Adobe’s Lightroom Mobile no longer requires a Creative Cloud account
Currently, Adobe’s on-the-go photo editing app Lightroom mobile requires a $9.99 a month Creative Cloud account to use on Android. That’s soon to change, however. Earlier this week, Adobe lifted the Creative Cloud requirement on iOS and has announced that it will soon be gone from Android versions of the app as well.
This is good news for photo editing fans, because Lightroom Mobile is one of the more serious utilities available on mobile devices. It has always been free to download, and now it will be free to use as well. In addition to removing the subscription requirement, this new update also adds a collection of new features such as the Targeted Adjustment tool and a Dehaze filter.
See also: 14 best Android apps for artists
You’ll still probably need a subscription to maximize your use of Lightroom, as the app’s spotlight feature is its ability to sync up content across devices through the Creative Cloud. Lightroom allows you to move seamlessly from your phone or tablet to your PC while working on the same image. You can also take advantage of your PC’s larger storage space, freeing up your mobile hard drive for other uses. There are options that allow you to dictate which photos Lightroom automatically backs up on the cloud and whether or not to use mobile data to do so.
Adobe currently offers a free 30-day trial for Creative Cloud, so after picking up Lightroom Mobile in the Google Play Store, you can take the cloud service for a spin and see if it would be worth ten bucks a month to you.
Chromecast 2015 and Chromecast Audio Review
Along with the new flagship Nexus smartphones, the Nexus 6P and the Nexus 5X, Google also unveiled an updated version of the Chromecast HDMI dongle, boasting a new look, multiple color options, and of course, faster hardware and enhancements on the software side of things. That wasn’t the only media streaming device Google launched either, with the company also taking the wraps off Chromecast Audio, which lets you make use of almost any set of speakers out there to cover your audio needs.
Do these new media products remain as compelling an option as the original Chromecast was? We find out, in this Chromecast 2015 and Chromecast Audio review!
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Like the original Chromecast, the latest edition can also directly be plugged into your television or other display via the HDMI port, and requires only a quick initial setup before you are good to go. The Chromecast 2015 does look very different when compared to its predecessor, and at first, there were some concerns with regards to space, but those are all gone now thanks to the revamped design.
Although it may look a bit odd when compared to its predecessor, the new Chromecast does wonders for saving space behind the television. The new design now keeps the dongle away from any walls that could be right behind your TV, which the original Chromecast might have otherwise pressed up against. Additionally, if you have multiple cords plugged into the back of your TV and happen to be short on space, the new Chromecast was designed to fix this problem. The dongle portion of the Chromecast is pretty slim, so if things are at all cluttered, you’ll still be able to plug in your Chromecast without a hitch.
If you’re not short on space, though, the new Chromecast is also magnetic, so you can attach it to itself to stop if from dangling.
Chromecast Audio essentially features the same concept behind the Chromecast, but is an audio-only device. This is the kind of device that you can plug into almost any set of speakers that are lying around, which can then be used as a full-fledged audio streaming service, giving new purpose to any old, regular speakers that you may have. As mentioned, the Chromecast Audio has the same puck design as the Chromecast 2015, and doesn’t have anything sticking out of it, because the cable that you use for audio, can be adapted to other formats. What is included is a regular 3.5 mm audio cable, and of course, it has to be externally powered as well, via a wall plug, or any device with an USB port, like a laptop.
Setting up the Chromecast 2015 and Chromecast Audio requires only one thing, an Android or iOS smartphone. You will have to install the Chromecast application, which has also received its own update that introduces an updated design, and quite a few new features. Not only does this app serve as an aggregation system for all of the different applications that are compatible for use with the Chromecast, but it also comes with a robust recommendation feature, pointing you towards any content that you may be interested in.
Related: Latest Chromecast app update brings content discovery, search functionality and more
There is a little bit more to it as well, with you now having the ability to change the backdrop on the Chromecast this time around, with options that only include pictures that you could get from websites like 500px, but also compatibility with Google Newsstand, to allow for a ticker across the screen to keep you up to date with the latest headlines from around the world. The background image feature is a very pleasant addition, and if you are someone who has their television on all the time, it makes for a nice look when you aren’t using the TV with the Chromecast.
