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:
- Google Play
- Amazon App Store
- GetJar
- AppBrain – app must already be published on Google Play first
- SlideMe
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:
- XDA
- AndroidCentral.com
- Android Authority
- App Storm
- Gamezebo – games only
- Tech Hive
- AppsZoom
- AndroidTapp
- Android Guys
- Droid Gamers – games only
- TapScape
- Androinica
- Apps 400
- AppEggs
- Crazy Mike’s Apps
- Mobile Apps Gallery
- Play Android – games only
- Apps To Use
- Android Rundown
- Life of Android
- 101 Best Android Apps
- App Review Central
- AppSplit
- Ask Your Android
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:
- Reddit/androidapps
- /r/Android – find mega-post link in side-bar
- XDA
- AndroidCentral
- Phandroid
- DroidForums[Games, Apps, Devs (has app listings too)]
- AndroidCommunity
- AndroidPit
- Android.net [Apps Forum, Games Forum]
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!
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!
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.
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/
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
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.
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.
Thanks so much, for the list
Great list! There are plenty of new places to promote your app since this list was made. Maybe worth adding Appseeq (www.appseeq.com)
Download android apps, games, themes, launchers, widgets, Personalization, HD games, live wallpapers, books and references, security and everything about android apps
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/
Thanks. Many websites are not working.
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular post!
It is the little changes which will make the largest changes.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
[…] Where to Promote Android Apps. This article highlights app markets, review sites, forums, and other opportunities for Android developers to get some attention. […]
Great post out there (Y).. btw which theme are you using?
hey hiii, please suggest me some website for promoting my android games. I will be very thankful to you.
What about http://apps.mobilemmogames.com/
Maybe something for you Arshi?
vividroid.com help to promote apps and games
Hi !
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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
Another fast-way is by having a ot of positive reviews http://www.killerapp.guru
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!
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
Hey Guys,
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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.
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You can also promote your apps on
http://talkera.org/android
I recommend free app promotion site with “pin” option every day, get started there http://www.freeappin.com
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/
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 🙂
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.
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.
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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.
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John
A very informative article. It will be great if you write about different app promotion services like http://app-reviews.org/ app marketing sevicce.