The number of App Store clearing lists in the first four months of 2020 has increased substantially year-on-year, and the number of daily clearing lists in 2019 remained basically below 20, while the number of daily clearing lists in this year was basically above 20. In this way, Apple has increased its efforts to clear the list.

"Clearing the list" refers to clearing the list ranking of the application in each leaderboard. Normally, after an application is cleared, it can still be found through "Search", and normal download and update operations will not be affected. However, for applications with higher rankings, if the list is cleared, the traffic loss is huge.
One cleanup in 3 hours, 100-300 hit rate is high
Seven Wheat Research Institute retrieved the App Store clearing data from January 1 to April 30, 2020 and found that after clearing the list, 3840 products resumed ranking, accounting for 95%, and only 214 products were truly cleared. .

From the time point of view, the clear list is concentrated at 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 15 o'clock, 18 o'clock, 21 o'clock, and 24 o'clock.

The update time of the list is generally concentrated at 2:40, 5:40, 8:40, 11:40, 14:40, 17:40, 20:40, 23:40, also every 3 hours, and clear The list time is very close, so Apple is likely to clear the list after updating the list.

Judging from the ranking data, the ranking of products before the list is generally concentrated in the range of 100-200 and 200-300, respectively 1,482 models and 2,191 models, and the number of products in other regions is relatively small.

Among the 4054 products in the clear list, 2127 are games and 1927 applications. The number is not large, and the proportion is basically the same.
Role-playing and action games are more vulnerable to poisonous hands
Among the clear games, the number of free games is 1,263, accounting for 59.38%, and the number of paid games is 864, accounting for 40.62%. The difference is nearly 20%, and the gap is more obvious. Role-playing, action games, casual games, adventure games, and strategy games are the most numerous categories. The number of clearing lists exceeds 200+. The number of clearing lists in racing games, sports, and casino games is relatively small, all below 30.

Paid and free apps account for a similar proportion, and tools are the most dangerous

In the Qingbang application, the number of free products is 1029, accounting for 53.40%, and the number of paid products is 898, accounting for 46.6%, which is almost the same. Tools, photography and video, and education are the categories with a large number, and the number of clearing lists exceeds 200+.
It can be seen from the clear list data:

1. For games, role-playing, action, leisure, adventure, strategy and other types of games are more likely to encounter clearing lists.

2. For applications, tools, photography and video, educational products are more likely to encounter clear list.

3. Products ranked in the 100-200, 200-300 are more likely to suffer from clearing the list.

4. The frequency of clearing the list is generally every 3 hours, and the time nodes are generally at 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 15 o'clock, 18 o'clock, 21 o'clock, and 24 o'clock. .
5. The clearing list is generally synchronized with the list update.

6. There are a large number of accidentally injured products. According to the recovery speed in the past month, it usually recovers within 2-3 hours, so developers need not worry too much.

Three reasons lead to clearing the list, which can be prevented beforehand

After analyzing the products of Qingbang, Qimai Research Institute found that there are three reasons for clearing the products.

1. The product was found to have violated regulations such as brushing lists or inducing comments

Comments are an important factor that affects the App Store’s traffic conversion rate. The details of the comments are very likely to directly affect the user’s download decision. Therefore, there are many products with abnormal comments, which are manifested as too many reviews and abnormal comments (a series of numbers, garbled characters, etc.) ).

It is recommended that developers do not scrub comments or induce users to make positive comments. Once cleared by Apple, the gains are not worth the gains.

2. App has not been updated for a long time

When the app has not been updated for a long time, Apple will default that the app has been "deprecated", so clean it up.
Developers should constantly optimize and iterate their own products to keep the products running normally, provide users with a better experience, and avoid being removed from Apple as "abandoned applications".

3. Wrongly injured by Apple
If there is a large number of downloads suddenly for a period of time, which leads to a surge in rankings, even real users brought by a large number of advertisements may cause Apple to doubt and lead to being cleared.

If you encounter such a situation, it is recommended that developers, when the product will be promoted through channels, activities, etc., and the download level will rise massively, in order to avoid being injured by Apple, you need to report to Apple in advance. The filing email should reflect the reason for the increase in download volume and the importance attached to Apple’s regulations.

If you have been accidentally injured, you can contact Apple to appeal. During the appeal, you mainly explain to Apple that the latest additions to their products are regular customers, and they can provide screenshots of the promotion channels, screenshots of effect settlement, and the recent activity and retention of new users. And other behavioral data.

According to the data of the past month, the list will return to normal within 2-3 hours after the list is cleared. Developers only need to wait patiently without worrying too much.