Why are downloads for Windows 10 so low?

[anon(5844482)]

I recently started writing apps for the Windows Universal platform as I was a Windows Phone 7.5 and 8 developer before. And I expected the downloads to be at the least as much as they were during Windows Phone 7.5 days. However to my horror, I noticed that they were painfully low. Now I know that desktop users do not want to use Windows Store applications, but the number - even if we consider mobile downloads only - is pretty painful. I am attaching a screenshot of the downloads of my old, never popular app from the Windows Phone days. Take a look below:



As you can see, Windows Phone 8.1 tops the list. This is no surprise as the sales were good during Windows Phone 8.1 days and almost all Windows Phone 8 devices were upgradable to Windows Phone 8.1. But what explains the numbers for Windows 10? I have just seven downloads when compared to 37 on Windows Phone 8 and 23 on Windows Phone 7.5. How on earth is this possible? Please note, there have been few apps of this kind in Windows 10 store. I am guessing that the number of Windows 10 mobile devices is pitifully low. But how can they be lower than WP7.5 and WP8? All Lumia devices (as well as a few from other OEMs) that shipped with 8.1 were upgradable to 10. Even a couple of WP8 devices were upgradable. That MS did not push the 10 update could be a reason.

I have also noticed similar numbers for my UWP apps.

What could be the possible reason? Or am I the only one facing this issue?

 

[slimchap]

Whats the name of your app??? And if you can partner with me(I don't know how to code) I have idea's of apps that could get more downloads.

 

[anon(5844482)]

My qualm was not on why my app got so few downloads (its an old, outdated app). I had published apps that topped app lists before. My question is why WINDOWS 10 gets so few downloads.

 

[daimv]

I bet whatsapp, Messenger, Skype, Line, etc get a lot of downloads in W10 too Also maybe some popular games like crossy road I guess, Minecraft, Terraria maybe. But I don't have access to their numbers, so can't really say. Of course, the number of users is small compared to Android, and WP7/8/8.1 have been around longer than W10, also some people are still clinging to W8.1, but I don't think you can base overall W10 download statistics on only your own apps. Has Microsoft released some statistics or something like that?

About apps on desktop, it depends on the app, sometimes it isn't very useful compared to the website alternative, but sometimes it is. (netflix is convenient, bluetooth stuff can't be done in websites, but an app that just provides simple access to the functionality of a website with no cool features usually isn't interesting on PC. Also remember besides PC there is hololens, xbox, IOT core etc)
Maybe the new phones (HP, Acer, Alcatel, etc) will get some more people to windows 10, but you still need to market your app in some way to get people to know about it, and if it is something good it can succeed.

 

[daimv]

Also if you are looking for something in the store, using w10/m, and you se a really old app that isn't even uwp, you don't get much incentive to try it since it seems to be abandoned and many times there are bugs or problems that likely will never get fixed. If your app isn't free and there is no demo, it's even worse since you might pay and then discover the app doesn't work well in W10.

 

[sensboston]

What could be the possible reason? Or am I the only one facing this issue?

I believe it's an app specific statistics. Here are some of my apps stat (for the last 30 days):


This is statistics for WP8.1 UWP app.



This one is for WP7.5/WP8.0 (no UWP version is available)

 

[ZuLuuuuuu]

If you released Windows 10 version of Windows Phone 8.x app, I don't know if it counts as a download when your old users upgrade to the Windows 10 version. It might be one of the reasons.

Mobile downloads will be small since the number of people who bought Windows 10 phones are pretty small.

Other reason might be that if the job of your app can be done via a browser on desktop, the users might not be searching for an app to do the job. For example, when I use desktop I use the browser to browse Twitter. So I don't search a Twitter app on store. But you can overcome this if you code your app very integrated with the ecosystem. Using roaming data to save app state across Windows 10 devices for example. Or using system notifications. So that you can deliver an experience that users can't get just by using the browser version. You should also do some promotion so that users are aware of these features and choose your app.

Other reason might be that there is already an established/well known app on desktop. For example, if you release a painting app, then it might take a while that users notice your app since there are already tons of really good painting apps on desktop. But I think consistently delivering a good experience and making your app feature rich will overcome this in time. Because UWP is the future. UWP apps will deliver the best experience if you can code it right.