App Developers Conference Survey Finds Piracy and Discoverability are Big Problems

26% of surveyed devs had their apps pirated; of those with IAP, same percentage saw them hacked.

The ADC survey found that piracy is a major issue with app development -- though it appears that some developers feel the sting far more heavily than others. 26% of surveyed developers reported that their apps had been pirated. Of those developers whose apps use in-app purchases (IAP), a similar 26% found that their IAPs had been hacked (that is, obtained without payment). 7% of respondents were familiar with their app’s piracy statistics, either from internal checks, analytics, or other sources, and some of those provided anecdotal evidence. “Of our 8M+ total downloads,” one said, “1.5M+ have been pirated, mostly in Russia and China.” Another stated that, on Android, “approximately 90% in-app purchases were faked.” Yet another said, “Flurry analytics unique users: 11862. App Store downloads: 1141. 90.4% pirated copies.”

Discoverability cited as #1 problem with app ecosystem

In a free-form survey question, developers were asked to identify what they felt to be the biggest problem within the current app development market. Most answers connected to problems with discoverability—albeit from different ends of the spectrum. Developers frequently described app stores as “crowded” and “overpopulated with low-quality apps”; others also noted that users’ expectations for free apps made it hard to charge even $0.99 for their higher-quality app. Other developers cited platform and device fragmentation as their main issue: “Too many devices and operating systems to support,” “Too many app stores,” “Too many competing platforms,” “Different languages and stores,” and other similar comments came up very frequently.

When it came to how their studio attempted to solve said problems, most developers were fairly clear: Make better apps. “Create the best app possible,” “Build a quality app,” “Make innovative apps,” “Give them an app worth paying for,” “Make things that matter,” and similar responses were very common.

Games rule app verticals, but developers are willing and able to diversify

Games were by far the most popular app category: 69% of surveyed devs made games, followed by entertainment (37%), education (32%), lifestyle (22%), brand marketing (21%), enterprise (16%) and health/wellness (14%). But the respondents didn't only make games; a significant portion of game dev respondents also made apps for general entertainment (38%), education (29%), brand marketing (17%), lifestyle (15%), health and wellness (11%), and even enterprise (11%).

The entire survey, which also covers questions of studio size, profits and monetization, app platforms and stores, can be downloaded for free at http://www.adconf.com.