What the top 100 apps do with their store listings: App Store and Google Play, 2026 data
Advice about store listings is mostly opinion. We wanted numbers. On October 31, 2026 we took the US top 100 free apps of the App Store and of Google Play and ran each one through the same scorer as OneStore's free listing audit. Here is what the most downloaded apps actually do.
Key findings
- Top apps update constantly. The median app on both stores was last updated 4 days before we looked. 97% of the App Store top 100 and 92% of the Google Play top 100 shipped an update in the last 30 days.
- Almost every App Store top app uses its subtitle. 99 of 100 had one, with a median length of 28 of the 30 characters.
- Titles leave room. The median title is 22 characters on the App Store and 24 on Google Play, out of 30. Only 11% of App Store titles use all 30 characters, and about a third (36 on Apple, 31 on Google) are under 15 characters: brands keep it short.
- Google's short description is the most neglected field. It is where Google Play listings lost the most points in our audit: 35% of top apps use fewer than 60 of its 80 characters.
- One in five Google Play top apps had no "What's new" text on its listing. On the App Store, every app had release notes, but 26% were under 50 characters.
- Descriptions don't use the full 4,000 characters. The median is about 2,400 (App Store) and 2,500 (Google Play). Fewer than one in five go above 3,500.
- 18% of App Store top apps declare a single language, while 65% declare ten or more.
App Store: the numbers
| Measure (top 100 free, US) | Median | Range |
|---|---|---|
| OneStore audit score /100 | 100 (mean 96) | 64 to 100 |
| Title length (of 30) | 22 | 1 to 30 |
| Subtitle length (of 30) | 28 | 0 to 30 |
| Description length (of 4,000) | 2,421 | 156 to 3,999 |
| Screenshots on the listing | 7 | 4 to 10 |
| Release notes length | 115 | 18 to 618 |
| Days since last update | 4 | 0 to 39 |
| Languages the app declares | 19 | 1 to 83 |
61 of the 100 apps got a perfect audit score. Points were mostly lost on the title (short brand-only names), the description and the support URL.
Google Play: the numbers
| Measure (top 100 free, US) | Median | Range |
|---|---|---|
| OneStore audit score /100 | 96 (mean 94) | 82 to 100 |
| Title length (of 30) | 24 | 1 to 30 |
| Short description length (of 80) | 70.5 | 17 to 80+ |
| Description length (of 4,000) | 2,512 | 376 to 4,000 |
| Screenshots (all device types) | 11 | 3 to 52 |
| "What's new" length | 96 | 0 to 500+ |
| Days since last update | 4 | 0 to 199 |
38 of the 100 got a perfect score. Every app had a feature graphic and a privacy policy link. Points were mostly lost on the short description, the title and the "What's new" text.
What this means for your listing
- Use the Google Play short description. It is the second thing people read and the field top apps leave half empty most often. 80 characters is enough for one concrete benefit.
- Fill the App Store subtitle. Top apps treat it as mandatory; it's 30 characters next to your name in search.
- Write release notes that say something. Apple requires them on every update; a quarter of top apps settle for a one-liner. A sentence on what changed costs nothing.
- Ship often, and keep both stores in step. Half of the top apps had shipped an update in the four days before we looked. The work isn't the build, it's repeating notes, screenshots and listing changes on two consoles.
- Don't chase the 4,000-character description. The most downloaded apps don't. Clear first lines matter more than length.
You can check your own listing against the same scorer with the free audit: paste an App Store or Google Play link, no account.
Method and limits
- Sample: the US top free charts of each store on October 31, 2026, 100 apps each: Apple's iTunes top free applications feed, and Google Play's top free collection read with google-play-scraper.
- Data: public store data only. App Store: iTunes Lookup plus the public App Store page (for screenshots and the subtitle). Google Play: the public Play Store page.
- Scoring: OneStore's listing completeness score, the same code as the free audit. It rewards complete, well-used fields; it does not measure conversion, keyword ranking or design quality.
- Languages on the App Store are the languages the app declares, not the number of localized store listings.
- Google Play lengths are approximate: they are measured on the page text, and a few short descriptions (11) and "What's new" texts (2) read above the official limits because of formatting in that text. Screenshot counts on Google Play include every device type.
- Bias: top charts are dominated by large companies with ASO teams. Expect a typical indie listing to score lower than this sample.
- Raw data: every app, every field and every score is in the JSON file. The script that produced it is
scripts/listing-study.tsin our repository.
FAQs
How often do top apps update?
In our October 31, 2026 sample, the median top 100 free app on both the App Store and Google Play had been updated 4 days earlier. 97% of App Store top apps and 92% of Google Play top apps had updated in the previous 30 days.
How long are the titles of top apps?
The median title is 22 characters on the App Store and 24 on Google Play, out of 30. Only 11% of App Store top 100 titles use all 30 characters.
Do top Google Play apps use the full 80-character short description?
Many don't. The median is about 70 characters, and 35% of the Google Play top 100 free apps use fewer than 60. It was the field where Google Play listings lost the most points in OneStore's audit.
How many screenshots do top App Store apps show?
The median is 7 screenshots, with a range of 4 to 10. 42% of the App Store top 100 free apps show 8 or more.