# ASO Monthly #42 October 2019: Attribution Issue in App Store Connect, Release of Dark Mode on the Play Store, and more!

- Link: https://phiture.com/asostack/aso-monthly-42-october-2019-attribution-issue-in-app-store-connect-release-of-dark-mode-on-the-bd0a80c9d5c3/
- Published: 2019-11-04T20:45:01+01:00
- Author: Adzsa Hatano

_Phiture is hiring for a key role to lead our evergrowing ASO team. You’ll be responsible
for leading and overseeing the success of our App Store Optimization service team
and help Phiture to lead the way in mobile growth. Read more about the role [here](https://phiture-jobs.personio.de/)_

[_Subscribe_](https://mobilegrowthstack.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4d2da17c757d7c515b6d50d6a&id=2e141c3528)_
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_This update was written by Adzsa Hatano, ASO Specialist at Phiture._

#### ⌊ASO Monthly #42 October 2019- Attribution Issue in App Store Connect, Release of Dark Mode on the Play Store, and more! ⌉⌊ASO Monthly #42 October 2019- Attribution Issue in App Store Connect, Release of Dark Mode on the Play Store, and more! ⌉

#### **_Find our list of mobile marketing conferences for 2020 here: _**󠀁[**_Mobile Conference & Events 2020_**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HU-HGlUyjruHUyimv3L0CY8Kn0UBaFAIiKNrCu1TQPc/edit#gid=1832173243)󠁿**_._**

### **2nd October — Google officially releases dark mode on the Play Store**

After being in testing for over a month, dark mode on the Play Store has finally
been rolled out to the public. In comparison with the light mode, dark mode allows
creative assets to stand out more due to a less shadowy effect. The main benefits
of dark mode are [longer battery life](https://9to5google.com/2018/11/08/google-dark-themes-android-battery/)
and a screen that is easier on the eyes, which is likely to encourage many users
to switch to it. It’s therefore important to make sure that creative assets look
good in both light and dark mode.

[Alessandra Izzo](https://asostack.com/@Alemaya), an ASO Consultant at Phiture, 
found one of the innovative icons from Flipboard. The icon is designed to include
a transparent background, hence the “F” in the icon works nicely on both a white
and black background.

⌊flipboard's store listing light and dark mode on play store⌉⌊flipboard's store 
listing light and dark mode on play store⌉

_Flipboard’s Store Listing page (light and dark mode) on the Play Store_

### **13th October — Search Impressions attributed as Browse Impressions**

[Ilia Kukharev](https://twitter.com/ilyakuh?lang=en) from the ASO Stack Slack community
flagged an attribution issue in App Store Connect.

⌊ilia kukharev on aso stack slack community⌉⌊ilia kukharev on aso stack slack community⌉

_Source: [ASO Stack Slack](https://asostack.slack.com/archives/C628Z5M7X/p1571001692063700)_

_Impressions_ from_ Search_ have been wrongly attributed to those from_ Browse _across
all locales, while _Impressions_ from _App Referrer _and _Web Referrer_ and _App
Units_ from all channels seem correct. It is most likely due to the release of iOS
13, in mid-September. This means that the _Search_ conversion rate exceeds 100% 
and ASO practitioners face difficulty in analyzing the impact of ASO.

### **15th October — 50% of all iPhone devices have installed iOS 13**

Apple has officially revealed the latest shares of iOS versions on iPhone devices,
which suggests that iOS13 has been installed on half of the devices about one month
after its release.

⌊iphone devices and iOS 13⌉⌊iphone devices and iOS 13⌉

_Source:[ Apple Developer](https://developer.apple.com/support/app-store/)_

What does it mean for your ASO strategy? Today, a few impactful main features for
ASO, such as Apple Arcade and dark mode, are present on one in two iPhone devices.
Although there is no official statement on how many people use dark mode, we can
estimate that the number will be relatively high, considering that [it increases the life of your battery](https://9to5mac.com/2019/10/20/dark-mode-iphone-battery-life-test/#more-615953).

