Q: How to Compare Your Downloads and Revenue with Estimates in Competitor Intelligence

When getting started with <a href="https://appfigures.com/products/app-intelligence">Competitor Intelligence</a>, it’s good to get your bearings and understand how estimates in your specific corner of the app market match actual downloads and revenue. Appfigures uses sophisticated models and millions of data points of training to estimate how many downloads iOS and Android apps get all around the world. We do that while maintaining a strict privacy policy where private data (that's what you see in your own reports) is only ever used to help calibrate our estimation models and is never used for anything else. Our models are calibrated to produce estimates with a very low error rate, but as with all estimates, they fluctuate based on various things—from the day of the week to how popular the app is. We measure error rates using the industry-standard <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_absolute_percentage_error">MAPE </a>or Median Absolute Percent Error, and have an error rate between 5% (best case) and 25% (worst case). <a href="https://help.appfigures.com/en/article/how-appfigures-estimates-downloads-and-revenue-for-ios-and-android-apps-na7a2h/">Learn more about how we estimate downloads and revenue</a> Such low error rates mean that our estimates will get very close to real-world numbers, close enough to answer important questions to help you grow your downloads. And with our privacy-first approach, we will never compromise your private data in the process. If they don’t, beyond the 5% - 25% e

Question 1

Linking Your App Store Connect Account

Accepted Answer

Appfigures connects to your App Store Connect account directly and securely using advanced encryption and collects everything you need to track downloads and revenue for your apps, in-app purchases, subscriptions, and more.

Table of Contents:

Linking your account to Appfigures
Creating an app-specific password
Creating a sub-user with Apple and Permissions Required
Linking your Apple Ads account
Sync Messages

* Noteworthy

Linking your App Store Connect account will enable you to track the following with Appfigures:

App downloads and revenue
In-App Purchase downloads and revenue
Subscriptions revenue, MRR, Churn, and more
App usage
Apple Search Ads campaign spend and performance
Monthly payment reports from Apple
Hourly ranks
Ratings
Reviews
Featured placements

Linking Your App Store Connect Account to Appfigures

||| Note: Managing linked accounts requires the Admin or Owner role. If you are a viewer, please share this article with a team member who has the required role.

Log in to your Appfigures Account
Click on your avatar (top right corner) and then on "My profile"
Go to [Linked Accounts](https://appfi

Question 2

How VAT is Handled by Apple and Google Play

Accepted Answer

Apple and Google report on Value Added Tax (VAT) differently, and that impacts the Gross Revenue number we report.

The Gist

Apple's Gross Revenue includes VAT.
Apple's Net Revenue does not include VAT.
Google's Gross Revenue does not include VAT.

* Google's `Net Revenue` does not include VAT.

Let's start with the app purchaser based in Denmark, a country that requires VAT.

${color}[#050505](VAT on the Apple App Store)

On the App Store, the purchaser downloads the app and pays 1.00 kr. (that's Danish Krone)

VAT is built into this price, so the Gross Revenue will be reported as 1.00 kr.

The `Net Revenue` deducts both VAT and Apple's fee. If VAT is 20% and Apple's fee is 15% `Net Revenue` will be 0.68 Kr.

Let's start with the app purchaser based in Denmark, a country that requires VAT.

${color}[#030202](VAT on Google Play)

On Google Play, the purchaser downloads the app and pays 1.00 kr. (that's Danish Krone)

VAT is built into this price, but the number Google reports to developers is what remains after VAT is removed, so in this case, the Gross Revenue will be reported as 0.80 kr.

The Net Revenue deducts both VAT and Google's fee. If VAT is 20% and Google's fee is 15% Net Revenue will be 0.68 Kr.

Question 3

How Appfigures Estimates Downloads and Revenue for iOS and Android Apps

Accepted Answer

Every day, Appfigures estimates data for millions of iOS and Android apps to provide app makers, marketers, investors, and analysts with unparalleled visibility into the mobile market.

When estimating, we have two critical focuses: accuracy and privacy.

