App Store Research for App Ideas: What to Check First
App Store research for an app idea starts with a search for the words a user would type, then a close look at the top five results: the price, whether there is a paid tier, the average rating, the number of ratings and the date of the last update. The rating count is the public number closest to demand. Low ratings with a large rating count point to room: people want the app and dislike what exists.
You can do this in an hour from your phone, and it often saves months of building. It is the app-specific part of validating a business idea before building.
Why research the App Store before building an app?
The App Store is a marketplace with public numbers. Every app shows its price and how many people rated it, at what average. That is enough to see whether people download apps for this job, how they pay, and whether they’re happy with what exists. The update dates show whether anyone still invests in the leaders.
The cost of skipping it is common: building an app for a category where a free, well-rated app with a huge rating count already does the job.
How do you search the App Store for an idea?
- Write three to six phrases a user would type for the job (“adhd planner”, “habit tracker”, “split bills with roommates”).
- Search each one in your target country. Results differ by market.
- Open the top five results for each phrase.
- Note the fields in the table below.
- Read the most recent low-star reviews of the top three apps.
What should you note for each app?
| Field | What it tells you | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Rating count | Demand | Thousands of ratings mean a real user base |
| Average rating | Satisfaction | Below about 4 with many ratings means unhappy users |
| Price | How the category charges | Free with in-app purchases is the norm in many categories |
| Paid tier | Willingness to pay | Subscriptions or lifetime unlocks show users pay |
| Last update | Whether the competitor is alive | A top app not updated in a long time is beatable |
| Release date | Market age | Many old apps at the top means a settled category |
| Low-star reviews | What users hate | Your feature list and your positioning |
Put the apps in the same sheet you use to find competitors.
What does App Store data look like in a real check?
Here is one example from a Vettoz check run on 2026-10-18. The App Store search for “adhd planner” in the US returned Structured near the top, rated 4.79 with about 167,700 ratings, free to download with a paid tier.
That single result says a lot. Demand for visual day planners is large. Users are happy with the leader, so “a better planner app” is a hard pitch. Users accept paying for a tier. A new app would need a narrower user or a different job, not the same app again.
How do you find room in a crowded category?
Look for these openings:
- High rating count, low average rating: users want the job done and dislike how it’s done. This is where a new app has the clearest way in.
- Top apps not updated for a long time: competitors may have stopped investing.
- Reviews asking for one missing feature again and again: a focused app can win that group.
- A paid tier everyone complains about: room for a simpler price, such as a single purchase.
- A narrower user: “habit tracker” is crowded; a habit tracker for a specific group may not be.
Confirm the complaints outside the store. If the same pain shows up in Reddit comments, it is real. See how to find pain points on Reddit.
Single sale, subscription or in-app purchases?
The App Store tells you how the category already charges, which sets what users expect. If every top app is free with a subscription, a one-time price can be a positioning angle, but check that it covers your costs over time. If top apps charge once, a subscription needs a clear ongoing reason. More on setting the number in how to price a new product.
How long should App Store research take?
For one idea, about an hour. Spend ten minutes searching your phrases and filling the table, then the rest reading low-star reviews of the top three apps. Stop when the complaints start repeating. If after an hour you can’t name one thing users hate about the leaders, the category is probably well served, and you should either narrow the user or change the job. If you can name it in the first ten minutes, you likely have your angle. Write it down as one sentence before you open a code editor.
What can’t the App Store tell you?
- Downloads and revenue. The store doesn’t show them. Rating count is a proxy, not a sales figure.
- Android. Check Google Play too; some categories differ a lot.
- Why people search. For that, read Reddit, and check the Facebook Ad Library to see which apps pay for installs.
FAQ
How many ratings does a competitor need to count as proof of demand?
There’s no fixed line. Compare the top results with each other: if the leaders have tens of thousands of ratings and the rest a few dozen, the category has demand and a clear winner.
Is a free competitor a problem?
Only if it does the job well. A free app with poor ratings is an opening; a free app rated 4.8 by a large crowd is a wall.
Should I research Google Play too?
If you plan to ship on Android, search the same phrases there and compare the leaders.
Can I validate an app idea without building it?
You can. Use store research, Reddit and ads to check demand, then put up a landing page with a waitlist and a few short videos. See how to validate a SaaS idea for the same method applied to software.
Check an app idea with Vettoz
For a mobile app idea, Vettoz searches the App Store for your first two keywords and keeps the top apps by rating count, with price, rating, release and update dates. He adds Reddit, X, TikTok, YouTube, active Meta ads and Google, scores the idea with the evidence linked, and your AI writes the report in Claude or ChatGPT, including a price and a next test you can run in a week. See how it works, read the setup guide, or check 2 ideas free.