There have been improvements on the performance side of things as well, which is expected, given the updated internals that the Chromecast 2015 packs under the hood. Mainly, the wireless signal has been updated from the 2.4 GHz variety to 5 GHz, which does happen to be a little more opened up, and should make things faster when it comes to buffering the content that you are streaming. In our testing, it does seem to do the trick, but while at the presentation during the launch event, it was mentioned that the content would be pre-loaded in the background as you are selecting it, allowing for almost instantaneous streaming, it’s not really something that we have observed.
When testing performance with HBO Now, as far as the original Chromecast was concerned, you’d notice that it had to try buffering again multiple times, and the content tended to get a little bit fuzzy when going to lower resolutions, to keep up with the speed. With the new Chromecast 2015 however, there have been absolutely no issues with HBO Now, with regards to speed or clarity. It is true that 1080p is the upper limit as far as streaming resolution is concerned, but that isn’t much of a big deal, with the majority of televisions other there are still not of the 2K variety at the moment.
Moving on to Chromecast Audio, it is a device that is a little bit more specialized in its usage, and may be something that will not pique the interest of every user. If there was something similar that you were on the lookout for, Chromecast Audio may just be the perfect device for you. If you do have a set of speakers at your disposal that aren’t being used all that much, this audio-centric media streamer is what will help make these speakers viable once again.
Chromecast Audio allows you to have a singular source for streaming music which won’t get interrupted by all of things that your phone would do on the side. You could still do things on your actual device, while the music is playing on the speaker that Chromecast Audio is connected to. The streaming capabilities with the Chromecast Audio also happen to be pretty instantaneous, especially if you are using a music streaming service. If it was only when playing podcasts, when using something like Pocket Casts, that there was some buffering involved, especially if your starting point was later in the podcast.
See also: Amazon to stop selling Google’s Chromecast, Apple TV and others come October 29
When using something like Bluetooth speakers, any notifications you receive will interrupt the audio that you are streaming through the speaker, but that is no longer a concern with Chromecast Audio. Audio quality from this device is otherwise standard, possibly a little bit above average. Considering the fact that you will be paying $35 for an audio peripheral device, you can’t really expect it to provide the same quality that a high-quality DAC will provide. It is however, a great option for anyone that has a good set of speakers, and needs them to be as smart as our televisions are, with Chromecast.
Probably the best part about the Chromecast 2015 is that it supports both Android and iOS, which means that most smartphone owners will be able to use it, and with an Android device, you can stream the entire screen to your television. If you don’t have either for any reason, you still have the ability to stream content from your computer using the Google Chrome browser, from which you can stream media from not only all of the different streaming services, but also just a Chrome tab, or even the whole desktop. As far as gaming is concerned, the library is still quite bare, but we still look forward to seeing how this second screen experience on Chromecast might be able to benefit the daily user.
So there you have it for this closer look at the Chromecast 2015 and Chromecast Audio! When compared to the other peripherals out there like Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more, the Chromecast remains one of the cheapest devices available for this kind of content streaming, priced at just $35. Another big plus is the fact that it is pretty easy to use, needing minimal setup, and requiring you to just hit a button in the corner of the application to get going.
Buy Chromecast from the Google Store
Buy Chromecast Audio from the Google Store
More of Google’s latest
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Can’t accept autonomous liability? Get out of the game, says Volvo
Volvo has an easy answer for all the hand-wringing about whose responsible when self-driving cars crash.Volvo chief executive officer and president Håkan Samuelsson says one of the most vexing challenges facing the auto industry can be solved with a simple statement: Manufacturers should be held responsible if their autonomous technology causes car accidents. Two days after the Swedish automaker pledged to be “fully liable” for accidents caused by its self-driving technology, Samuelsson pushed the entire industry to follow Volvo’s lead.
“We are the suppliers of this technology and we are liable for everything the car is doing in autonomous mode,” he said Thursday during an appearance in Washington DC. “If you are not ready to make such a statement, you shouldn’t try to develop an autonomous system.”
Google and Mercedes-Benz have made similar pledges, but it’s not yet clear whether other automakers will follow. A spokesperson for the Auto Alliance, an industry trade group representing major OEMs says the organization has no position on whether the industry should be held liable.
“If you are not ready to make such a statement, you shouldn’t try to develop an autonomous system.”
But in the span of a few short days, the series of announcements from Volvo, Google, and Mercedes-Benz set a substantial precedent. Even though self-driving cars aren’t yet on sale, the industry has been mulling questions over autonomous liability for some time, and no clear answers had emerged. Samuelsson said further inaction would hinder progress on commercial implementation of autonomobiles and stumped for federal guidance and regulation that would ready roads for deployment.