### **17th October — How does ****_What’s New_**** look like?**

You can probably still remember when [_Material Theme Design_ rolled out in the Play Store](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-august-2019-google-play-tags-material-design-live-and-hourly-data-in-app-store-492a85c39f29).
It was spotted, once the new design had gone live, that the beginning and the end
of the text in _What’s new_ appear in an app listing, and so the middle of it is
cut off (see image below).

⌊adobe scan in play store⌉⌊adobe scan in play store⌉

_Example: Adobe Scan in the Play Store_

[XDA-Developers Android Forums](https://www.xda-developers.com/google-play-store-changelog-awkward-phrasing/)
reports that this has brought “some humorous and NSFW text combinations” because
where it cuts off depends on screen size, font size, and orientation. You can’t 
be too careful — so it’s advisable to pay a little extra attention!

⌊Paypal and HotStar⌉⌊Paypal and HotStar⌉

_Source: [XDA-Developers Android Forums](https://www.xda-developers.com/google-play-store-changelog-awkward-phrasing/)_

### **25th October — Google is testing a new review section**

In [ASO Monthly #41](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-september-2019-ios-13-release-new-play-store-in-app-review-prompt-preview-and-a55f69b10fb2),
we have seen that Google has been working on simplifying the review process with
a new in-app review prompt on the Play Store, which hopefully will encourage users
to leave valuable feedback for developers. Today, [Rita El Khoury](https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/10/25/play-store-tests-include-new-in-app-review-dialogs-and-a-dedicated-reviews-section/)
has found that Google is testing a new reviewing section under the _My apps & games_
section, and it shows a list of apps that you have not yet reviewed and a list of
apps you have. Whilst it seems functionally incomplete (e.g. including removed apps),
it will prompt users to manage their ratings and reviews.

⌊ratings and reviews on google play store⌉⌊ratings and reviews on google play store⌉

_Source: [Android Police](https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/10/25/play-store-tests-include-new-in-app-review-dialogs-and-a-dedicated-reviews-section/)_

Left: New ‘reviews’ in the installed tab under the ‘my apps & games’ section.

Middle: The list of unreviewed apps with star ratings and “write a review”

Right: The list of posted reviews

### **28th October — More than 22 million reviews were temporarily unavailable in the App Store**

[Appfigures](https://blog.appfigures.com/apple-erases-more-than-20-million-ratings-in-two-days/)
reports that over 22 million reviews were removed on the 23rd of October, which 
affected more than 300 apps in the App Store. Some apps (e.g. Hulu, Chase, Dropbox)
lost 85–95% ratings in the US regardless of whether they were positive or negative,
according to the report. Indeed, ratings for Hulu in the US decreased from 4.7 to
3.8, which is substantial. However, on 29th October, total ratings and average ratings
recovered accordingly. Apps that have experienced this problem and also have weak
brand recognition would see not a desirable conversion rate over a period of a few
days.

⌊reviews temporarily inavailable in the app store⌉⌊reviews temporarily inavailable
in the app store⌉

_Source: AppTweak_

Left: Hulu’s total numbers of ratings in the US.

Right: Hulu’s average ratings in the US

Initially, this was considered as either an error or a deliberate action to clean
up fake ratings and reviews. After efforts by ASO practitioners to inform them of
the problem, Apple has now fixed the issue accordingly.

⌊aso stack slack⌉⌊aso stack slack⌉

_Source:[ ASO Stack Slack](https://asostack.slack.com/archives/C628Z5M7X/p1572274344184900),
30th October 2019._

### **28th October — English (UK) is indexed in the Australia App Store**

[Rad ASO](https://twitter.com/aso_rad/status/1188913836784607232) has identified
that English (UK) has started being indexed in Australia again. It is widely known
that, besides local languages, [English (UK) is also indexed worldwide](https://asostack.com/increasing-the-number-of-keywords-in-app-store-optimization-by-localization-daa02ffd8946),
except for a few countries including Australia. However, this change opens up an
opportunity for ASO in Australia (and New Zealand) by creating more opportunities
for keyword stuffing.

