TrackASO reads the App Store's own search results for each keyword in each country, in the order shown on an iPhone, down to #250. Every tracked keyword is checked every night in the cloud, around 03:00 local time in each country, and a new keyword is checked within seconds of being added. Popularity (5–95) is an estimate made from App Store search suggestions. Competition (0–100) is an estimate made from how many ratings the top 10 apps have and how many of them use the search words in their name or subtitle. Both are always labelled as estimates. You can choose from 175 App Store countries. TrackASO covers the iOS App Store only.
1. Where ranks come from
- Source: public App Store search results for each keyword, per country, in iPhone order. App Store Connect isn't required (an optional connection exists, per /how-it-works).
- Depth: the top 250, which is Apple's maximum, or fewer when Apple returns fewer. Below that, you see "not yet" instead of a guess.
- Country: every keyword is tracked separately in each country, because each country ranks differently. One search term in one country counts as one keyword.
- Device: tracked ranks are always read in iPhone order. The on-demand App Store search inside the app can also show iPad results, but the nightly tracking never uses iPad order.
2. When ranks are checked
| Event | What happens | Source |
|---|---|---|
| You add a keyword | Checked within seconds | /pricing, /faq |
| Every night | Every tracked keyword is checked, each country around 03:00 local time | /how-it-works; live since Oct 13, 2026 |
| "Refresh now" | Re-checks keywords last checked more than 6 hours ago (24 hours if the app isn't in the results) | /docs/mcp (refresh_rankings) |
| Reviews | New reviews in every tracked country, checked twice a day | /features |
- MCP live lookups per day: research_keyword 100, suggest_keywords 200, refresh_rankings 20, reset at 00:00 UTC. Up to 120 requests a minute (/docs/mcp).
- Every night the job takes every tracked (country, term) pair and fetches it fresh from Apple; the stored results are not reused for the nightly check. If Apple rate-limits the checks (HTTP 403 or 429), they pause with a growing wait (2, 4, 8 minutes, up to an hour) and carry on the same night, and a catch-up pass between 07:00 and 11:59 local time re-queues anything still unchecked. Each app shows an "Updated … ago" time.
- If a check fails, the previous rank stays on screen with its "Updated … ago" time, and the failed check adds no new data point.
3. How popularity is estimated (5–95)
Since late 2025, Apple Ads reports most long-tail terms as 5, so every indie tool estimates popularity anyway. TrackASO estimates it from App Store autocomplete:
- We find the shortest prefix at which Apple suggests the term (using a binary search over prefix lengths), and where the term sits in the suggestion list at that prefix.
- The fewer characters you need to type and the higher the term appears, the more it's probably searched:
`popularity = 95 − 6 × (prefix length − 2) − 3 × position`, clamped to 5–95.
- A term that Apple never suggests gets 5.
Limits: this is a relative signal, not a search count. It treats suggestion presence as roughly monotonic in prefix length, which is close to true but not guaranteed. It's not Apple's own popularity score (some Mac apps show that). Suggestions are requested per country, in that storefront's own App Store.
4. How competition (difficulty) is estimated (0–100)
From the current top 10 for the term in that country:
- Strength (75%): each app's rating count on a log scale (0 ratings = 0, about 1,000 = 0.5, about 1M = 1.0), weighted toward the top positions (weight 1/√position).
- Relevance (25%): the share of the top 10 whose name and subtitle contain every word of the search.
- Depth: fewer than 10 results makes a search easier, with a multiplier between 0.3 and 1.
`difficulty = round(100 × depth × (0.75 × strength + 0.25 × relevance))` The ratings used are those of the top 10 apps in that country's search results.
5. How "searches you can win" and the weekly plan are picked
- Your app's strength comes from its own rating count on the same log scale.
- Tiers: defend (you're already top 10), quick win (the top apps are about your size, gap ≤10), reachable (gap ≤30), long shot.
- Weekly plan: the highest competition you can realistically win is `25 + 0.6 × your strength`, so a new app aims for about 25 or less. Searches with popularity ≥20 under that line are ranked by popularity × (1 − difficulty/100), plus a bonus when you already rank for them (largest between #11 and #50). Searches you changed in the last 7 days wait, so Apple has time to reflect the change. The plan also suggests a subtitle (≤30 characters) and a keyword field (≤100 bytes, counted in bytes, so ü and ğ count as two).
- The weekly plan picks 3 searches. When popularity is nearly the same for most candidates, it ranks by how easy a search is and how many rivals already target it instead.
6. Supported countries
- Choose from 175 App Store countries, including the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Türkiye and Japan.
- Every country is included in the Indie plan.
- Popularity needs App Store search suggestions for the country; where Apple offers none for a term, its popularity stays at the minimum, 5.
7. Limits, stated plainly
- iOS App Store only. No Google Play.
- Ranks go down to #250. Below that you see "not yet".
- 10 apps, 100 keywords per app (400 in all), up to 5 competitors per app, 90 days of daily history.
- Popularity and competition are estimates, not Apple data.
- No download or revenue estimates. No public REST API: API keys work only with the hosted MCP server.
- Without an active subscription, keywords are paused (kept, not checked) until you subscribe again. Daily history older than 90 days is deleted, and deleting your account removes everything.
- Two trackers can differ by a few places, because they check at different times and Apple's results shift during the day.
FAQ
How often does TrackASO check rankings? A new keyword is checked within seconds. After that, every tracked keyword is checked every night, with each country scanned around 03:00 local time. You can also refresh on demand.
Where does TrackASO's popularity number come from? It's estimated from App Store search suggestions: how few characters you need to type before Apple suggests the term, and how high it appears. It's always labelled as an estimate.
How is keyword competition calculated? From the current top 10 for that search in that country: how many ratings those apps have (weighted toward the top spots), how many use the search words in their name or subtitle, and how many results there are.
Which countries does TrackASO support? You can choose from 175 App Store countries. Each keyword is tracked separately in each country.
How deep does TrackASO track ranks? Down to #250, Apple's maximum. Below that it shows "not yet" instead of guessing.