Why you should care about third-party app stores

The two app store giants, The Apple App Store and Android Google Play Store have long reigned supreme as the place to publish apps for developers around the globe. However, with so many apps flooding these stores, it’s become increasingly difficult to achieve organic search visibility for developers. In the wake of this rising issue, a host of third-party app stores has risen with staggering numbers of published apps that are only going to keep rising.

Tiago Costa Alves, took a minute out of his busy schedule to talk to us about one third-party app store, Aptoide. Tiago explained to us the value of Aptoide for developers, how it will revolutionize the app industry, along with benefit developers in the long run when compared to traditional stores like Apple and Google Play.

Our interview raises an important question for developers: should you look in to third-party app stores?

Did you know that alternative app stores may offer a revenue share model that is more favorable to developers than the standard 70/30 split offered by Apple and Google Play? (Mobyaffiliates) Aptoide is one of these alternative app stores. You can see where it ranks in available apps as compares to Amazon and Google Play in this chart:

As you can see. This is a huge established marketplace with loyal users. We advise developers to seriously consider joining Aptoide and other third-party app stores!

Without further ado, please enjoy the following interview with Tiago Costa Alves:

Why would a developer take the time/energy to submit to Aptoide?

(TIAGO) I always tell Android developers that Google Play should be their main app store because they are so much bigger than everyone else (82% of Android downloads outside from China are driven by Google Play). Having said that, do not ignore third-party independent app stores like Aptoide. We alone had 30 million active users in January whom downloaded 200 million apps & games. And since we allow developers to submit the same APK that they have submitted to Google Play, we are talking about 10 minutes effort of creating an account with us and submitting their app or game.

What are the top geographic markets of Aptoide?

(TIAGO) We are strong in South America, USA, India, South East Asia and also some countries in Europe. I have attached a map where you can see the countries where we have the most users.

Do you have any tips for optimizing and ranking higher in Aptoide?

(TIAGO) We have noticed that our users usually know what they are looking for when they go inside Aptoide. They search for the name of the app or game that they want to install. My advise is that developers make good descriptions of what your app or game is all about. The other thing is the app icon and featured graphic since if a user is looking for a “soccer game” they might click if the face is from Ronaldo or Mourinho (I am Portuguese 🙂 so a bit biased here).

How do in-app purchases work (revenue share, ease of IAP)?

(TIAGO) As I mentioned above, they can submit the same build from Google Play which means that they do not need to integrate our billing. We used to offer the billing solution from Aptoide that gave a 75% revenue share (vs. 70% from Google Play) but we have recently decided to become the first app store in the world to accept crypto currency and we are developing a new protocol called AppCoins (https://appcoins.io/) which will give 85% revenue share (vs. 70% from Google Play). We should have the SDK for developers to integrate by the end of March 2018.

What are Appcoins and why should developers care?

(TIAGO) AppCoins is the first ever open source protocol for app stores. It proposes to move to the blockchain three of the most critical flows of app stores: (1) advertising, (2) in-app purchases and (3) developer’s approval. Aptoide will be the first App Store supporting AppCoins Protocol and adopting the cryptocurrency.

What else should developers know to succeed in Apptoide and with AppCoins?

(TIAGO) We are always happy to feature good apps and games in our Editor’s Choices for free so just reach out to us. For AppCoins, the App Store Foundation is currently looking for Early Adopters and will reward the developers accordingly. It’s important for developers to understand that the AppCoins protocol will be open source so the idea is for all the other app stores to adopt is as well. Only then we will be strong enough to push Apple and Google to lower the current 30% cut that they take from developer for all in-app purchases. So it’s in the best interest of developers that we succeed.

Are you ready to get your app on this lucrative marketplace? We are here to help.

The ASO Project can assist you in optimizing your app page and listing it on Aptoide. Don’t delay. Take a step into the future of app stores today! Contact us for a free consultation now.