Details of Volvo’s liability pledge are still being discussed, but the CEO said his plan was ultimately a simple one. Volvo would accept liability for all crashes caused by the self-driving technology. It would not include coverage for incidents that occurred when autonomous-capable cars were under human control, nor would it cover instances when a car operated in autonomous mode could not avoid the reckless actions of another vehicle.
“If the system is causing an accident or over-speeding because it didn’t read a sign in the right way, that is what I mean,” he said. “That is what should be included.”
Signs might not even be needed in an autonomous future, a possibility raised during a panel discussion at the House of Sweden, where Samuelsson made the announcement. If that prospect struck some in the transportation community as far-fetched, it struck others as obvious, just as the notion that automakers should be held responsible for their products did.
“Why would Volvo accept liability for autonomous vehicles?” asked Alain Kornhauser, faculty chair of Princeton’s Autonomous Vehicles Engineering program. “Because they know it’s not going to cost them anything. They’re going to make it safe. They’re going to sell these suckers and make money off it, and insurance companies that see that will get rich off that.”
More than 32,000 people are killed and 400,000 injured in car crashes every year in the United States. Automakers haven’t said their autonomous technology will be perfect, but with human error responsible for 94 percent of accidents, they believe they can sharply improve on that toll. Embracing the liability may be a signal the technology is nearing readiness for deployment.
“Any corporation putting its name on something that will be driven without a driver is going to do that,” said Ron Medford, director of safety for Google’s self-driving car project. “Regulation is fine, and we support efforts being made to make sure the vehicle is safe. But the primary responsibility will be with the manufacturer, because it has to be.”
“The primary responsibility will be with the manufacturer, because it has to be.”
Another sign autonomous deployment may be nearing: After testing cars on public roads for six years, Google recently hired auto-industry veteran John Krafcik as the first CEO of its self-driving car program. While technology may be ready, public policy still needs development and refinement. Samuelsson, pictured above, pressed both the industry and federal government to find ways to ensure laws and regulations are adopted and consistent across the United States. In Europe, he said a patchwork of varying laws may hamper the sale and functionality of autonomous vehicles crossing from one jurisdiction into the other. He said the US could adopt a lead role by avoiding such confusion here.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials say they’re researching ways to create uniform testing practices and have initiated the process of rule-making for vehicle-to-vehicle communications, which could affect how self-driving cars interact in a broader traffic environment. The irony of an automaker calling for regulations and standards, which are often loathed by industry insiders, wasn’t lost on NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind.
“From where I sit, you can have all kinds of strong voices literally yelling at us – ‘Don’t regulate, you’ll constrain innovation!’ – and at the same time, President Samuelsson is saying you need some consistency across the board,” he said.
Can’t accept autonomous liability? Get out of the game, says Volvo
Volvo has an easy answer for all the hand-wringing about whose responsible when self-driving cars crash.Volvo chief executive officer and president Håkan Samuelsson says one of the most vexing challenges facing the auto industry can be solved with a simple statement: Manufacturers should be held responsible if their autonomous technology causes car accidents. Two days after the Swedish automaker pledged to be “fully liable” for accidents caused by its self-driving technology, Samuelsson pushed the entire industry to follow Volvo’s lead.
“We are the suppliers of this technology and we are liable for everything the car is doing in autonomous mode,” he said Thursday during an appearance in Washington DC. “If you are not ready to make such a statement, you shouldn’t try to develop an autonomous system.”
Google and Mercedes-Benz have made similar pledges, but it’s not yet clear whether other automakers will follow. A spokesperson for the Auto Alliance, an industry trade group representing major OEMs says the organization has no position on whether the industry should be held liable.
“If you are not ready to make such a statement, you shouldn’t try to develop an autonomous system.”
But in the span of a few short days, the series of announcements from Volvo, Google, and Mercedes-Benz set a substantial precedent. Even though self-driving cars aren’t yet on sale, the industry has been mulling questions over autonomous liability for some time, and no clear answers had emerged. Samuelsson said further inaction would hinder progress on commercial implementation of autonomobiles and stumped for federal guidance and regulation that would ready roads for deployment.
