Improved Algorithm Allows Apple to Dominate App Store Search Result

Apple has improved its algorithm in response to accusations that it's manipulating the App Store search result to favor its products.

A previous analysis accused Apple of placing its apps higher on the App Store search result ahead of its competitors. Although the tech company denied any wrongdoing at the time, a recent algorithm change seems to have fixed this issue.

Back in July, a few months after Spotify filed a complaint about Apple’s tactics, the tech giant updated the algorithm. Now, search results appear more balanced.

With the looming antitrust inquiry from the EU, Apple is still reluctant to admit any wrongdoing.

In a statement about the updated app store algorithm, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple Inc, Phil Schiller said: “It’s not corrected.” Senior vice president of Internet Software and Services in the company, Eddy Cue added: “It’s improved.”

Apple Handicapped its Apps to Improve the App Store Search Result

Before 2016, Apple wasn’t listing any of its apps in the App Store. They simply came pre-installed with the latest iPhones or iPads.

Then the tech company started adding the first-party apps to the App Store at the detriment of competing apps. The first party apps began making their way the coveted top spot, before ultimately dominating the app store search result.

What’s more, the App Store team failed to notice this shift.

Apple has finally ended the trend by preventing all its apps from appearing in search results. Expectedly, the algorithm tweak has made a few first-party apps such as the Apple Wallet to drop in rank.

For a while now, app developers have accused Apple of unfair App Store practices. Yet, Apple is not admitting that it did anything to hurt the competition.

In a statement to the press, Schiller said:

“We can just tell you that we’ve not done anything to drive that — that is, other than launching a great wallet, an Apple Card and marketing the heck out of it.”

The company told the NewYork Times that although it makes mistakes all the time, the algorithm that placed Apple apps above its competition wasn’t one.