App Store Personalization


What is App Store Personalization
App Store personalization is Apple’s process in surfacing the most relevant apps to individual users at the most relevant time, which came with the arrival at the end of 2018 with Apple’s iOS 12. Apple started to show lists that were personalized in different areas in the App Store. For example, they introduced an additional list at the bottom of each App Store page that offers suggestions of games and apps users might like and is personalized at the user level.
These suggestions depend on many factors including install history and which terms (keywords) have been used to search in the past, making lists varied and unique for each user. Apple is looking to show a user apps that they would most likely want to install.
As Apple articulates: “Where available, you can discover new content with recommendations just for you—inspired by your downloads, purchases, and other activities.”
Why App Store Personalization is Important
If ‘app personalization’ is the process of making an app meet the needs of specific audiences, App Store personalization is the process of making the App Store meet the needs of specific audiences.
It’s important because it’s another avenue to be aware of to improve an app / game’s discoverability. Getting on those recommended lists isn’t the equivalent to being ‘featured’ (which you can read about in this glossary term) as an app or game isn’t visible to 100% of users, but it’s certainly something to be aware of when looking for ways to expose users to an app. As personalization works at a user level, It’s not possible to track; there isn’t one tool that tracks all the instances where an app / game is featured on a list.
Apple’s personalization offerings show the App Store’s adaptability and reactivity to a landscape that offers more scope for personalization (Google Play had been personalizing content on its main page via the ‘For You’ tab much earlier.) Apple is building momentum with personalization tools so it will be important to keep an eye out on how they bring this forward in the future.
App Store Personalization and ASO
This personalization term has been more of a discussion than outlining clear steps on how to get an app on a personalized list. It’s important for ASO, as a process and industry, to be on the frontline and to keep track of how Apple is developing and changing the App Store to surface apps to users, whether that’s via an App Store page or in instances where an app or game appears elsewhere in the App Store. This will allow ASO teams to better understand the audience reaching their app/game product page and optimize it accordingly.
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- User Segmentation
- User Acquisition for Mobile Apps
- Paid App User Acquisition
- Organic User Acquisition
- Explorative Users
- Decisive Users
- App Store Update
- Supply Side Platform
- Software Development Kit (SDK)
- Soft Launch
- SKAdNetwork
- Sessions Per Active Device
- Sales Per Paying User
- Google Play Search
- Apple Search Ads
- App Store Subtitle
- App Store Seasonality
- App Store Search
- App Store Screenshots
- App Store Screenshot View Rate
- App Store Sales
- App Store Analytics: Standard Downloads
- App Store Analytics: Source Type
- App Store Analytics: App Store Sessions
- App Size
- Rewarded Video Ads
- Return on Ad spend (ROAS)
- Replicated App Store Page
- Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
- Re-engagement
- Google Play Third-party Referral
- Google Play Ranking
- App Store Web Referral
- App Store Reviews
- App Store Review Engagement Rate
- App Store Redownloads
- App Store Ratings
- App Store Ranking
- App Store App Referral
- App Store Analytics: Region
- App Retention Rate
- Product Page Conversion Rate
- Proceeds Per Paying Users
- Preloaded Apps
- Pre/Post App Store Tests
- Post-Install Event
- Playable Mobile Ads
- Performance Marketing
- Pay Per Install
- Google Play Product Page
- Google Play Personalization
- Apple’s Product Page Optimization (PPO)
- App Store Product Page Views (Unique Devices)
- App Store Product Page Views
- App Store Product Page
- App Store Proceeds
- App Store Preview Videos
- App Store Pre-Orders
- App Store Pre-Launch
- App Store Paying Users
- App Store Page Scroll Rate
- App Store Analytics: Purchasable Item
- App Store Analytics: Product Page
- App Store Analytics: Pre Orders
- App Store Analytics: Platform Version
- App Store Analytics: Page Type
- Monthly Active Users (MAU)
- Mobile Growth
- Mobile Game Monetization
- Mobile Game Marketing
- Mobile Game Business Model
- Mobile Delivery Platform
- Mobile Bid Adjustment
- Mobile Attribution Window
- Mobile Attribution Manipulation
- Mobile App Retention
- Mobile App Onboarding
- Mobile App Monetization
- Mobile App Advertising
- Mobile Ad Viewability
- Mobile Ad Fraud
- Mobile App Growth
- Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU)
- Average Revenue Per Daily Engaged User (ARPDEU)
- Average Revenue Per Daily Active User (ARPDAU)
- Attribution
- ARPU – Average Revenue Per User
- Apple Arcade
- Apple App Store Connect
- App Store Optimization (ASO)
- App Store Audience Testing
- App Store Analytics: App Version
- App Store Analytics: App Store Active Devices
- App Store Analytics: App Referrer
- App Store Analytics: Active In Last 30 Days
- App Store Acquisition Channels
- App Store A/B testing
- Ad Unit
- Ad Server
- Ad Revenue
- Ad Network
- Ad Mediation
- Ad Impression
- Ad Exchange
- A/B Testing Statistics
- Keyword Localization
- K-Factor
- Google Play Keywords
- App Store Keywords Research
- App Store Keywords
- App Store and Google Play Keywords Optimization
- Interstitial Ads
- Interactive Ads
- Installs Per Mille (IPM)
- In-App Events
- In-App Bidding
- In-App Advertising
- Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA)
- App Store In-App Purchases
- App Store Impressions (Unique Devices)
- App Store Impressions
- App Store Icon
- App Store Analytics: Installations
- App Install Rates
- App Influencer Marketing
- Growth Loop
- Google Play Points
- Google Play Pass
- Google Play Experiments
- Google Play Developer Console
- Google Advertising ID (GAID)
- Gametech (Game Technology)
- Game Bundles
- Google Play Short Description
- Google Play Long Description
- Deep Linking
- Daily Active Users (DAU)
- App Store Description Read Rate
- App Store App Description
- App Store Analytics: Device
- App Store Analytics: App Store Deletions
- App Store Analytics: App Download Date
- Google Play Creatives
- CTR (Click Through Rate)
- Cross Promotion
- Cost Per View (CPV)
- Cost Per Mille (CPM)
- Cost per Install
- Cost Per Engagement (CPE)
- Cost Per Completed View (CPCV)
- Cost Per Click (CPC)
- Cost Per Action (CPA)
- Churn Rate
- Casual Games
- Apple’s Custom Product Pages
- App Store Culturalization
- App Store Creatives
- App Store Conversion Rate
- App Store Categories
- App Store Analytics: Campaign
- App Store Analytics: App Store Crashes
- App Conversion Rate
- App Clip Sessions
- App Clip Installations
- App Clip Crashes
- App Clip Card Views (Unique)
- App Clip Card Views
- App Clip Active Devices
Related Terms
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App Store App Referral
App Store app referral is a traffic source that includes visitors that come to an app store listing via apps (not from the web).
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App Store Search
App Store Search is an organic traffic source that includes all users who find an app after searching for a query or keyword in the search tab in the App Store.
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App Store Browse
App Store Browse is an organic traffic source which includes all visitors that arrived to an app while browsing Top Charts, Category Charts, the Today tab or Featuring placements.
Related Resources

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