What usage / analytics information is available for iPhone apps?
If you deploy an app through the iTunes app store, what usage information do you get from Apple? Do you only get the number of downloads / sales and is that any different from free or paid apps? Do you get any information about how often it is used, crash logs, demographic information, etc.? Is this the only way to bind to your own server to track this information, and will such an application even get approval?
I've seen articles like this one that includes quotes like:
only about 20 percent of users return to use the free app the day after they first download it, and by 30 days, less than 5 percent use the app.
Is it based on surveys, or is it data that comes from Apple? There doesn't seem to be much public data, other than when Apple shows the top apps, but these are just downloads or ratings, and nothing deeper.
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You only get usage information if you somehow program the report of such information into your application.
The number of downloads (selling if using a non-free app) and later crash logs are the only information you get from Apple. you don't even get any personal information about WHO, it's what you bought your app, just what they did.
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Most of this information comes from companies such as Pinch Media and Admob . They provide libraries that you can include in your application that inform their servers about events in your application (in particular, they start, as well as other events that you decide).
They use these events to provide summary information about iPhone applications. Several reports have recently been published that reference this data.
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You won't get usage statistics from Apple, just download and sales statistics. The reporting is slightly different for free apps (as they will not show up in the financial statement), but basically the same information is provided.
You can, however, track usage information yourself by forcing the application to execute the remote server each time the application is accessed. You can use a unique device ID to track a specific user. This will depend on Internet access for the iPhone / iPod Touch.
Apple really gives you the number of downloads, as well as which countries they come from. If you need more detailed usage statistics, you'll have to go to a third-party solution or write one yourself.
Unless Apple secretly sends usage information when an app is opened, I can't see how anyone can get statistics about shared app storage. When I download the app it is in binary and it is probably unlikely that someone would add in their own code to do this secretly.
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