Accuracy is essential because we know our members rely on our Intelligence data to make real-world decisions. Whether it's spending on ads to beat a competitor, investing in a new game developer, or choosing an app idea to focus on, the data you use will make (or break) your potential for success.
Privacy is important to us because we know that we can produce accurate estimates without using any data that can identify its owner or give a competitor any information they can't have otherwise. that's We're obsessed with both, and that's why so many app and game developers, marketers, analysts, investors, and journalists rely on our app intelligence every day.

*Not using App Intelligence yet? Check out what we have to offer, and see our insights in action

${color}[#000000](High Accuracy)

Appfigures uses sophisticated AI models that turn information that can be observed in the store into downloads and revenue estimates. We do that by training our models with real downloads and revenue data from hundreds of thousands of apps that share that data with us.

Modeling means making assumptions. Because we're es

Question 4

Apple Fiscal & Payout Calendar 2024 - 2025

Accepted Answer

Curious when you'll get paid by Apple? You've come to the right place.

Payments from the App Store follow Apple's fiscal calendar, which isn't very standard or intuitive, but follow a specific set of rules that we've turned into an easy-to-read and understand calendar, complete with the dates you'll receive your payment from Apple.

For the latest calendar, click here

| FYI - the Payments Report automatically uses this calendar to report estimated, expected, and actual payments, so you don't have to change anything.

Here's the calendar for 2024 - 2025:

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/6/f/5/16f5957f6b3a4700/screenshot-2025-09-22-at-44037_h1awm.png =761xauto)

${color}[#000000](Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: How Does Apple's Fiscal Calendar Work?

A: In case you're curious how this calendar works:

Every month starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday.
The first quarter starts at the end of September.
Every quarter starts with a 5-week month, followed by two 4-week months.
Every 5th or 6th year, depending on Apple, an extra week is added to Q1.

Q: When Will Expected Apple's Payout Dates

A: Apple pays precisely 33 days after the end of every fiscal month. These are the date you can expect to get paid:

Q1 (2024): Oct. 3rd, Oct. 31st, Dec. 5th
Q2 (2025): Jan. 2nd, Jan. 30th, Mar. 6th
Q3: Apr. 3rd, May 1s

Question 5

How to Compare Your Downloads and Revenue with Estimates in Competitor Intelligence

Accepted Answer

When getting started with Competitor Intelligence, it’s good to get your bearings and understand how estimates in your specific corner of the app market match actual downloads and revenue.

Appfigures uses sophisticated models and millions of data points of training to estimate how many downloads iOS and Android apps get all around the world. We do that while maintaining a strict privacy policy where private data (that's what you see in your own reports) is only ever used to help calibrate our estimation models and is never used for anything else.

Our models are calibrated to produce estimates with a very low error rate, but as with all estimates, they fluctuate based on various things—from the day of the week to how popular the app is.

We measure error rates using the industry-standard MAPE or Median Absolute Percent Error, and have an error rate between 5% (best case) and 25% (worst case).

Learn more about how we estimate downloads and revenue

Such low error rates mean that our estimates will get very close to real-world numbers, close enough to answer important questions to help you grow your downloads. And with our privacy-first approach, we will never compromise your private data in the process.

If they don’t, beyond the 5% - 25% e

Question 6

Usage Reports with App Store Connect

Accepted Answer

App Store Connect enables access to a set of usage metrics that are available natively for all iOS and macOS apps.

We import the following metrics from App Store Connect:

Sessions - The number of times the app has been used for at least two seconds. If the app is in the background and is later used again, that counts as another session. Totals are based on app users who agree to share their data with you.
Daily active devices - The number of devices with at least one session during the day. Only devices with iOS 8 and tvOS 9 or later are included. Totals are based on app users who agree to share their data with you.
Sessions/device - The average number of sessions that were started on a single device in a day.
Crashes - The number of times the app crashed on a device.
Paying Users - The number of unique users that paid for an app or an In-App Purchase.
MAU - The total number of devices with at least one session in the last 30 days of the selected day. Pulled from App Analytics > "Active Last 30 Days" metric.
Opt-in Rate - The percentage of users who agree to share their data with you. Under the hood, Apple provides a country breakdown in App Analytics, which is what we use to report this number.
App Store Impressions are the total number of times your app was viewed in the Featured, Categories, Top Charts, and Search sections of the App Store.
Product Page Views include the total number of times your app’s product page h

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