Note: Keywords cannot be combined from different locales: having “food” in your 
English (UK) keywords, and “delivery” in your English (AU) keywords, you won’t rank
for “food delivery”.

⌊rad aso post⌉⌊rad aso post⌉

_Source: [Rad ASO](https://twitter.com/aso_rad/status/1188913836784607232)_

### **Upcoming events in November**

5th in Berlin: [ATS Berlin 2019](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ats-berlin-2019-tickets-53057046053?aff=ebdssbdestsearch?utm_source=phiture_conf_list)

7th -8th in Oslo: [Mobile Era 2019](https://mobileera.rocks/?utm_source=phiture_conf_list)

7th-8th in San Francisco: [Open Mobile & Digital Experience Summit SF](https://events.incite-group.com/oms/?utm_source=phiture_conf_list)

13th-14th in Paris: [Mobile One](https://www.mobile.one/?utm_source=phiture_conf_list)

20th in Singapore: [App Growth Summit Singapore 2019](https://appgrowthsummit.com/events/app-growth-summit-singapore-2019/?utm_source=phiture_conf_list)

…..

#### **Find out more conferences in **󠀁[**2019**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HU-HGlUyjruHUyimv3L0CY8Kn0UBaFAIiKNrCu1TQPc/edit#gid=1739888262)󠁿** and **󠀁[**2020**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HU-HGlUyjruHUyimv3L0CY8Kn0UBaFAIiKNrCu1TQPc/edit#gid=1832173243)󠁿**!**

### **Tools updates**

#### 󠀁[**[NEW] App & Play Store Market Intelligence – ASO Blog**](https://www.apptweak.com/aso-blog/new-app-play-store-market-intelligence)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Market Intelligence is now live on AppTweak! Over the last months, we’ve been working on a whole new Add-On for our ASO…](https://www.apptweak.com/aso-blog/new-app-play-store-market-intelligence)󠁿

#### 󠀁[www.apptweak.com](https://www.apptweak.com/aso-blog/new-app-play-store-market-intelligence)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**[NEW]: Measure Your Apps’ Visibility in Similar Apps – ASO Blog**](https://www.apptweak.com/aso-blog/new-measure-your-apps-visibility-in-similar-apps)󠁿

#### 󠀁[New insights on your browse and explore traffic are now available on AppTweak! We have revamped the whole similar apps…](https://www.apptweak.com/aso-blog/new-measure-your-apps-visibility-in-similar-apps)󠁿

#### 󠀁[www.apptweak.com](https://www.apptweak.com/aso-blog/new-measure-your-apps-visibility-in-similar-apps)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Search Ads Keyword Popularity Checker**](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/search-ads-keyword-popula/gbipnkpnnngmnbpeeikkkhaamelgaljb)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Check the popularity of App Store keywords without leaving your Search Ads dashboard saving time and empowering ASO…](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/search-ads-keyword-popula/gbipnkpnnngmnbpeeikkkhaamelgaljb)󠁿

#### 󠀁[chrome.google.com](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/search-ads-keyword-popula/gbipnkpnnngmnbpeeikkkhaamelgaljb)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**New ASO Keyword Tools to Increase the Visibility of Your App**](https://blog.appfigures.com/new-aso-keyword-tools-to-increase-the-visibility-of-your-app/?utm_source=appfigures&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aso-related)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Our ASO tools now include two new ways for you to find more keywords you can optimize for: Related Keywords, which…](https://blog.appfigures.com/new-aso-keyword-tools-to-increase-the-visibility-of-your-app/?utm_source=appfigures&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aso-related)󠁿

#### 󠀁[blog.appfigures.com](https://blog.appfigures.com/new-aso-keyword-tools-to-increase-the-visibility-of-your-app/?utm_source=appfigures&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aso-related)󠁿

### **Interesting Reads**

#### 󠀁[**Listing on AppGallery: a step-by-step guide and a glance of the Developer Console**](https://asostack.com/listing-on-appgallery-a-step-by-step-guide-and-a-glance-of-the-developer-console-4dcc6169a7c0)󠁿

