2025 has already ushered in significant changes to the Apple App Store and Google Play. From Google tightening its grip on poor-quality apps to Apple introducing AI-generated review summaries, these updates are reshaping how apps are being discovered, ranked, and perceived by users. For app marketers, staying ahead of these shifts is essential to maintaining visibility and driving growth.
In this article, we’ll break down the latest changes to App Store and Google Play and what they mean for your app’s success. We’ll cover:
- New health metrics and their impact on ASO strategies
- YouTube as a key app promotion channel and how developers can leverage it
- AI-generated review summaries being a game changer for reputation management and conversions
- The rise of third-party iOS app stores and what they mean for the industry
- The shutdown of the Amazon App Store for Android devices and its implications for developers
Google Play Store: What’s new?
1. New Health Metrics
To improve the control over poorly performing apps and improve overall user experience, Google is increasingly prioritising app quality signals in Play Store rankings. These quality signals will inform users of scammy or poorly developed apps and include warning messages such as: “frequently uninstalled compared to similar apps on Play” or “Play has limited user data about this app.“
This new development can directly impact your App Store Optimisation. Apps that suffer from frequent crashes, poor technical performance, or low retention rates are being demoted in visibility. Conversely, apps that consistently deliver stability, low battery drain, and positive engagement signals are seeing improved visibility.
What impact does it have on ASO?
Developers now need to treat technical stability as part of their ASO strategy. Frequent updates that improve performance metrics are no longer “nice to see”, they become a vital part of sustaining keyword rankings and category visibility. The apps that will benefit the most from this update will be the ones that prioritise crash rate reduction, faster load times, and smooth UX flow.
This also means that ASO managers will need to collaborate more closely with product and development teams to ensure their apps meet these new performance standards.
2. Promoting Apps via YouTube
You can now engage your users on Google Play by featuring your YouTube videos on app store listing or other areas on the Play Store. Adding one or more YouTube channels or playlists via Play Console provides a number of benefits:
- Increased visibility: your videos may be displayed in high-traffic areas like Games tab
- Enhanced engagement: videos are a great way to showcase app’s unique features and encourage them to install or re-engage with your app
Apps that leverage engaging video content, particularly gameplay showcases, feature explanations, or influencer-led content are seeing stronger conversion rates, so adding YouTube videos to your Google Play listing can boost your performance metrics.
What impact does it have on ASO
Videos provide a more dynamic and informative way to showcase apps’ features compared to static screenshots and texts. This means, that creating dedicated YouTube Shorts or videos that align with high-intent search terms could significantly boost organic installs.
For gaming apps in particular, walkthrough videos, challenges or streamer-led content could become a powerful acquisition tool.
What’s more, app marketers who strategically align ASO keywords with trending YouTube search behaviour may improve their app’s discoverability both in Play Store search and via external referral traffic.
This also provides a great opportunity to leverage influencer or user-led content, as positive reviews and demonstrations from influencers can drive organic installs.
3. The shutdown of the Amazon App Store
The Amazon Appstore which officially launched back in 2011 will be closed in August 2025. As of February 20th, developers could no longer submit new apps on Android devices but they can still provide updates to the existing apps until the store officially shuts down.
The Amazon Appstore gained popularity over the years by offering exclusive deals, free apps and a curated selection of content and while its global market share was relatively small, the store provided niche opportunities for developers, particularly those targeting:
- Budget-conscious Android users
- Emerging markets
- Amazon ecosystem devices (Fire tablets, TVs, etc.)
Despite its ambition to scale, the store struggled to compete with Google’s dominance for Android apps as fewer users turned to Amazon’s platforms for their app needs.
What impact does it have on ASO?
The most significant impact is the loss of a distribution channel. ASO efforts specifically tailored for the Amazon Appstore will become obsolete and developers will need to refocus their ASO efforts on remaining platforms like Google Play and other emerging app stores.
This also means that app marketers who previously targeted Amazon Appstore specific keywords, will have to rethink their keyword strategy and focus on terms driving visibility on remaining platforms.
Having said that, the fewer Android storefronts to manage presents an opportunity to consolidate growth efforts. Teams may reallocate ASO and UA resources toward Google Play and newly opened EU iOS alternatives, both of which now represent larger opportunity areas.
Our take: How should you adapt to these changes?
- Proactively notify Amazon Appstore users and guide them to migrate to the Google Play version via smart linking and install incentives.
- Focus ASO testing, creative optimisation, and IAE strategies on Google Play, where organic uplift is more impactful and algorithmic visibility can still be influenced.
- Evaluate Device-Specific Gaps.If Fire OS was a key channel, consider whether OTT platforms (e.g., Samsung TV, Roku, Google TV) can fill the gap for entertainment-focused apps.
- Keep an eye on growth in Samsung Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery, and emerging third-party Android marketplaces in the EU, especially as regulatory shifts reshape distribution.
Apple App Store: What’s new?
