APP UNINSTALL RATES

ANDROID BENCHMARKS REPORT

By Jared Ornstead
Sales Engineer
Apsalar, Inc.
 ABOUT THIS
REPORT
Mobile app marketers are focusing more of their attention on
the quality of users they attract with their install marketing
campaigns. One of the key ways to get at user quality
measurement is to understand how many people uninstall an app
soon after the initial download. In other words, what percentage
of installers get rid of the app soon after download?
For many mobile app marketers, it has been difficult to calculate
uninstall rates, because the leading mobile app measurement
solutions historically did not offer a means to determine whether
or not an app had been uninstalled. While standalone mobile app
uninstall measurement platforms have existed for some time,
relatively few mobile apps have adopted such technology.
Granular uninstall measurement enables
a marketer to collect diagnostic information
that can be relevant to improving return on ad spend and
key revenue metrics.
Benchmarks are critical to assessing the uninstall rates for
specific apps. Providing those benchmarks is what this
report is all about. We will be delivering quarterly uninstall
benchmarking reports to help our clients and the industry
understand macro trends for this important measure of app
health.

Apsalar changed the dynamics of mobile app uninstall rate

WHY WE FOCUS ON ANDROID
measurement in January, 2016, when we launched uninstall
attribution to our popular mobile app analytics platform.
4-WEEK UNINSTALL RATES

Marketers are most interested in understanding and

mitigating uninstall rate problems in the first weeks of a
customer engagement. Most data show that after a few
weeks, user behavior is mostly set for the long haul.
Apsalar Uninstall Attribution Measurement reveals:
Apsalar has chosen to initially develop four-week uninstall
The overall uninstall rate for an app across the entire
benchmarks as a means of ensuring that
business.
we can provide sound data for this new area of measurement
for the industry. As adoption of our uninstall attribution
The uninstall rates for specific aspects of a marketing
measurement product continues to grow in the months
program, such as individual campaigns and
ahead, we will expand our benchmarking.
executions, media partners, regions and cohorts.
We track Android only because Android’s open systyem
makes deterministic measurement relatively straightforward.
We hope to also track iOS in the near future..

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 DETERMINISTIC
METHODOLOGY
Apsalar uses a “silent push” methodology to deterministically
calculate uninstall rates across the Android universe. With
the silent push method, a silent push notification is sent to
every device advertising ID that has reported an install. If
the app is still present on a device, then the push is recorded
as delivered. If the push notification cannot be delivered
because the app has been deregistered, we record that
instance of the app as uninstalled.

We have chosen this method because there is no guesswork

or probability to a recorded uninstall. The app is either there
or it isn’t.

As you go through the figures in the document, you may

see that our figures are a bit lower than the uninstall figures
reported by other companies. One key reason for this is
that sometimes some other companies use “retention” or
login reports to calculate uninstalls. These are measures
of the number of people that launch or login to an app
during a particular time period. But no launch or login does
not necessarily mean that an app has been uninstalled –
only that it hasn’t been used. Both uninstall measures and
“retention” metrics have value for marketers, but they are
measures of very different circumstances.

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 GLOBAL AVERAGE
4-WEEK UNINSTALL RATES

%
Average four-week uninstall rate across all regions and categories United States
was 21%. Rates for specific regions are provided where our sample is Average

20%
large enough and has been in place long enough to provide stable
and statistically significant data.

Future reports will include additional regional data as more and

more companies adopt uninstall attribution and we can offer
statistically reliable figures for other geographies.

Asia-Pacific
Average

32%
Q1 2016
Global 4-Week
Android Uninstall Average

21%
India
Average

27%

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 4-WEEK Android
UNINSTALL RATES BY CATEGORY

Average 4-Week
Category Description
Uninstall Rate for Q1 2016
Apps that facilitate delivery of upon-request digital services.
On-Demand Services Examples include food delivery, ride share, laundry and 12%
parking services
Entertainment Apps related to daily life activities and interests. For example,
17%
and Lifestyle fitness, food, astrological, video and reference apps
Apps whose primary purpose is to facilitate purchases via a
Retail and Shopping mobile phone. This includes brand specific as well as leading 28%
retailer apps
Apps whose primary purpose is competitive entertainment
Gaming 29%
and diversion. Includes free and paid versions of games
Both transactional and companion apps delivered by
Travel 31%
companies in the travel business

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 Range of Uninstall
Rates by Leading Vendors
There were large differences in the average uninstall rates driven by
media vendors.