#### 󠀁[A step-by-step guide to help you list your app on Huawei AppGallery and help you understand the metrics in the…](https://asostack.com/listing-on-appgallery-a-step-by-step-guide-and-a-glance-of-the-developer-console-4dcc6169a7c0)󠁿

#### 󠀁[asostack.com](https://asostack.com/listing-on-appgallery-a-step-by-step-guide-and-a-glance-of-the-developer-console-4dcc6169a7c0)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Sherlock 🕵️‍♂️ — The ASO Inspector**](https://asostack.com/sherlock-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-the-aso-inspector-bf771e744a7b)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Sherlock an open-source tool, which produces reports on conversion, downloads, update impact analysis, seasonality, and…](https://asostack.com/sherlock-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-the-aso-inspector-bf771e744a7b)󠁿

#### 󠀁[asostack.com](https://asostack.com/sherlock-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-the-aso-inspector-bf771e744a7b)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Understanding searches better than ever before**](https://blog.google/products/search/search-language-understanding-bert/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the 15 years working on Google Search, it’s that people’s curiosity is endless…](https://blog.google/products/search/search-language-understanding-bert/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[blog.google](https://blog.google/products/search/search-language-understanding-bert/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Will 2020 Be the Year of Android Gaming? | Liftoff**](https://liftoff.io/blog/will-2020-be-the-year-of-android-gaming/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Liftoff Report VIEW & DOWNLOAD REPORT This report is offered in English, Japanese and Chinese. Liftoff’s 2019 Gaming…](https://liftoff.io/blog/will-2020-be-the-year-of-android-gaming/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[liftoff.io](https://liftoff.io/blog/will-2020-be-the-year-of-android-gaming/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Apple’s New Subscription Management Prompt Seems to Be Working**](https://www.revenuecat.com/2019/10/09/iOS-13-subscription-management-prompt)󠁿

#### 󠀁[A quick look at trial conversion data on iOS 13. The past few years have seen a scourge of shady subscription apps…](https://www.revenuecat.com/2019/10/09/iOS-13-subscription-management-prompt)󠁿

#### 󠀁[www.revenuecat.com](https://www.revenuecat.com/2019/10/09/iOS-13-subscription-management-prompt)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Global App Revenue Grew 23% Year-Over-Year Last Quarter to $21.9 Billion**](https://sensortower.com/blog/app-revenue-and-downloads-q3-2019)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Mobile consumers spent an estimated $21.9 billion on apps across the App Store and Google Play in Q3 2019, according to…](https://sensortower.com/blog/app-revenue-and-downloads-q3-2019)󠁿

#### 󠀁[sensortower.com](https://sensortower.com/blog/app-revenue-and-downloads-q3-2019)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**App Icon: 17 Ultimate Tips to Improve It + Tools to Create It**](https://thetool.io/2019/app-icon-tips-tools)󠁿

#### 󠀁[In this article we are going to see the different required sizes of app icons for App Store and Google Play, some tips…](https://thetool.io/2019/app-icon-tips-tools)󠁿

#### 󠀁[thetool.io](https://thetool.io/2019/app-icon-tips-tools)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Similar Apps Visibility Q3 2019 Report – TheTool**](https://thetool.io/similar-apps-visibility-q3-2019-report?ref=producthunt)󠁿

#### 󠀁[Similar Apps Visibility 2019 Q3 Report Hey there, ASO friend, We’re more than happy to announce you that our Google…](https://thetool.io/similar-apps-visibility-q3-2019-report?ref=producthunt)󠁿

#### 󠀁[thetool.io](https://thetool.io/similar-apps-visibility-q3-2019-report?ref=producthunt)󠁿

#### 󠀁[**Two fundamental problems with product A/B testing**](https://mobiledevmemo.com/two-fundamental-problems-with-product-a-b-testing/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[I joined the Deconstructor of Fun podcast last week for a discussion around the future of growth teams, and the topic…](https://mobiledevmemo.com/two-fundamental-problems-with-product-a-b-testing/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[mobiledevmemo.com](https://mobiledevmemo.com/two-fundamental-problems-with-product-a-b-testing/)󠁿

#### Thanks to Moritz Daan.