Google Play Store version 53.1 added the ability to highlight a specific standout feature of a related app directly inside the “similar apps” section on an app’s detail page, alongside a new indicator showing which recommended apps a user already has installed on another device. Both changes make the similar-apps carousel a more active discovery surface than it used to be — previously a fairly passive list of icons and names, now something closer to a comparison shopping aid that can pull a user toward a competitor mid-browse or toward your app because of one feature callout.
That’s a problem for attribution if installs sourced from the similar-apps carousel aren’t tagged separately from other organic Play Store discovery. An install driven by a feature highlight on someone else’s listing page behaves differently from one driven by a branded search or a category browse — the user arrived already comparing your app against a specific alternative, primed by whatever feature got surfaced. Blending that into generic “organic” install numbers hides both a competitive signal (which feature is winning you installs off competitor pages) and a risk (which feature on your page is losing you traffic to a competitor’s similar-apps slot).
Data Points to Track
- Referrer surface at install, specifically distinguishing similar-apps-carousel referrals from search, category browse, and direct listing visits
- Source app package name, when the Play Install Referrer API surfaces it, for installs arriving via a similar-apps placement
- Highlighted feature text, if available from referrer data, showing which feature callout preceded the install
- Cross-device installed indicator exposure, tracking whether a user who saw “already installed on your other device” for a competitor converted anyway
- Post-install first-session behaviour for carousel-sourced users, compared against search- and browse-sourced users, to see if comparison-primed users engage differently
- Uninstall-and-switch signal, correlating a similar-apps-sourced install with an uninstall of the app the user was viewing when they discovered yours
Setup Steps
- Capture the Play Install Referrer payload on first launch and parse out the discovery surface, storing it as a distinct install-source value rather than folding it into generic “organic.”
- Tag similar-apps-carousel installs with the source app package name where the referrer data includes it.
- Add a first-session cohort tag for carousel-sourced installs so onboarding funnel and early retention can be compared against other organic sources.
- Monitor your own listing’s exposure in competitors’ similar-apps carousels via Play Console’s discovery reporting, where available, to catch traffic loss to a competitor’s feature highlight.
- Correlate carousel-sourced installs with near-term uninstalls of the referring app, as a proxy for genuine app-switching versus incidental multi-app usage.
Actionable Insights
If carousel-sourced installs show materially different early retention than search- or browse-sourced installs, that’s a signal the comparison context itself is shaping expectations — a user who installed because of a specific feature highlight will judge the app against that promise in the first session. A high uninstall-and-switch correlation is the clearest actionable signal: it identifies exactly which competitor is winning users away from you through this surface, and which of your own features are strong enough to pull users the other direction.
Related Resources
Need help tracking this in your app?
Our team sets up analytics pipelines for mobile and web teams every day. Talk to us and get your first events flowing in under an hour.
Talk to an expert