1. AI Review Summaries & Conversion Impact
The arrival of iOS 18.4 early April will come with an exciting new feature to the App Store – AI generated review summaries. These summaries are generated by large language models to extract key insights and highlights from user reviews and present them in concise paragraphs.
According to Apple, the summaries will be refreshed at least once a week as the new reviews are added, highlighting the positive feedback first, followed by a negative one.
So positive themes like “great user experience”, “fast performance”, or “fun gameplay” will play a big part in improving conversion rates. Whilst recurring negative themes (e.g., “bugs”, “crashes”, “difficult login”) will now appear prominently, potentially deterring installs.
Initially, the feature will be available in the US App Store for apps and games published in English, that have sufficient reviews to generate summary. Apple expects to expand to additional countries and languages later this year.
What impact does it have on ASO?
This new development calls for proactive review management. Developers who actively encourage reviews at positive moments in the user journey can influence the content of AI summaries, leading to more installs.
From the creatives perspective, the teams can leverage AI-surfaced themes (e.g., “best fitness tracker,” “great multiplayer experience”) and use them as key selling points in screenshots and promotional text of their listing. This synergy between the value proposition communicated through creative assets and user reviews could have a positive impact on conversion rates.
Since AI summaries are seen as unbiased, developers can also use this feature to build stronger trust signals, particularly for newer or less recognised apps.
The apps facing negative sentiment in AI summaries will be pushed to actively mitigate users’ concerns by updating their What’s New section, addressing issues directly, and timing review prompts carefully.
And lastly, the importance of well-optimised ASO will be higher than ever. By skilfully aligning metadata, creative assets, and messaging with recurring themes in AI summaries, developers will be able to influence user perception and improve overall conversion.
Our take: How should you adapt to these changes?
- Put some effort into your app review management strategy. Introduce review prompts at key positive engagement moments to encourage mentions of core features and benefits.
- Use ‘What’s New’ updates to highlight improvements that resolve frequently mentioned pain points in AI summaries.
- Integrate top positive themes generated by AI summaries into your screenshots, app description, and video content to reinforce trust and value.
- For apps experiencing negative summary themes, prioritise immediate issue resolution and implement messaging that directly addresses user concerns.
If you leverage Apple’s AI-generated review summaries strategically, you can actively shape user perception, build trust, and improve conversion rates — transforming reviews from a passive metric into a powerful ASO growth tool.
2. The rise of third-party iOS stores
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has opened the EU’s iPhone market to competition, allowing users to download apps from alternative stores.
With the DMA now in effect, various third-party app stores have been released in the EU. Some of them include: AltStore PAL, Setapp Mobile, Aptoide, Epic Games Store and more.
For mobile developers and marketers, this signals a radical new era of distribution freedom and fresh ASO frontiers.
- No 30% Apple tax in many cases — new business models become viable
- Looser submission guidelines open creative freedom and faster iteration
- Direct user acquisition and relationship-building without App Store gatekeeping
Despite the fact that the new app stores face many hurdles with wider adoption, it’s a great start towards more accessible and open ecosystem. And even though the 3rd party app stores are limited to the EU for now, the implications are huge for performance marketers and UA/ASO strategists.
What impact does it have on ASO?
The 3rd party app stores provide new strategic opportunities for app marketers and developers offering new opportunities to expand distribution and drive user acquisition.
One of the biggest advantages is the ability to reach niche and regional audiences. Many alternative stores focus on specific devices, geographic regions, or user interests, allowing developers to connect with high-intent users in less competitive markets. This is especially valuable in emerging regions where the App Store and Google Play have a weaker presence.
The alternative stores may also allow more flexible creative assets, calls-to-action, or promotional banners, previously restricted on iOS. This could unlock high-converting experiments that were impossible before and provide more creative freedom.
However, this increased number of app stores presents a double edge sword. It provides app marketers with more channels to reach their target audience, but it also means that ASO will become more complex, as marketers need to optimise for multiple app stores with potentially different algorithms and ranking factors.
Our take: How should you adapt to these changes?
As this alternative app store ecosystem evolves, we’re already preparing frameworks for:
- Cross-platform metadata and creative alignment
- Multi-store keyword research and ranking analysis
- Competitive intelligence across app marketplaces
- Unified reporting dashboards integrating third-party store data
- Risk-mitigated testing playbooks for non-Apple channels
We believe that while these alternative iOS stores may start small, they signal a long-term disruption in mobile growth — and a future where ASO means more than Apple and Google.
App Store and Google Play – next steps
As 2025 unfolds, the app store landscape is clearly evolving at a rapid pace. App marketers must become more agile and adaptable to navigate the evolving landscape of Apple App Store and Google Play. The new developments have already had an impact on App Store Optimisations, forcing app marketers to master new ASO techniques, embrace continuous learning, and stay competitive to maintain visibility and drive growth in this ever-changing environment.
To discuss any of the points above, or discuss your 2025 strategy, get in touch.
