March 1, 2013

Where to Promote Android Apps

Since Google Play does not feature new apps in the “Just In”/”What’s New” section any more, there is almost no way to get visibility for new apps other than whatever app promotion you can do on your own. So I recently (March 2013) scoured the web to find the best places to promote an Android app. The sites are ordered according to Alexa Rankings. I’m only listing the top sites from my list here. Most of the stuff mentioned here will only likely give your app an initial influx of downloads. To actually have sustainable growth, you’ll have to rely on a kick-ass app with some sort of viral/social component that users will love to talk about and share with others.

App Markets

First, make sure that your app is published in some of the top markets so that it is visible to the largest audience possible:

Android App Review Sites

Probably the best way to get the most eyesballs on your app is to get a popular site to review it. This is easier said than done. Some sites charge for this service, some accept submissions for free. Either way, these sites are bombarded with a constant barrage of app review requests so there is no guarantee that they will actually review your app. The following is a list of sites that are open to receiving app submissions for review:

Forums

Apart from review sites, forums are probably the best way to get a some users to check out your app. The following forums have an area specifically for promoting your apps. Users would usually frequent these forums looking for new gems, but traffic is quite low:

Other Sites that do App Reviews

The following are sites that are known for reviewing apps, but there is no straight-forward method for informing them about your app (sometimes deliberately). However, they do they have contact forms, email addresses or send-a-tip forms that you can use to inform them about your app. I would only suggest using these if you feel like your app is worthwhile enough for them to report on. Take a quick look at their home pages to get an idea of the quality and type of apps they review:

Sites that Promote New Apps

Here are a couple of sites that help promote new apps. It might be easier to get listed here than on the other app review websites. However their Alexa Rankings are very low and you will probably get very few hits from being featured here:

These are a lot of Sites to Register for

Damn straight. I’d suggest using a password manager tool like LastPass to help you create, and more importantly, remember the account information for these sites. Please also try to obey the rules of the sites/forums and do not post material that is considered spam by that site/forum. Also please try to be a good citizen of these sites and try to contribute material or useful forum posts back to the community in exchange for letting them promote your app. That means using an actual email address and logging in later to respond to queries about your app and perhaps engaging in other forms of discussion happening on the site/forum (commenting on threads, giving feedback on other’s apps).

About China

Finally, be aware of Chinese app markets and rampant piracy. Hackers have been known to not only clone your app and post it as their own, but also to switch out AdMob (or other advertising) links to point to their own accounts, hence robbing you of potential revenue. The best course of action is to make sure that your app is already listed in the top Chinese app markets (so the hackers get a package name conflict), or if you already see that your app has been cloned/hacked, then send a copyright infringment request to the organizational entity running the app store. They usually take down the infringing apps quickly. To see if your app is cloned/hacked in a Chinese app store, translate the name of your app into Simplified Chinese using Google Translate and then search the popular Chinese app stores for that string. You can also try searching for your app’s package name.

Updating this List

If I’ve missed out on some awesome site, please post it in the comments. Good luck promoting your app!

Comments (32)

  1. June 17, 2013
    Patrick Garde said...

    May I suggest one more site to promote Android apps? GameWoof is actually more than just a review site as the website has a ton of potential. Might want to check it out.

    Thanks!

  2. June 26, 2013
    Janne Lepola said...

    http://www.tapzone.info, Android gaming portal, opened today. It’s a news portal site with comprehensive game database, which isn’t based on volume but quality. Products are manually tagged by users and players can easily search games based on their liking. It’s easy to filter games with tags such as “Horror” & “Racing / Driving” to find all zombie-slaughter driving games.

    For publishers and indie developers there is easy-to-use marketing tool. Promoting games is possible even without registering an account. As of writing there isn’t “add my application” feature (basically your applications “gamecard” must exist within Tapzone), but this feature shouls come up in couple of weeks. As for now, you can simply ask admin to add your application to database.

  3. July 5, 2013
    Dev said...

    You’ve missed a few sites, here are 120 Android sites that accept reviews: http://www.androidb.com/2013/07/android-review-sites-the-ultimate-list-to-help-market-your-app/

  4. July 6, 2013
    Glen said...

    Hi Muhammad,

    I started with your list of forums. I was curious to see what (if any) impact the forums announcements would have on the downloads for my app.

    In summary, I created 6 announcements that achieved approximately 1000 views over 5 days. They increased my app downloads from about 6 per day to 14. The 3 best performers were: XDA, Dorid Forums and Andorid Central.

    Full study here:
    http://ewhizmobile.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/app-marketing-in-android-forums-case.html

    Cheers,
    Glen

  5. August 6, 2013
    Booster said...

    These days when it comes to promotion of apps, like the article says, you are on your own. I help developers get the downloads and ratings they need to get known. It is not fun when just 1 company owns everything.

  6. August 18, 2013

    It’s truly a great and helpful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.

  7. August 20, 2013
    Jorge said...

    Thanks so much, for the list

  8. September 7, 2013
    Simon said...

    Great list! There are plenty of new places to promote your app since this list was made. Maybe worth adding Appseeq (www.appseeq.com)

  9. October 2, 2013
    launchers said...

    Download android apps, games, themes, launchers, widgets, Personalization, HD games, live wallpapers, books and references, security and everything about android apps

  10. October 12, 2013
    starweb said...

    I have started a website for App review. I will review all Apps for free within 48 hours of submission.
    http://www.meegg.com/free-android-ios-windows-app-review-within-48-hours/

  11. October 24, 2013
    Hyder said...

    Thanks. Many websites are not working.

