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Overflow of themed watchfaces makes good apps invisible

Gerard
over 2 years ago

If you are a developer and spend a lot of time making a good watchface, there is a very good chance that your app will not be seen.
The reason for this is that there are developers who dump a shitload of themed watchfaces into the store with less features and only a different background.
I can't imagine that everyone can appreciate this, at least not me.
I don't know what others think about it, but as a developer I lose the motivation to make even better apps.
What is Garmin going to do about this before they lose good developers that build feature rich watchfaces?
How can they ensure that a developer who builds a serious good watchface or app also remains visible in the store?

I have a few watchfaces with good reviews but they are almost invisible: GerardV

  • over 2 years ago

    Indeed. There look to be AIGC.

  • over 2 years ago

    what you see can vary by category.  If this is from "Hot & fresh" it's one thing, but if it's "Data rich watch faces" it's another.  Based on the category, different things are used to define the rankings. 

    One thing that could help is having the ability to select just "payment required" or "free" when viewing the apps in the store, as it looks like from your screen shot, most require a payment.

  • over 2 years ago

    The new watchfaces should be pushed more backwards in all the categories (even hot and fresh) in my opinion. That will discourage those spammers.

    They use this now to have great visibility in the beginning. The more they publish the more income they'll generate. This is probably more interesting (money) then maintaining a great watchface which is no where to be found in the store.

  • over 2 years ago

    Former Member

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    Former Member

    Although impolite to at you here, we need an improved algorithm to avoid been buried

  • over 2 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    The categories do not work that way, if you have a new great watchface you will only be visible for a short time, after that you will be pushed back in all categories. Continues updating the app works just a little bit but the real problem is that only those apps that are around for a long time with lots of reviews are always on top, new ones will never make it there. 

    Why should I spend a lot of effort making new great and feature rich watchface when you never make it to the top and sink to the bottom?

    What tools do we as developers have to get our young wachtface more into the spotlight? 

  • over 2 years ago in reply to Gerard

    IMHO.

    1. Keep on your work.

    2. Use spam reviews(Hope you won't)

    3. Increase exposure on social media.

    4. Connect IQ team's new rank algorithm. 

  • over 2 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    Jim if you think that the store in its current state works then tell me where do you see my latest watchface GENIX-3?

    I update it regular and fix issue but that does not seem to be enough, what else should I do to get noticed?

  • over 2 years ago in reply to Gerard

    If a watch face has been around for a long time, has 250k downloads, and a bunch of review with an avg of 4.5 stars, wouldn't users expect to see that ranked higher than one that's been around for a couple weeks with 500 downloads?

    If you want to get yours to be more visible, maybe try posting about it on facebook, IG, etc, and that will lead to more download, etc.

    Another thing, is support more devices.  If you only support a couple, your number of potential users is smaller, fewer downloads, fewer reviews.  When someone uses the CIQ mobile app, they see the same categories, but they are apps for the user's device and not overall.  Most of my apps support pretty much all CIQ devices.

    In some categories, doing an update will move you to the back, so you want to bunch your changes and not do an update every few days. I'll go months between updates in some cases.

    disclaimer.  If you look at the web based app store right now, you'll see 5 of my apps on the main screen (only 1 watch face), but it took time to get there. They all have a min of 100k downloads, good reviews, etc.  There are thousands of watch faces in the store, and there is no easy way to jump to the front of the line.