Changes to How All-Time Downloads Are Calculated for Free Android Apps

Google has recently eliminated a metric we were using to display the all-time downloads for free Android apps. As a result, we’ve switched to summing up the daily downloads instead (like we do for all other stores). Because of this, the all-time downloads for your free Android apps may change when you look at your reports.

What’s changing

Up until July 16th, Google provided us with two metrics for downloads, one for the day’s downloads and another for the all-time downloads as of the day. Starting July 17th, Google stopped providing the all-time metric. To provide you with all-time downloads, we’re now calculating all-time totals by summing up all of the daily downloads instead. This is what we do for all other stores.

What this means for you

You’d expect Google’s all-time downloads to match the sum of daily downloads, but it rarely did. We inquired several times but did not get a descriptive answer and were told to report the all-time metric, so we did. We’re now switching to calculating the all-time downloads on our own, and the resulting number may be different.

Rest assured, the “new” all-time downloads is accurate and matches what’s showing in the Google Play Developer Console.

F.A.Q.

Were my all-time downloads incorrect before?
No. The data you see in your account comes directly from Google, before and now. The difference is which metric was used.

Is everyone’s data changing?
Yes. Because Google used a different method to generate the cumulative numbers under the hood, switching is probably going to impact all developers.

How are all-time downloads calculated now?
As of today, all-time downloads = the sum of daily downloads.

I have more questions
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