Details of Volvo’s liability pledge are still being discussed, but the CEO said his plan was ultimately a simple one. Volvo would accept liability for all crashes caused by the self-driving technology. It would not include coverage for incidents that occurred when autonomous-capable cars were under human control, nor would it cover instances when a car operated in autonomous mode could not avoid the reckless actions of another vehicle.
“If the system is causing an accident or over-speeding because it didn’t read a sign in the right way, that is what I mean,” he said. “That is what should be included.”
Signs might not even be needed in an autonomous future, a possibility raised during a panel discussion at the House of Sweden, where Samuelsson made the announcement. If that prospect struck some in the transportation community as far-fetched, it struck others as obvious, just as the notion that automakers should be held responsible for their products did.
“Why would Volvo accept liability for autonomous vehicles?” asked Alain Kornhauser, faculty chair of Princeton’s Autonomous Vehicles Engineering program. “Because they know it’s not going to cost them anything. They’re going to make it safe. They’re going to sell these suckers and make money off it, and insurance companies that see that will get rich off that.”
More than 32,000 people are killed and 400,000 injured in car crashes every year in the United States. Automakers haven’t said their autonomous technology will be perfect, but with human error responsible for 94 percent of accidents, they believe they can sharply improve on that toll. Embracing the liability may be a signal the technology is nearing readiness for deployment.
“Any corporation putting its name on something that will be driven without a driver is going to do that,” said Ron Medford, director of safety for Google’s self-driving car project. “Regulation is fine, and we support efforts being made to make sure the vehicle is safe. But the primary responsibility will be with the manufacturer, because it has to be.”
“The primary responsibility will be with the manufacturer, because it has to be.”
Another sign autonomous deployment may be nearing: After testing cars on public roads for six years, Google recently hired auto-industry veteran John Krafcik as the first CEO of its self-driving car program. While technology may be ready, public policy still needs development and refinement. Samuelsson, pictured above, pressed both the industry and federal government to find ways to ensure laws and regulations are adopted and consistent across the United States. In Europe, he said a patchwork of varying laws may hamper the sale and functionality of autonomous vehicles crossing from one jurisdiction into the other. He said the US could adopt a lead role by avoiding such confusion here.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials say they’re researching ways to create uniform testing practices and have initiated the process of rule-making for vehicle-to-vehicle communications, which could affect how self-driving cars interact in a broader traffic environment. The irony of an automaker calling for regulations and standards, which are often loathed by industry insiders, wasn’t lost on NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind.
“From where I sit, you can have all kinds of strong voices literally yelling at us – ‘Don’t regulate, you’ll constrain innovation!’ – and at the same time, President Samuelsson is saying you need some consistency across the board,” he said.
Playdate: Giving away Snake’s watch with ‘Metal Gear Online’
Metal Gear Online hasn’t even been active a week and yet and it’s dealing with some pretty serious issues. First there’s the whole real-money for in-game insurance thing, and as Eurogamer reports, there’s a load of balancing and server issues too. But, who needs a game when you could have bitchin’ watch modeled after the one Big Boss/Venom Snake/Who Even Knows wears in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain? While you’re enjoying today’s broadcast you have the distinct chance to win just that: a Seiko watch that’s subtle enough to not trigger any alarms, but those in the know will give a hearty smile if they spot it.
Tune in starting at 6pm ET / 3pm PT for your chance to win as myself and Sean Buckley attempt to not (virtually) die repeatedly. Join us here on this post, Twitch.tv/joystiq (if you want to hop into chat) or the Engadget Gaming homepage for two hours of stealth multiplayer mayhem.
http://www.twitch.tv/joystiq/embedWatch live video from Joystiq on www.twitch.tv
[We’re streaming Metal Gear Solid Online through OBS at 720p, so rest assured it’s going to look far prettier on your TV at home.]
- Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
- Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one Seiko NextAge Metal Gear Solid V TPP Collaboration Watch (2,500 limited edition).
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email or Facebook login. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until October 9th at 8:00PM ET. Good luck!
Firefox will stop supporting web plugins (except for Flash) by the end of 2016
Horrible browser plugins used to offer extended multimedia features for website, often at the cost of a much worse overall experience — thankfully, they’re going the way of the dodo. Chrome recently banished plugins like Java and Silverlight (and made auto-playing Flash ads disabled by default), and now Firefox is doing the same. Mozilla just announced in a blog post that nearly all old-school plugins will not be supported in Firefox by the end of 2016. That’s a long ways away, but it’s still good news.