  12. October 25, 2013

    Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular post!
    It is the little changes which will make the largest changes.
    Thanks a lot for sharing!

  13. December 3, 2013

    […] Where to Promote Android Apps. This article highlights app markets, review sites, forums, and other opportunities for Android developers to get some attention. […]

  14. December 6, 2013
    Elvis Shrestha said...

    Great post out there (Y).. btw which theme are you using?

  15. December 27, 2013
    Arshi Aima said...

    hey hiii, please suggest me some website for promoting my android games. I will be very thankful to you.

  16. January 9, 2014
    Oya said...

    vividroid.com help to promote apps and games

  17. February 28, 2014
    Benjamin said...

    Hi !

    We are a very cool startup called Addengo from France, developing new ads format, and specialized in video advertising on mobile phone.

    We are not just displaying video, we are doing more than that, there is a few of our features !

    – Addengo’s main features
    – We are displaying video directly into your app, the user won’t leave it.
    – Our format is non-intrusive, the user can select the video he wants to watch.
    – We don’t collect any personal informations.
    – Our SDK is built to be easy to install, and is fully customizable.
    – You’ll get better revenues than you’ve ever had.

    We are now building our network of app’s editors, by allowing you to use our solution to share videos on our network, totally for free.
    We aren’t getting any money, just giving away our product, so editors can enjoy it. We are taking care of everything, just sit down and wait for your apps to get more users !

    If you want to get more informations, you can visit our website Addengo

    Feel free to MP me to get my email address, or even my phone number.

    http://www.en.addengo.net/publishers

    See you soon
    Benjamin

  18. March 25, 2014
    Dheeraj said...

    I believe that this facebook page should also be included in the list. They will surely review your app and share it with their users.
    Check it out… https://www.facebook.com/bestappreviews

  19. April 4, 2014
    killerapp said...

    Another fast-way is by having a ot of positive reviews http://www.killerapp.guru

  20. April 14, 2014
    cygery said...

    Hi,
    I also offer a small free app review service on my blog: http://cygery.com/wordpress/free-app-review-service/
    It’d be great if you could add it to your list. Thanks!

  21. May 7, 2014
    VAGON DRAKE said...

    Excellent tips. Some of them might work actually. The only thing i see is that unless you have a huge budget your not going to easily get your app noticed. i have tried submitting my app to many websites for review and they all come back with ” pay us and we will ” when before same websites where happy to do it for you for free.
    Here is a link to my new released fun game try it out guys.
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jb.development.bear
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOBGSj_B8Pw

  22. May 9, 2014
    Daniel said...

    Hey Guys,

    We are freelance developers and we’ve had enough of not having the possibility to promote an application without spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars. With DappWall any of the apps can get in focus and not only the ones from the biggest developer companies.

    If you register until May 31, 2014 you will receive 15$ free credit, which can even be used for 3 weeks of advertising. So go check it out and start planning your ads for free!

    The DappWall app will be available on May 15, 2014. From that date onwards every advertisement you created will be published and become available for users.
    We are positive that DappWall will be the best solution for every developer out there, who has been awaiting to promote their apps without spending tremendous amounts of money.

    – The DappWall Team

  23. January 14, 2015
    Androidfan said...

    You can also promote your apps on
    http://talkera.org/android

  24. February 26, 2015
    Petr said...

    I recommend free app promotion site with “pin” option every day, get started there http://www.freeappin.com

  25. March 8, 2015
    Congaga said...

    Very informative article. ls is important to get dofollow backlinks for your app from related android site. If you wanna get for free links for your game app i will recommend this free site: http://www.top-android-games.net/

  26. April 1, 2015
    Mary Joel said...

    A very informative article. Its hard for us developers to get our App noticed. Wanted to share an awesome way to promote your App for free. I got free installs, comments and ratings for my App through install4install.com. Check them out 🙂

  27. May 26, 2015
    FreeAppIn said...

    Hello,
    You can promote your apps on my Website: http://www.freeappin.com
    It is free and you can became a part of our community, share your apps and get some feedback from other users.

  28. May 30, 2015
    Rajesh said...

    Thanks for the information you have shared with us. I am an app developer who looking the ways to promote the apps. Recently, I joined a community who offers very finest service. it is very easy way to get free installs, ratings. it helps in increasing the revenue. create an account by using this link.
    http://install4install.com/?ref=ivneetverma

  29. June 26, 2015
    Mark said...

    Hi,

    I am also a developer that wants to promote my apps. I have been searching on the net and tried different services o get installs and reviews.

    I will recommend you this community where you can get real reviews for free in a new way:
    http://reviewsmotion.com/

    It has been working for me, i got real reviews for my Android and iOS apps for free.

  30. July 6, 2015
    John said...

    It’s really nice tips about app promotion in worldwide, you can get all services in our company, let’s check this all may we can help you to make a brand.

    We are from Apps Network based in USA. Affordable Services to promote mobile apps in worldwide or specific country based.

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  31. December 1, 2015
    Abby said...

    A very informative article. It will be great if you write about different app promotion services like http://app-reviews.org/ app marketing sevicce.

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