App Store News: iPhone 14 Release, Facebook App & More

August 19th, 2022

by David Bell

CEO at Gummicube, Inc.

Welcome to this week’s ASO Weekly – Gummicube’s recurring segment where we discuss some of the biggest events in the mobile app industry, app store developments, and how they may affect your App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy.

This week, we’ll be exploring:

iPhone 14 and iOS 16 release dates are finally announced
Facebook drops from the “Top 10” free category
Reddit is introducing apps to its platform

iPhone 14 New iOS 16 Set to Release in Early September

Apple targets September 7th for the new iPhone 14 launch. According to Bloomberg News, the new products are expected to reach stores around September 16th. On August 17th, Apple announced the tentative dates for their unveiling and then subsequent sale of the new iPhone 14 – the product that generates more than half of the company’s sales.

Ever since WWDC22, iOS developers and Apple users have been teeming with excitement about some very exciting product and feature rollouts. One of the biggest announcements came with the unveiling of iOS 16, a new Macbook, and three whole Apple Watch models.

Our ASO company has been surveying sentiment for the new iPhone 14 on Twitter, and it seems as though many people are excited about the new iPhone 14. Apple looks to order more iPhone 14 in production than any other model released before even despite economic uncertainty.

Facebook Losing its Position as a Social Media App Top Player – Why?

Across the web and the app stores, Facebook continues to struggle to maintain its position as a top player in the social media landscape. Younger demographics are quickly switching to other social media platforms like the BeReal app and TikTok. According to TechCrunch, just last year Facebook fell out of the Top 10 free iPhone apps in the U.S. 7 times with volatile jumps up and down ever since.

What is Facebook doing about it? Mark Zuckerberg has candidly expressed his concerns about Facebook’s ability to bring in new, younger users instead of garnering massive amounts of older people. Facebook’s user interface has slowly begun to mimic TikTok’s with the introduction of the integrated Instagram Reels feature, but a novel idea may need to be in the works for Facebook to stay afloat.

Many apps in the social media category use ASO technology to help improve visibility in the congested app category and looking at search patterns of younger demographics may help Facebook build relevance.

Reddit App and Web Platform Introduces Apps to Its Developer Platform

Reddit has announced that it will open up a waitlist for developers who want to build software into the platform. With this new integration, Reddit plans to expand its toolkit that will offer tools to build software extensions to enhance the experience.

A Reddit spokesperson reported to TechCrunch the following statement some of the exciting features they plan on introducing:

“We’re going to work on a number of experiments, mainly in the categories of ‘apps’ and ‘automation tools’ where apps can integrate directly with Reddit’s UI and automation tools are more like traditional bots…Initially, this will start small, but we want to give developers a lot of flexibility and scope over time.”

As apps begin to incorporate third-party and user-generated content into their platforms, they actively improve their app and give people a reason to come back or stay. Beyond an improved user experience, Reddit is also making more improvements to its automation integrations through bots. This allows them to harness a better experience for their users.