Naturally, the impossible-to-kill Adobe Flash platform is exempted from this doom, but everything else will be completely disabled. Mozilla also noted that new platforms, like the 64-bit Firefox for Windows, will launch without plugin support since they don’t have to support a legacy base of users. Let’s take a moment of thanks for standards like HTML5 making the web a better place to browse and start counting down the days until Flash can join Java in the internet’s trash pile.
Via: PC World
Source: Mozilla
Computer Science is the most popular major for women at Stanford
Stanford reportedly has 214 female students enrolled in its Computer Science major — that’s 30 percent of the major’s total enrollment — making it the most popular major with women at the university for the first time. Women constitute 49 percent of the school’s total student body and Computer Science accounts for 20 percent of the university’s total enrollment. Computer Science did just barely eke out the previous title-holder, human biology, for the top spot by a mere six students.
“We’ve crossed that threshold where women feel supported and comfortable,” Eric Roberts, a Stanford professor emeritus of computer science, told Reuters. “What we need to do is not turn anyone away because they feel unsupported, and a vibrant core community with a critical mass is essential.” This marks a decided shift in the field, which has traditionally been dominated by men. It’s especially auspicious given Stanford’s close proximity to Silicon Valley and the numerous (albeit overwhelmingly white and peniled) tech giants that reside there.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
Source: Reuters
App Content Will Soon Be Available in Safari Search Results as Google Expands App Indexing to iOS 9
Google today announced that its app indexing feature is now compatible with the HTTP deep link standards for iOS 9, which will allow iOS users to open mobile app content directly from the Google Search results page in Safari for iOS.
To use the feature, developers need to add Universal Links to their iOS apps and then integrate with Google’s SDK. For end users, this change will result in better integration between search results and apps.
For example, when searching for a restaurant with Google Search and getting a Yelp result, clicking on the Yelp link will open the Yelp app on iOS instead of opening the Yelp website within Safari.
Google’s app indexing feature for iOS was announced in May, but prior to today, it was limited to the Chrome browser and Google app for iOS. iOS users will begin to see app content in Safari on iOS starting at the end of October.
How to Personalize Your Watch Face and Complications in watchOS 2
watchOS 2, the first major update to the Apple Watch’s operating system, was released in September, just five months after the device’s debut. If you didn’t face any download issues getting watchOS 2 on your Apple Watch, you are well on your way towards looking for the new features the update brings.
One major change we’d been anticipating for months is the ability to personalize watch faces with the photos we’ve taken, and third-party complications are another fantastic addition that will add more variety and more functionality to the look of the Apple Watch. A third addition, time-lapse video watch faces, is sure to wow your friends and will give you some dynamic scenery to look at each time you raise your wrist.
To help you get started, we’ve created this how-to guide to show you how to set up each of the new watch face features.
This guide assumes you know how to customize your Apple Watch’s watch face. If you don’t already know the process, head over to our how-to guide on that topic for reference.
Photos Watch Faces
Adding photos to your watch face only takes a few minutes to set up. In watchOS 2, you can either select a specific photo to display all of the time, or choose a photo album to see a different image every time you wake your watch.
Read more 
The problem and future of App Store Optimization
Whenever you go to the Play Store (or App Store, or Windows Store, or whatever store you use) and search for something, the store goes though multiple algorithms to determine exactly what apps to show you, and it does it so fast, you don’t even know it’s happening. But when you stop to think about it, what exactly are those algorithms searching for when they are looking for your perfect app?
I recently got the chance to talk to Gareth Price of Ready Set Rocket about App Store Optimization (ASO) and why the current system is completely broken. So open your mind tanks because I (with Gareth’s help) am about to drop some high octane knowledge on you! Let’s ride!
If you have not heard of Ready Set Rocket, they are a marketing firm based in New York City that specializes in optimizing marketing across channels. They also utilize apps and services to help reach untapped customers. Basically, they are marketing for the digital age when many customers are not reachable through TV ads, billboards, and magazines.
What is ASO?
For those of you who do not know what ASO is, here is a little basic info. App store optimization is used by developers to see how apps are entered into the app store and making sure that the correct app gets in front of the right customer. This can be done though naming, logos, app descriptions, reviews, and number of downloads. Ready Set Rocket represents premium brands with large audiences which means that ASO is extremely important for them. They have to make sure that they app they make for a client not only performs well and looks nice, but that it is also discoverable by the right audience. In a world full of fake apps, it is crucial to get the official app noticed and downloaded by customers.
