Are you about to release an Android app or have you already released an app and you are now sitting back and waiting for the downloads to start to roll in. Gone are those days, the new reality is that if you build it, they will not come! You have to go and get the downloads, you have to promote and market your app and one of the proven methods to promote your app is by getting your app to be reviewed by an app review site.
So what are App Review Sites by the way? In theory, app review sites are news portals, information websites, niche blogs or any website with existing audience that are looking for products and services to share with their existing audience. They solve the problem of discover-ability for developers. When it works as it is intended, app review is a win win service for the three parties involved.
- The audience - gets exposed to useful apps that they might not otherwise have been exposed to.
- The Review site - enhances their perceived value to their audience by introducing them to a useful product.
- The Developer - you might get a download! and you will increase your apps visibility to an audience outside of the Play Store.
Does app review work? - yes, but it depends. If your app gets reviewed by an app review site that has a sizable audience, chances are that some of those audience may be interested in your app now or later. If your app gets reviewed by an app review site with 28 followers, then that may not get you a whole lot of downloads.
Should I Pay For App Review Sites?
NO! - you should not pay for app review sites. If your app is incredibly important, then a long list of app review sites will be scrambling to feature your app in their publications. However, if your app is yet another app. Then it is up to you to spend time to tell as many app review sites as possible that your app is interesting so they should review it.
Many new developers do not have the time or the awareness to submit their apps to the endless list of app review sites and this ignorance spells business opportunity to anyone interested. Consequently, a legion of websites and app review service providers have appointed themselves to be the middleman between the uninformed app developer and app reviews sites that do not want to review yet another version of a re-skinned 1048 or 2048 app.
AppyNation keeps a list of app review sites that charge for reviews and call it the Hall of Infamy.?
Below is the list of the top 5 Android-centric app review sites in terms of the size of their audience and user engagement. I hope this list saves you time by serving as a starting point in your search for an Android focused app review site but it should not replace your due diligence.
Step 1: Target Specific Users . . .
Do not build a general purpose app . . .
Want your App to be Reviewed?
AndroidTapp is an Android focused review site with a decent following in terms of posted number of site visitors and social media. For one thing, the site is active. There are recent posts and updates. The apps they review are reviewed with long commentary, I am not sure if these are copy provided by the app publishers or written by AndroidTap editorial team.
| App Categories | Cost to submit app | Submission Form | Remarks |
| All types of app are reviewed. | This is essentially a pay to be listed review site, packages starts at $39. | The only posted app submission form is payment page here. | This is a generalist app review site with good categorization. There is little audience engagement in the site and social media. |
This is a professionally looking site that is also focused on Android app reviews with a slight emphasis on games apps. All the featured apps are professionally reviewed by their editorial staff and they apply a rating concept they call "Expert Rating", it does not appear that this applies to every listed app. They provide an array of services to developers including app analysis, video review, etc.
| App Categories | Cost to submit app | Submission Form | Remarks |
| All types of apps are listed, with a dedicated top category for games. | None! but the devil is in the details. It is free to create a Developer page, however there are costs associated with other offers including "Premium Reviews"! | To submit an app, you first have to "Join" and you can join here. | Definitely worth checking out if you are looking for Android app review sites. |
AppBrain is a simple and elegantly designed website with a prominent search box to aide in app discover-ability. The site lists a sizable audience and covers wide range of categories. There is no editorial review of any of the featured apps, the information about the listed apps appears to have come from the Play Store description. Interestingly, some of the listed apps (and one can argue the majority of the apps) are listed without the consent of the developer. The owners of the app/developers are invited to apply to "claim" their app!
| App Categories | Cost to submit app | Submission Form | Remarks |
| Appears to cover all categories. | No! but the devil is in the details. It is free to create a Developer page, however there are costs associated with other offers including "Premium Reviews"! | To submit an app, you first have to be "Join" and you can join here. | The site has a good user interface, there is no "professional review" , there is no "user comment", they have an unexplained number assigned to each app. |
This is not a dedicated app review site, rather it is an Android influenced tech news magazine site that also offers Android app reviews. The site has a growing audience with limited engagement in terms of user comments, etc.
| App Categories
| Cost to submit app
| Submission Form
| Remarks
|
| Covers a wide range of app categories
| The price for submitting your app for review is $0.00 with a caveat, if your app is not reviewed in 10 days, you are given the option to "upgrade" to featured.
| You can submit your app for review through here.
| This site placed a "Request for review" button prominently in their site, inviting developers to submit their app. If you have a new app, I would suggest you take advantage of their free review for what it is worth.
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This must has been a very active site before because it show that there is thousands of comments from users, however the last of those comments was dated 2012. However, it lists a lot of apps and continues to show sign of ongoing activities.
| App Categories | Cost to submit app | Submission Form | Remarks |
| Covers a wide range of app categories | N/A - nothing is disclosed | No public form to submit an app for review, if one exists, maybe it's behind the login button here | If you figure out a way to put your app on this site, maybe you can get decent exposure from it. |
Step 1: Roll up your Sleeves . . .
Tony Young shows you a formula of how he did it. . .
Want free high quality Reviews?
Some of the leading high Android focused site offer app review such as:
If you are getting started with Android development, then you may not want to spend time trying to get into these highly visible sites. If you run into any Android focused app review site that is not in the list above, please use the comment box below to enter it.
The post Top Android App Review Sites appeared first on Val Okafor.
