Forum Discussion
Play Store number of downloads counter
Hi Tom1 ,
Not sure if private apps are counted or not but some general info about the number shown in the Play Store is that it is often lower than what people think it should be. The number is displayed after going through a "cleaning" process to ensure things like duplicate downloads for the same person are removed and more. The number is also ranged so if, for example, you have 1k showing then what it means is somewhere between 1k and 5k. It won't switch to 5k until you pass that number.
Ben
Hi BenMcc,
Thank you, some apps have so few downloads that I am quite sure the number can't be right. However it is very likely that these downloads are through the MGP in stead of manual end users downloads from the Play Store.
Are these numbers and details how these numbers are counted documented anywhere?Hi Tom1
I am afraid I don't know of any documentation like that. I know Play keep the exact way that number is calculated close to their chest - presumably to stop some devs trying to game the system. I have asked the question downloads through MGP are counted but it may be a while before I get an answer (if I get one at all). Emilie_B may be able to get an answer faster - but as I say sometimes with metrics like this then Play is not keen on spilling the beans so there may not be answer.
The number isn't right, enterprise installs aren't counted. Not sure why, I'd quite like to see how well my own apps are doing in Play rather than having to track them through a self-run activation service.