So what’s wrong with it?
A group of obviously fake reviews
Unfortunately, Gareth says that the current set up for ASO is broken. In the early 2000’s, search engine optimization (SEO) suffered from people and companies attempting to game the system to cheating their websites to higher placements in search results. Now, ASO is experiencing the same fate with developers and creators discovering loopholes to bump their apps to the top of search results.
You may have noticed that from time to time, poorly created, low quality apps appear in the top apps for a certain day or week. You can tell by either downloading them or looking at screenshots that the app is not good, but it still has thousands of downloads and high ratings. Odds are, this app faked its reviews and installs.
Gareth revealed to me that there are many ways to game the system. The simplest way is to pay for a bulk amount of reviews and installs on your app. This action is often referred to as black hat. While this is easy and effortless, it is pretty obvious to tell which apps have cheated this way. Usually, the reviews are all similar in length, wording, and general tone.
There are other ways to game the system. If you have ever played a game that offered you tokens (or gems, coins, etc) for downloading a certain app, odds are you downloaded the app, got your tokens, and uninstalled it. While this is not as inherently bad as purchasing installs, it is still a way to gain dishonest installs for an app.
When you hear about something like paying for fake reviews, you have to wonder about the legality of it. Gareth helped shed some light on this for me. He said that purchasing reviews is not illegal, but it goes against the Terms of Service for app stores. So technically these developers are not committing fraud, but just violating the terms they agreed to. App store owners like Google and Apple can remove apps that engage in this activity, but there is no legal action that can be taken.
There’s gotta be something we can do!
So let’s say you have created an app that is awesome and does everything a person could ask of it, but it is getting lost in search results to apps that have gained fake installs. Is there anything you can do about it? Unfortunately, Gareth says there is currently no way for developers, creators, and users to fight these faked apps.
I would suggest writing real reviews on apps you have installed and suspect might be gaining illegitimate installs to let users know how the app really is. App store providers like Google and Apple are the only ones who can directly act against black hat. They can remove apps and developers who go against the terms of service for their stores which may help better apps rise to the top ranks legitimately.
What needs to change about ASO?
We have heard what is bad about ASO, how people can cheat the system, and what can be done to stop it, but now we need to talk about what needs to change about ASO. Gareth believes that app store providers should tweak their algorithms to be more based on quality than quantity. Perhaps have app stores analyze the semantics of reviews to help spot fakes.
To determine the quality of the app, Gareth feels like there shoulAd be more complex algorithims that go past just installing the app. Take into account how much time the app is used and how long the app is installed before the user removes it should all come into play when determining an apps placement in the app store. Making these algorithms more transparent also doesn’t help the ASO situation because it allows developers to find ways to game the system. If you kept the algorithms shadowed and complex, developers would spend more time, money, and resources creating a better app than attempting to move up in the rankings.
When will it change?
So are we going to see a change in ASO soon? Unfortunately, probably not. People only have a finite number of app needs, and as app stores reach maturity, those needs are mostly taken care of. The companies that run these app stores (Apple, Google, etc.) are not focused on helping each developer’s app reach it correct position. They are focused on meeting the customers’ needs with the apps they provide. As long as there is a quality app available for users’ needs, these companies are going to be content. As for getting rid of fake reviews and revamping the ranking system, Gareth says we are far away from that.
This whole article might have sounded like one big downer. If you create a quality app, companies who can afford to buy installs and reviews will be rated higher than you even if their app isn’t good. There is not much users can do to stop those who game the system. And app store providers are not too worried about the fake reviews flooding their stores because customer needs are met. If you were a developer reading all of that, you’d probably feel pretty awful.
But Gareth left me with a fantastic piece of advice for developing apps. “Making a high quality product that people need is the best way to find success.” If that does not lift you up and make you want to try harder, then I do not know what will. Sure, these cheating apps are currently ranked higher than far more quality apps, but that will not last forever. Making a quality app will grow your users organically, and they are way more likely to stay with your app instead of looking for an alternative.
I hope that you have all learned something from this informative and educational. I would like to thank Gareth Price for taking the time to talk with me about app store optimization and to remind everyone that quality always trumps quantity.
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