which allows the users to launch an app automatically within 5 seconds of an install.
September 15: Apple launches iOS26 and along with it, App Tags, CPP with organic keywords, and other features are widely made available. A new dedicated Games app is also introduced to act as a hub for better game management on users devices.
September 23: Google introduces ‘You’ tab, an enhanced gaming profile experience as well as AI-guide Search which now better leverages natural language processing. Immersive header on some store listings also makes a debut.
September 27: Google rolls out the Level up program which rewards high-quality gaming titles with a higher visibility and better retention support if they follow the guidelines and ensure a high-quality experience to the users.
October 1st: Major keyword search popularity shift is reported with multiple keywords now showing a low popularity. As per the industry reports, this change happened due to a change on Apple backend where it stopped showing popularity for keywords with a search volume below 50.
October 2nd: The enhanced Game Profile rolls out on Google Play allowing users to track their achievements, streaks, and gaming statistics in one place.
October 18: Google has integrated Gemini-powered App Strings translation directly in the Play Console, letting publishers translate strings from their app bundles in draft releases.
October 30: Apple increases the total number of available Custom Product Pages from 35 to 70.
December 05: Google Play starts rolling out Play Games Sidekick Beta.
December 17: Apple announced additional Search results opportunities in 2026.
December 18: OpenAI launches ChatGPT app store.
With 2025 concluded, it’s a good time to look back and understand what changed in the app industry this year — and more importantly, what it means for ASO practitioners to plan for 2026. Let’s start with the biggest updates we observed across the stores.
Massive algorithm change observed in the App Store
While Google regularly updates its Play Store algorithms, Apple is usually known for stability and fewer noticeable shifts. That’s why the change spotted around June 2025 stood out as multiple ASO monitoring tools flagged a major wave of fluctuations in keyword ranking, which strongly suggested a keyword-based App Store algorithm update.
At first, there was a lot of speculation around Apple indexing screenshot captions. However, there still isn’t enough solid evidence to confidently say that’s happening. we tested this theory multiple times myself, but the results didn’t support it.
What we did notice, though, was a change in the way Apple seemed to interpret relevance. It felt like rankings were influenced less by pure keyword matching and more by what the app actually offers —> its features, content, and overall purpose. For example, we saw many AI apps appearing for terms related to productivity and note taking, and more feature-led apps showing up on searches that previously returned only “classic” category leaders.
Another interesting shift was that Apple seemed to reduce visibility for competitor keyword targeting. Several apps stopped ranking for competitor terms they had historically been strong on and while some rankings returned later, it made one thing clear: relying too heavily on competitor targeting is becoming riskier.
This update is still being decoded, but the direction seems clear. Apple is moving toward ranking apps based more on user intent and product quality and less on “who can game the system better” through aggressive or irrelevant keyword tactics.
What we expect in 2026 (Apple)
If this trend continues, 2026 could be the year where “classic keyword strategy” matters less on its own, and ASO success depends more on how relevant your app matches with user intent. That means apps with strong positioning, feature clarity, and tighter messaging may have an advantage even if they don’t have the largest brand or the most aggressive metadata.
We also expect Apple to keep pushing a more structured discovery system, where App Tags, user intent, and contextual relevance play a bigger role. For ASO teams, that likely means spending more time aligning metadata, creatives, and even in-app UX so Apple can confidently understand “what the app is” and “who it’s for.”
Google Play Store’s big shift toward engagement & AI
On the Play Store side, 2025 was packed with AI-driven enhancements but in a way that mostly helped rather than disrupted ASO workflows. We saw things like AI-generated Q&A, Gemini-powered translation support, AI review summaries, more video surfaces through YouTube integration, and new or improved console metrics that made store performance easier to monitor.
What stood out is that Google isn’t just improving discovery; it’s turning the Play Store into a deeper experience where users spend more time evaluating apps before downloading, and (in some cases) re-engaging with apps they already know.
What we expect in 2026 (Google Play)
Going into 2026, we predict that Play Store will create even more opportunities for ASO teams to influence engagement and not just installs. The listing will continue evolving into something closer to a “mini landing page,” where videos, community signals, reviews, and smart AI surfaces shape the decision.
We also expect reactivation to become a bigger part of ASO’s role on Google Play. Instead of thinking only in terms of “new users,” teams will increasingly optimize store presence for existing, lapsed, and churned users too. For example, the same app could (and should) show different messaging to someone discovering it for the first time vs. someone who installed it before but dropped off.
This is where Custom Store Listings and audience-led creative strategies can become a real growth lever. With the right message and visuals, ASO practitioners may be able to pull back churned users organically, without always having to rely on paid re-engagement campaigns.
Finally, with AI-driven modules like Q&A and review summaries becoming more prominent, we may also see a shift where the store doesn’t just show your content; it interprets it for the user. That means ASO teams will need to think more carefully about how clearly the app’s value is communicated, and what themes are repeatedly reinforced in reviews, updates, and product messaging.
ASO with Experts:
If 2025 showed us anything, it’s that ASO is slowly moving away from “keyword mechanics” and toward “real product relevance.” Apple seems to be tightening quality and intent matching, while Google is expanding the store into a more engagement-led ecosystem. In 2026, the apps that win won’t just rank well; they’ll communicate better, convert better, and keep users coming back.
Talha Mumtaz
Senior Growth Manager
