Most analytics tools show what happens after a user opens your app. But a huge part of your growth happens before that — in the store, where users see your listing and decide whether to install. App store analytics tools reveal that crucial pre-install funnel, showing where your ASO is working and where it leaks. This guide covers what these tools measure on iOS and Android and how to turn the data into growth in 2026.
For ranking specifically, see our guide to keyword ranking tracking; for the broader stack, the best mobile app analytics tools.
The store funnel product analytics can't see
Product analytics tools begin measuring once a user opens your app, which means they miss the entire store funnel — the impressions, browsing, and conversion that happen on your listing before install. This is exactly what app store analytics reveal. The App Store Connect and Google Play Console dashboards show how many people saw your app in search or browse, how many viewed your product page, and how many installed. This pre-install funnel is where ASO lives, and it is invisible to tools that only track in-app behavior. Understanding it is essential, because a problem here — say, strong impressions but weak conversion — points to an ASO fix, not a product one.
Apple's store analytics
On iOS, App Store Connect provides analytics that reveal your store performance: impressions (how often your app appeared), product page views, conversion rate (views to installs), and retention as Apple sees it. These app store analytics tools are uniquely authoritative because they reflect Apple's own view — the very metrics related to how the algorithm ranks you. Reading them tells you whether your problem is visibility (low impressions, an ASO keyword issue), conversion (impressions but few installs, a creative issue), or retention (installs that don't stick, a product issue). This diagnostic clarity is what makes the store's own analytics indispensable, and they are free.
Google's store analytics
On Android, google play store analytics in the Play Console offer the equivalent view, plus some Android-specific depth. Google play analytics show your store listing performance — acquisition by source, conversion, and the retention and quality metrics Google factors into ranking. Because Google weights retention heavily, the play store analytics around user return and engagement are especially relevant to your ASO. As with iOS, these play store app analytics are authoritative and free, giving you the store's own perspective on how your listing performs and where the ranking-relevant signals stand.
What to look for in the data
The value of store analytics is diagnostic, so read them to locate your bottleneck:
| Pattern | Diagnosis | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Low impressions | Visibility/keyword problem | ASO: keywords, ranking |
| Impressions but low conversion | Creative/listing problem | ASO: icon, screenshots, copy |
| Good conversion but low retention | Product/onboarding problem | Retention work |
| Strong across the board | Healthy — scale it | Expand keywords and markets |
This funnel-diagnosis approach turns raw numbers into clear action. Rather than guessing, you follow the data to the specific stage that is holding you back and apply the right fix there.
Beyond the consoles: third-party tools
While the store consoles are powerful and free, third-party ASO analytics tools add capabilities the consoles lack. They provide keyword rank tracking across markets, competitor analysis, and cross-platform comparison in one place. As your ASO matures and you need to track many keywords across many countries, or benchmark against competitors, these tools become valuable complements to the consoles. The sensible progression is to master the free store analytics first — they answer most questions — and add third-party tools when your scale and competitive needs outgrow them.
A worked example
A team sees flat installs and turns to their store analytics to diagnose why. App Store Connect reveals the problem clearly: their impressions are healthy — people are seeing the app — but their conversion rate from product page views to installs is weak. This tells them the issue is not visibility but persuasion: their listing gets seen but does not convince. They focus their effort accordingly, improving their icon and first screenshots rather than chasing more keywords. Their conversion rises, installs climb, and — because conversion is a ranking signal — their rankings improve too, bringing even more impressions. On the Android side, their Play Console data shows a retention issue depressing their ranking, which they address separately. By letting the store analytics pinpoint each bottleneck, they fixed the right problems rather than guessing, turning flat installs into growth.
Benchmarking your store funnel over time
One of the most valuable disciplines with app store analytics tools is benchmarking your own store funnel against itself over time, because the store consoles make it easy to see whether your ASO efforts are moving the numbers that matter. Rather than fixating on absolute figures — which vary enormously by category and are hard to compare across apps — track your own impressions, product page views, and conversion rate cohort over cohort, month over month. When you ship a metadata change, watch whether impressions rise, which signals improved visibility. When you refresh your creatives, watch whether conversion improves, which signals a more persuasive listing. This before-and-after discipline turns your store analytics into a controlled experiment on your own ASO, letting you attribute movement to specific changes and build a record of what works for your app. It also guards against a common trap: assuming a change helped because installs rose, when the rise might have come from seasonality or a marketing push rather than your ASO. By watching the store funnel metrics specifically — impressions for visibility, conversion for persuasion — you isolate the ASO effect from other influences. Over time, this self-benchmarking builds an evidence base that makes your ASO decisions increasingly confident, replacing guesswork with a clear understanding of how each change to your listing flows through the store funnel to installs and, ultimately, to the rankings that conversion and retention support.
Common mistakes
The recurring errors are ignoring the store funnel and relying only on in-app analytics, failing to diagnose which stage is the bottleneck, overlooking the free console data that reflects ranking signals, and jumping to third-party tools before mastering the consoles. Using store analytics to locate and fix the right bottleneck avoids these.
Let AppsLift fix the store funnel for you
Your store analytics will often reveal an ASO bottleneck — visibility or conversion — and fixing those is exactly what AppsLift does. Since 2012 we have pushed 400+ iOS and Android apps to the top of store search, improving the impressions, conversion, and rankings your store analytics measure, and turning organic search into their cheapest install channel.
Start with a free AppsLift audit: paste your app link, pick your markets, and see your real keyword positions plus the install value of the Top 3. When you want your store funnel fixed and your rankings built, talk to our team. Next, read our guide to iOS app analytics tools and metrics.
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