The worst performing leading vendor drove uninstall rates more

than 6 times higher than the best performing network.

Because uninstall performance by vendor varies across individual clients, we do not

reveal the rates or rankings of specific vendors. Sometimes a usually middling performer
Note

delivers low uninstall results for specific clients. Similarly, usually outstanding uninstall
performers can show higher rates of uninstalls for specific clients or categories. This is
why gathering and interpreting the data for your specific business is essential.

Average 4-Week Android Uninstall Rates

Top 30 Media Partners*

12% 21% 78%

01 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

* Top 30 media partners refers to the top media companies in use by Apsalar clients. Ranking is based on total monthly installs.

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BEST PRACTICES FOR USING
UNINSTALL MEASUREMENT AS
PART OF YOUR OPTIMIZATION PROGRAMS
Think of install rates as a means of investigating a potential issue. All marketers know that their focus for marketing effectiveness
measurement should be on maximizing KPIs. Orders, revenue, engagements, whatever the key metric. Optimizing uninstalls isn’t an end
but rather a means to an end.

1 4
Benchmark! First, identify your benchmark for uninstalls
by measuring them for at least a few weeks across your
entire plan. Paid/organic, all sources, all campaigns.
Because our methodology is different, the benchmark
figure may be different from the aggregate figure you see
in the Google Play dashboard.
Analyze Using Cohort Reports: Dissect the uninstall
variance by using your cohort reports to identify the key
issue with the users that a vendor is attracting. Some
thought starters:
a. They might be using target audience
parameters that require adjustment.
b. An individual publisher may be causing the

2
Look for KPI Shortfalls: Then examine your different issue
program elements that display a major difference in c. If you are using multiple buying models with
performance against a KPI, like a much lower ARPU rate. that vendor, a shift in allocations may be
justified.

3
Use Uninstall Data to ID a Potential Reason for a KPI

5
Variance: When you identify a KPI problem area in your Think Long-Term: When you examine uninstall rates
plan, look to uninstall rates and their variances versus the across campaigns or sources, take a long view. Daily
benchmark as a potential indicator of the “why” you’re variations are normal.
coming up short on your KPIs. High uninstall rates can
certainly impede your ability to drive revenue, but keep

6
the focus first and foremost on your KPI. Share and Grow Together: Work with your partners to
improve performance against KPIs by sharing relevant
uninstall insights. Uninstalls can be one indicator of how
they can improve your results.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jared Ornstead is an Apsalar Sales Engineer
and a mobile and measurement technology
expert with vast experience in both the
traditional web and mobile arenas.
His career has spanned roles from IT,
Technology, Sales and Marketing, which gives
him a uniquely broad and comprehensive
perspective on how to put technology to
work in service of business goals.
Prior to joining Apsalar, Jared held a
variety of client-facing technology roles at
Conversant Media. In these capacities he
helped clients manage the complex aspects
of platform integration for a variety of
major US businesses including many leading
retailers.
Before Conversant, Jared was Digital
Marketing Manager for Viewsonic
Corporation, and IT, Marketing and Sales
Manager for Johnson Marine Supplies.
Get more great ideas and insights
about app marketing by visiting
www.apsalar.com/resources
ABOUT APSALAR
Apsalar is the leading mobile app marketing measurement and
optimization company that helps app marketers drive maximum
return from all their marketing investments. With Apsalar
attribution and audiences, app marketers can optimize their
media allocation and empower their partners and platforms to
deliver customized communications, for better results at every
step in the customer journey.
With Apsalar, mobile-first companies get the data, information
and insights they need to drive maximum ROI. Apsalar offers
powerful and proven solutions that help companies capitalize on
many of their biggest app growth opportunities.
App Media App Audiences App CRM and
Attribution and for Prospecting
Optimization Remarketing Audiences
For more information about the Apsalar Mobile ROI Platform,
contact us at
info@apsalar.com or visit our website at https://Apsalar.com.